Woodall School students could start the next semester with all new technology.

The rural Cherokee County School District, which serves students from pre-kindergarten through eighth grade, received a federal $85,000 technology grant through the Oklahoma Department of Education. Briggs School, east of Tahlequah, also received an $85,000 grant.

Woodall and Briggs are among 19 Oklahoma school districts awarded more than $1.35 million in Title II, Part D, Grants: Enhancing Education Through Technology.

The federal grants are coordinated by the state Department of Education. To qualify for the grant, districts must have significant poverty, with at least 60 percent students participating in free or reduced-priced school lunch program. Schools also must not have received the grant since the program started in 2002.

The grant helps schools get and use technological resources to help students do better in school, said State Superintendent for Public Instruction Sandy Garrett.

Woodall superintendent Steve Haynes said the grant will help pay for interactive, digital SMART Boards for 13 classrooms in grades five through eight, as well as a cart with 20 laptop computers.

“We hope to get the orders out by Christmas and installed by January,” Haynes said, adding that the district now is reviewing its budget.

“This gives students another tool to help them learn,” he said.

He said the technology will help all students, regardless of their learning style.

Haynes said the district is reviewing its budget

Other schools receiving grants include Durant, Carnegie, Grant, Oilton, Clinton, Davenport, Turner, Locust Grove, Frontier, Twin Hills, Schulter, Wynona, Wyandotte, McAlester, Shawnee, New Lima and Grandfield.

Haynes said about one-fourth of the grant money will go for teacher training.

According to the Education Oversight Board, Woodall had an average daily attendance of 498 students, with 81 percent on free or reduced lunches in 2005.

Briggs had an average daily attendance of 546, with more than 94 percent on free or reduced lunches in 2005.

Garrett said that, although she was pleased about the $1.35 million Oklahoma schools are getting this year, she was disappointed the White House and Congress cut school technology funding again this fiscal year. All states experienced cuts this year in the grant program and Oklahoma 's reduction was more than $950,000.

“Oklahoma is a high-poverty state, so this funding has been a big help to many schools,” Garrett said in a media release. “It is my hope that Congress and the president renew their commitment to school technology when they consider this matter again in 2007.”



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