By Andrew Edwards
Staff Writer
Prattville elementary schools are getting an upgrade.
The State Executive Commission for Committee Grants has given $10,000 worth of chrome books, ipads, and ipad minis for grades one through four at Daniel Pratt Elementary, Prattville Elementary and Prattville Primary.
Partnered with the Autauga County Education Foundation, the Prattville Chamber of Commerce was able to host a presentation ceremony for each of the school’s principals Sept. 25.
Donna Finch, principal of DPES, received chromebooks for her school. Prattville Elementary Principal Felissa Clemons received ipads while Holly McNider and Prattville Primary received ipad minis. Both the ipads and ipad minis will come with a two-year warranty.
“I reached out to the principals Donna Finch, Mrs. Clemons, and Mrs. McNider to ask what would be best to put in the hands of their children,” said Morgan Duett, administrative assistant to the Mayor. “We’re just so thankful to be able to present this to our principals today. We’re glad to put these into the hands of the kids and give back to the community the best that we can.”
Present at the ceremony was Mayor Bill Gillespie, who had nothing but admiration for everyone who was able to make this grant possible.
“I want to thank the education foundation for helping arrange this. Also, Superintendent Agee and everybody else who came together on this,” Gillespie said. “Education is one of the building blocks of our foundation here in Prattville. It’s a way for some of our tax dollars to come back home, and so it’s just been one blessing after another.”
And a blessing it is indeed.
However, this is not a scenario where each student from all three schools would have their own device. This would prove to be too costly, and ultimately, too difficult to supervise on such a large scale. Therefore, 26 devices will be dispersed between the schools. At DPES, every student will have access to the chrome books through their technology center. The same applies for the ipads at Prattville Elementary and the ipad minis at Prattville Primary.
This is yet another great step in the right direction for the city of Prattville to help bolster their education system, officials said. With Superintendent Agee and Mayor Gillsepie working together, the resources that Prattville’s grade school children have access to has now grown exponentially, they added.
“We hope that this is first of many more of these grants to be coming,” Gillespie went on to say. “This is another way to keep the quality of our education moving in the right direction.”
With the addition of this technology, more outlets for learning has been given to our first through fourth grade school students. And with the potential for more grant opportunities in the future, even more avenues for learning could arrive before we even know it.
