(Editor’s note: This is the first of a three-part series on the Allen County schools’ pursuit of U.S. Cellular’s grant contest.)
Just days into U.S. Cellular’s Calling All Communities million dollar grant contest, Allen County schools are faring well, according to recently released data.
U.S. Cellular will donate $150,000 to one American school receiving the most online votes during the nationwide competition, which started Friday. The communications company also will donate $50,000 to the next 17 top vote-getters.
To better the chances of bringing the money home to Allen County, the Iola, Moran and Humboldt school districts teamed up, agreeing that all votes for the county schools should be directed to the Iola Middle School. If IMS places in the top 18, the prize money would be split evenly among the three districts.
And it looks like the strategy is paying off. Only four days into the competition, IMS is thirteenth in vote totals among the 507 schools that have received votes; which means, if the contest ended today, each Allen County school district would receive $16,666.66 of no-strings attached dollars. The vote totals won’t be made public until the final results are in.
A stipulation of voting for IMS, and subsequently all Allen County schools, is voters must first stop into any U.S. Cellular retail location to pick up a registration card, of which U.S. Cellular’s Iola store has already distributed around 400.
“If only 50 percent of those people who came in to the store vote every day for the four weeks, we would still have over 4,500 votes,” said USD 257 Superintendent of School Brian Pekarek. “Remember, last year’s winner only had 2,000 votes. So we definitely have a possibility here.”
But Misty Stiffler, U.S. Cellular Inventory Coordinator, said because this is the first year the contest allows people to vote every day, last year’s results aren’t a good barometer for success this time around.
“It seems like a lot but when you think about last year, people could only vote one time, that means at least 2,000 people came in to get cards (for that school),” she said. “Since the (rankings) have come out, that’s going to put more stress on the schools that are at 19 and 20 to move up.”
Because of the rule change and “an increased level of competition this year,” maintaining community enthusiasm throughout the contest, which runs through Oct. 6, is ever more important, said David Toland, executive director of Thrive Allen County, an organization dedicated to fostering county-wide unity.
“There are more school districts that are well organized across the country, so it’s essential that folks continue to vote daily and to encourage their friends and neighbors to do the same,” he said. “We’re cautiously optimistic but we cannot let up.”
So far so good. Carol Olson, foster parent of children enrolled in the Iola school district, was in U.S. Cellular Tuesday morning to pick up a voter registration card.
“With all the deductions in education funding, every little bit we can get to ensure our kids get a good education is a good thing,” she said. “We should all do our part to make sure we get these funds for Allen County schools.”
If the three-district team is able to move into first place and hold the position until the contest deadline, Pekarek said USD 257 will be heavily investing in technology upgrades as well as restoring the before- and after-school tutoring programs at the high school.
Dividing the grant funds evenly among the five USD 257 buildings, the $10,000 for both Jefferson and McKinley elementary schools will be spent on iPads for student use, speaker systems for classrooms, telephones and ELMO presentation devices. The presentation devices are like overhead projectors but don’t use light, instead use video cameras to present documents to a room full of students.
The $10,000 Lincoln Elementary hopes to receive would be used for purchasing a mobile computer lab — 30 Netbooks and a high tech cart for them to be stored.
The middle school plans to purchase 19 iPads and cases with the prize money.
Pekarek said technology upgrades and advancements are a worthy investment.
“Oftentimes when school budgets are cut, technology is one of the first things to get the boot, because it’s often seen as a luxury item even though we know it’s not,” he said. “Our kids are growing faster than we are on technology. It’s like the goose and the golden egg. Things like this allow us to start feeding the goose again.”
The only building not planning to invest the prize money in technology, the high school will restore its recently dismantled before- and after-school tutoring program. The prize money would be used to pay existing teachers in math, English, social sciences and science to help underachieving students.
If the Allen County schools fail to come in first but still place in the top 18, Pekarek said USD 257 principals will reevaluate how to get the most out of the $3,333 each building would receive.
“We just need to figure out how to get the most bang for our buck,” he said.
Because U.S. Cellular’s lone Allen County retail office lies within Iola city limits, Toland said if people need are struggling to find transportation to the store, they should contact Thrive and arrangements can be made to accommodate them. The store is at 704 N. State St.
Local schools among leaders in U.S. Cellular competition
