Morristown Rotary Awards $5K for Morris School District

The Morristown Rotary Club has awarded a $5,000 grant to the Morris Educational Foundation for the Morris School District, to be used for parent education programs.

The press release is below:

P.J. Thurkauf, president of the Morristown Rotary Club, recently announced that the Rotary has awarded the Morris Educational Foundation a grant of $5,000 to be designated for parent education programs in the Morris School District. The funds will be disseminated to schools in the district throughout the 2011-2012 school year.

Thurkauf said, "We support the goals of the MEF to promote community and school partnerships to address awareness of educational and social challenges affecting the children in our school district both in and outside the schools." He added, that for the Morristown Rotary, “'Service Above Self' has been the long standing motto of our club, and serving children in our communities has always been a primary goal."

The monies will be used to support education seminars, workshops, speakers, and assemblies for parents in the Morris School District. These events will be organized by the schools' teachers, faculty,
and organizations within the schools (PTA, PTO). Research indicates that students whose parents are engaged in school programs and initiatives have improved performance.

The Morris Educational Foundation will solicit proposals for parent-focused programs from all 9 schools in the district. The Morris School District includes three elementary schools (K-2), three intermediate
schools (3-5), one multi-age magnet school (K-5), one middle school (6-8) and one high school.

Throughout the 2010-2011 school year, the Morris Educational Foundation provided $60,000 to the school district to fund student education projects and programs as well as several parent education
programs. One highly successful program last year was "Ryan's Story," an anti-bullying program, which covered topics including cyber-bullying, Internet safety, and suicide prevention.

A second very well received program last year was "Social Skills Workshop for Parents and Teachers," a presentation by Dr. Jed Baker, a leading child psychologist, who explored social skills challenges for
children with learning differences as well as those for typical children.

This year's program with the additional Rotary funding will be implemented through the grants committee of the Morris Educational Foundation. The members of the committee will receive all requests and make final selections.

"We are extremely grateful to the Rotary Club of Morristown for helping us bring needed resources and opportunities to the Morris School District's parent community," said Deborah L. Sontupe, chair of the Morris Educational Foundation. "Our mission of enhancing the educational experiences of our children is best accomplished through partnership of school, community and home. This grant enables us to
bring all those components together in support of our students."

The Morris Educational Foundation is a 501 (c) (3) that seeks to attract private resources to support a variety of educational programs and initiatives in support of the Morris School District. Through effective solicitation and distribution of funds, the Morris Educational Foundation helps enable the District to continue to be the model of visionary social and educational leadership it has been since its
inception. For more information, visit the website at www.morrisedfoundation.org.