2024-2025 Grant Awards.
Innovation Grants
Innovation Grants award up to $5,000 to support innovation and excellence across our district. Innovation Grants engage students in deeper learning, pilot new educational approaches and support educators to collaborate across disciplines, grade levels and schools. Initiatives are multi-faceted and take place over the course of the year. Funding is comprehensive and can include professional development, collaborative planning time for professional learning communities, guest speakers and outside facilitators, classroom materials, technology, and more.
Title: Author Odyssey: Explore, Engage, Create
Educator(s): Christy Magoon, Librarian
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School, Melrose High School
Description: This grant, a collaboration with the MHS Library and the MHS English Department, will bring a popular YA (young adult) author to the Melrose school community during the 24/25 school year. An in-person author visit engages students in a deeper appreciation for literature and the power of storytelling; hearing about the author's journey and the challenges they've overcome can inspire students and this type of hands-on experience can foster interest in lifelong reading habits. The novel will be showcased in the library and offered as a choice reading title for all MHS students. In partnership with the English Department Chair, the author’s novel will be woven in into the curriculum this year. The author presentation(s) will run as an in-school field trip and all students will attend the presentations with their teachers. This grant will also explore the possibility of a book signing or other collaboration with a local bookstore.
Title: Page to Stage
Educator(s): Steve Black, Director of Visual and Performing Arts; Nora Tsoutsis, ELA Department Head
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School, Melrose High School
Description: Through this grant the MVMMS ELA and Drama Departments will create a "Page to Stage" opportunity for all middle school students. Each grade will read a work, attend a performance, and engage in a workshop on character analysis/transferring source material to theatrical performance. 6th graders will read the play to be performed by the Middle School, and 7th and 8th graders will read works to be performed by the High School. Teachers will engage in professional development on how to collaborate and sustain the works studied moving forward for future years and classes.
Title: Adding to our Digital Arts Offerings
Educator(s): Susan Jerz, Visual Arts Teacher
School: Melrose High School
Description: This grant is an extension of last year's extremely successful visual arts grant that will allow extension into graphic arts for 7 more students allowing 12 students to use ipads, Apple Pencils, and appropriate graphic art software used widely in a number of professions. This grant will also enable a working artist to meet with students and share their expertise in using the software and tools for a multitude of projects.
Boost Grants
Boost grants award up to $500 for individual educators to implement a new project, elevate an existing experience, or try something new in their classroom.
Title: Romeo & Juliet Mock Trial
Educator(s): Sarah Haney and Team, 8th Grade English Language Arts
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This grant will support the MVMMS English Department in the purchase of classroom podium to support presentations and a Romeo & Juliet Mock Trial.
Title: Mindfulness Mondays
Educator(s): Catherine Horkan, Social Worker; MaryAnn Barriss, Reading Specialist
School: Hoover School
Description: A Hoover Elementary School social worker and reading specialist will will pilot in school Mindfulness Mondays. By helping students become aware of and then embody the connection between their emotions, thoughts, and bodily sensations, students are better able to regulate their emotions, which then impacts things such as their behavior, stress levels, relationships, and ability to focus.
Title: Atlases and Globes for a Changing World
Educator(s): Anne Healy and Nicole Goodhue, Grade 2
School: Horace Mann School
Description: This grant will provide updated atlases and globe for Horace Mann second grade classrooms to accurately reflect our changing world. The materials will support research writing for writing units while the classes learn about different countries and cultures and will also support the geography unit in social studies.
Title: History of Genocide
Educator(s): Hannah Edsall and Mark Pappas, Social Studies Teachers; Christy Magoon, Librarian
School: Melrose High School
Description: This grant will provide books related to genocide to adhere to the state's requirement that districts provide instruction about the history of genocide to their high school students. The MHS Junior team implements this through a mock United Nations hearing in the Spring, but would like supplemental materials to develop this into a more thorough process that includes more perspectives and an opportunity to elevate student literacy
Title: MVMMS Anti-Bullying Initiative
Educator(s): Kerri Ciulla, School Guidance Counselor; Samantha Cardoso, School Adjustment Counselor; Jackson Goodwin, SEL Coach
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This grant will support the implementation by MVMMS of the Olweus Bullying Prevention Program by supplementing the districts plans with signage, stickers, and school-wide anchort charts. This grant is being spearheaded by the School Guidance Counselors
Professional Development Grants
Professional Development Grants award up to $1,000 to educators to deepen knowledge in their field, develop new skills, or explore opportunities that will enhance teaching and learning in the classroom. Grant recipients also have a commitment to share professional learning with other educators in their building or practice/content area across the district.
Title: Comprehensive IMSE Orton-Gillingham Training
Educator(s): Kate Clark, Kindergarten
School: Hoover Elementary School
Description: This grant will allow a Hoover teacher to receive training that provides an in-depth understanding of IMSE's Orton-Gillingham methodology. This course focuses primarily on phonological awareness and phonics (along with encoding/decoding) incorporating how to teach fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension using the highly regarded OG philosophy of multi-sensory, sequential, direct instruction.
Title: Visualize Success with Graphic Novels
Educator(s): Kaitlyn Beaumont, Grade 7 ELA
School: Melrose Veterans Memorial Middle School
Description: This Professional Development opportunity for a MVMMS English teacher will explore the benefits of graphic novels in a middle school classroom setting. The course will allow the teacher to explore different innovative techniques in visual learning to boost student learning and give access to a wide variety of graphic novels that can bed used with students, along with teaching tips and strategies tailored specifically to graphic novels.
Title: Active Allyship in the Arts
Educator(s): K-12 Visual and Performing Arts Staff
School: All Schools
Description: This Professional Development grant will allow members of the MHS Arts Department to participate in a train the trainer model course around Allyship in the Arts, aimed at targeting specific action steps for Visual and Performing Arts Staff regarding active allyship and actionable EDI work.