We are thankful to our community, which supports educators in big and small ways. Some donors give resources directly to the schools where they feel most connected. Others choose to give to our Perry Township Education Foundation, which awards grants to multiple classrooms throughout the year. At times our schools also receive contributions from all corners of the country.

Donors Choose is a crowdfunding platform that allows teachers to list their classroom projects that need funding. The site makes it easy for anyone, anywhere, to help a classroom in need. Donors can even give as little as $1.

Once a project is fully funded, Donors Choose purchases all the requested items and ships them directly to the school. Every donor gets a thank you letter from the teacher, photos from the classroom and a report of how each dollar was spent.

Since 2000, Donors Choose has funded more than 1.1 million projects and raised more than $678 million. Of the 421,000 teachers who have had projects funded, 94 percent of them say it increased their effectiveness in the classroom.

Recently, WISH-TV featured Southport Middle School teacher Kristen Jordan, who has experienced great success with Donors Choose. In fact, she’s had 25 projects funded in the 10 years since she’s been teaching, and she credits crowdfunding sites with providing her with creative tools to help make learning fun.

For example, donors once came together to purchase several Battleship board games, which allowed Mrs. Jordan to teach her former social studies classes about longitude and latitude in an interactive way. As a Project Lead the Way teacher, Mrs. Jordan now has science, technology, engineering, and mathematics-related resources listed on Donors Choose. She is one of several Perry Township teachers looking for a little help to fund classroom projects.

At Clinton Young Elementary, third-grade teacher Lauren  Krumholz has requested several items, including 30 wireless mice and six portable lap desks. Southport Sixth Grade Academy teacher Amanda Harper requested more comfortable seating options. In April a generous donor contributed $29 million to fund classroom projects in 16,561 schools across all 50 states.

Eleven Perry Township schools were among the recipients of the good deed, provided by Ripple, a San Francisco-based startup that’s developing digital currency for faster global financial payments. However, it’s important to remember that every donation is appreciated – no matter how small. Sites like Donors Choose complement the work done by the foundation (www.ptef.org). To view classroom projects that are listed on the Donors Choose site, visit www.donorschoose.org and search for schools by zip code

Attendance matters. That is why Perry Township Schools is joining the Indiana Department of Education in recognizing Attendance Awareness Month. Consistent attendance must start at an early age. Chronic absenteeism and habitual truancy are important predictors of school performance, including high school graduation.

According to Attendance Works, which “advances student success and reduces equity gaps by reducing chronic absence,” absenteeism in the first month of school can predict poor attendance throughout the school year, which can also influence whether children read proficiently by the end of third grade or be held back.

By sixth grade, chronic absence (missing 18 or more days per school year) becomes a leading indicator that a student will drop out of high school, according to research. When students improve their attendance rates they improve their academic prospects and chances for graduating. If a student is chronically absent by the time he or she is in 12th grade, over a year of instructional time has been lost.

We are committed to tracking not only unexcused absences but also excused absences that can derail a student’s academic performance. It is our intention to reduce the number of all lost instructional days. Even late arrival and early departure leads to lost instructional time. By working with students and parents we can help our community understand how attendance relates to academic, social and vocational success.

Our administrators, teachers and social workers engage with our families to help them understand how chronic absences negatively affect students’ long-term success. We also recognize that factors, including unstable housing or illness, can contribute to poor student attendance.

Once we identify these impediments, we try to direct families to solutions or resources to relieve the problem that contributes to absences. Parents who have concerns regarding their child’s absences should contact the school’s social worker by visiting www.perryschools.org/ for-parents/student-services/. For more information about encouraging student attendance, visit attendanceworks.org.

Education continually evolves. We, as educators, have the privilege and responsibility to learn about changes as they occur. And when appropriate we adjust our teaching techniques to make our instruction more effective for our students. We are not simply here to require that students memorize a set of facts. We do not see standardized tests as the ultimate goal, but rather as a measurement of student growth and teacher effectiveness.

We want students to graduate with critical-thinking and problem-solving skills and collaboration abilities that will allow them to be successful in a post-secondary institution, job or in the military. This year we are thrilled to expand our project based learning curriculum (PBL).

