Community invited to give input on grant opportunity

(It seems that the public information session on the work of the High School Redesign Committee — including how it relates to the SLC grant described below — has been turned into something else quite entirely.)

On Thursday, June 7, 2007, Superintendent Art Rainwater will be leading a discussion to solicit the Board of Education’s and community’s input on a $5.5 million dollar grant application to the U.S. Department of Education.
The grant recipients would be the four comprehensive MMSD high schools. The focus of the grant will be the expansion or creation of personalized learning environments so that all students in these high schools will be able to access programs and classes that will make the most of each student’s intellectual potential and provide a clear pathway to post secondary education or careers.
The grant is titled “Smaller Learning Communities” and focuses on the well-researched idea that schools with populations approaching two thousand need a variety of ways for students to meaningfully connect with adults, to form strong, productive peer relationships, and to be successfully challenged by a rigorous academic program.
This discussion will take place at a Special Board of Education meeting that will be held at Wright Middle School, 1717 Fish Hatchery Road [map], starting at 6:30 PM.
COMMENTS OR QUESTIONS? PLEASE CONTACT:
Madison Metropolitan School District
Public Information Office
545 W. Dayton St.
Madison, WI 53703
608-663-1879
comments@madison.k12.wi.us

6 thoughts on “Community invited to give input on grant opportunity”

  1. I have just learned that the submission deadline for the SLC grant is … June 15!

  2. Shame on Laurie and Larry for failing to check their sources or their gullibility meters before posting their ignorance for all to read. It took me a grand total of three minutes to go the US Dept of Ed website to find out that the grant deadline is actually July 17. (http://www.ed.gov/programs/slcp/applicant.html)
    If you want to play “us vs them”, at least check up on the easy facts before spewing. Thanks.

  3. SD, you beat me to the punch with regard to getting this information out. Thank you. I have not been able to write this comment until now.
    Indeed, we did go to the DOE website yesterday and found the July 17 deadline, which was confusing. But we did that only after a friend told us that they had contacted the MMSD Public Information Office for more information about the SLC grant, only to be told by Ken Syke that the administration will not be giving out any information until the June 7 meeting. (I wonder what you think of that, SD? Seems pretty controlling and uncooperative to me.)
    But SD, do we really deserve the criticism you so quickly (and delightedly) heap on us? After all, don’t you think that an “easy fact” like a grant deadline is something we should be able to trust a downtown administrator on? Do you really think we should have to check up on every little detail like that?
    I guess I’m more trusting than that, SD. Then again, maybe I’ve just learned a lesson that you already knew.

  4. Hey SD–Laurie Frost is one of the most credible persons to post here. Thus your choice of the word “spewing” (to describe her concern over what turned out to be an inaccurate deadline provided by a downtown administrator) tells us far more about you than Laurie.
    Corrections are always welcome–ad hominems are not.

  5. Spew? I don’t think so — I only spew when my TB acts up. And I did write “June 15?” — it was a question not a statement. It remains a question.
    I don’t do grants, so when Ken told me to look up the grants involving Small Learning Communities, I did so, and I was confused. So the question remains, is the grant URL’ed in the above comments the grant that MMSD is applying for? To me, just because I found something that seems relevant, doesn’t mean I found the item I was looking for — I have yet to be told the specific grant number that MMSD is applying for.
    The DoED website (http://www.ed.gov/fund/grant/apply/grantapps/index.html) reads, in part:
    84.215L 06/17/2007 Overview Information; Smaller Learning Communities Program [OESE]
    This entry says a closing date of June 17! What does this mean? — what is a closing date if it doesn’t mean that it is the deadline for submitting a proposal?
    Entering into the above link, under “Timeline”, it does say July 17, 2007.
    Who’s right?
    Answering my own questions, from the Notice:

    3. Submission Dates and Times:
    Applications Available: May 18, 2007.
    Deadline for Notice of Intent to Apply: June 18, 2007.
    Deadline for Transmittal of Applications: July 17, 2007.

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