Staff Writer

Monarch Elementary School will use a $118,000 grant to fund literacy, nutritional and physical activity programs over the next two years.

Principal Anita Maness told the Union County Board of School Trustees Monday that the school had been awarded a Save The Children grant. The money will pay for a program director to run a model literacy program for students in kindergarten through the second grade. The school also has accelerated, shared and guided reader training programs, but Mrs. Maness said they will be incorporated into the model program.

The grant will also pay for two assistants who will run the after school literacy programs for grades 3-5 in the afternoon. Mrs. Maness said the extra personnel will help the school better achieve its goal of serving its students.

“We will have more personnel and more one-on-one instruction for the students who are struggling readers,” she said. “We're the only county in the upper part of the state that has received this grant.

“In Charleston at the S.C. Literacy Conference we will be receiving the Literacy Spot Award for 2008,” she said. “Though they're separate, the Literacy Spot Award and the Save The Children grant go hand in hand with what we're trying to do.”

As part of the grant, the school is also getting 10 new computers and $10,000 for new literacy materials.

The grant will also be used to help fund a nutritional and physical activity programs in grades 3-5. The program will last two hours each afternoon, Monday-Thursday. It will also help fund a summer school program in June.

The board voted unanimously Monday to hire Robin Miller as program director; Meka Adams as the nutrition and physical activity director; and Ella Horne and Angela Bright as literacy assistants. Personnel director Lewis Jeter said the program director's position is full-time while the others are part-time.

Save The Children is a member of the International Save The Children Alliance comprising 27 organizations in more than 100 countries dedicated to the well-being of children. The goal of the organization is to improve children's ability to read for academic, personal and, eventually, career purposes. To achieve its goal, the organization partners with schools in rural areas, providing funds and support that help sustain staff, training, technology, books and literacy assistance for children.