Southport Elementary is introducing PBL to students through a collaboration with Magnify Learning, a nonprofit organization dedicated to expanding the use of high-quality PBL by offering professional development through workshops, continuous coaching and other resources.

PBL presents students with a real-world problem and equips them with the skills to meet the challenge. Project-based curriculum uses engagement to influence student achievement. Teachers don’t simply tell students why something is the way it is. Instead, they show them why by building the scholars’ skills in collaboration, communication and critical thinking. By solving problems, students learn to take calculated risks.

Through our partnership with the National Institute for Excellence in Teaching, teachers are able to easily integrate PBL into our curriculum best practices. A bonus benefit of project based learning extends beyond the classroom. It can also help build community partnerships because students are trying to solve problems that exist in the real world.

For example, third-grade students in Ms. Tinkler’s class are trying to positively impact the ecosystem. As students design and engineer prototypes to protect the ecosystem, they use English language arts and informational writing to propose their solutions. The end project will then be taken to the Indianapolis Zoo, which will evaluate it. This process will allow students to receive powerful feedback from peers as well as guidance from zoo leaders.

It creates a unique opportunity for students to stretch their minds beyond classroom textbooks while allowing them and staff to build relationships with decision makers who may not be available to them otherwise.

The PBL approach is a complement to the lessons many of our schools have been teaching through Project Lead the Way, a hands-on, problem-based program that makes math and science relevant for students.

By engaging in hands-on, real-world projects, students understand how the skills they are learning in the classroom can be applied in everyday life. For more information about Magnify Learning and PBL, visit magnifylearningin.org. To learn about Project Lead the Way, visit pltw.org

We are thankful to the Perry Township Education Foundation for supporting our district in exciting new ways! For the 2018-19 school year, PTEC has committed to sponsor a trip to Connor Prairie for every fourth-grader in our district. The foundation has also granted $1,500 to each of our kindergarten academies to fund much-needed literacy and math materials.

PTEF will also fund one $5,000 mega grant for the Early Childhood Academy to build an outdoor classroom and lab for our preschoolers. Since 1994 PTEF has funded more than $1.2 million in grants to support innovative and creative programs to enhance learning. One of its annual signature events to support these grants is Coach Hathaway’s Running South, which will take place Saturday, Sept. 22, at Southport High’s Cardinal Stadium.

The day kicks off with a health fair, open to all, in the school’s fieldhouse. Packet pick up begins at 7:30 a.m., and participants will meet at the starting line at 8:55 a.m. Registration is underway for runners and walkers interested in signing up for the 10K, 5K, 1-mile fun run/walk or quarter-mile kiddie romp with the Perry Township Schools’ mascots.

There is something for everyone of all ages. Running South bears Coach Tom Hathaway’s name because of his passion for racing. At age 79 he was the oldest finisher at the inaugural event. Before his death in April 2012, Mr. Hathaway ran 131 marathons and countless other races. In fact, he ran one marathon in each state, gaining him entry into the 50 States Marathon Club.

“Organizing this race in honor of coach Hathaway is one of the highlights of our year,” said foundation Executive Director Amelia Miller. “He inspired hundreds of runners throughout Indianapolis, particularly on the Southside. I know he’d be proud of the community event he inspired.”

Running was in coach Hathaway’s blood. He taught and coached cross country and track in Perry Schools for 46 years – most of the time at Southport High, where a memorial stands in his honor. Mr. Hathaway also taught track and field at IUPUI for five years; he coached and taught at University of Indianapolis for more than eight. He was a beloved mentor to hundreds of runners. Every year it is an honor to see hundreds in our community come together to honor coach Hathaway’s memory and to support education. Visit www.ptef.org to register.

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Some Perry Township police officers helped kids get excited for the start of their school day with a High-Five Friday at Lincoln Elementary School as shown on the front page by Southsider Voice Editor B. Scott Mohr. Principal John Sponsel said the event provides the opportunity for the police to create more positive relationships with the students. And police said it’s important that the kids know that they do more than just drive around in a car and go after bad guys.

“They get to see us in person, they get to see the professionalism and they get to see that there’s somebody, we outside of, you know, the administration, that cares,” said officer Tom Shambaugh.