Earle High School teacher receives Grants in Place award

Earle High School teacher receives Grants in Place award

Loughran will use funds to produce recordings

RuralSchoolsCollaborative.org

Michael Loughran, band director at Earle High School, has received a $550 Grants in Place award for his Band Recording Studio Project, which will take place during the 2016-17 school year. Mr. Loughran's students will produce recordings that will be made available to the entire community.

The Rural Schools Collaborative is proud to award five grants to Arkansas teachers this year! The Rural Community Alliance, Brent and Jeannie Glover, and The Rural Heritage Foundation (for Rural Special's Project) provided matching funds for this effort.

The 2016-17 Rural Schools Collaborative Grants in Place program was a collaborative venture. The combined efforts fund 33 projects serving 54 communities, supporting the good work of more than 60 teachers from seven states. Twenty-two funders and individual donors came together to invest more than $105,000 in rural placebased education initiatives and projects. The groundbreaking work of the Community Foundation of the Ozarks' Rural Schools Partnership certainly led the way, but others are truly beginning to see the real value of supporting student learning that is imbedded in the community and serves a public purpose.

The Rural Schools Collaborative was established in 2014, and is currently working with educators and rural advocates from 14 states across the nation. The Collaborative is committed to the principle

that rural schools and communities get better together.

From Gary Funk