Different Perspective

This week was totally consumed with grant writing. Salisbury is fortunate to be the hometown of a very famous stock broker/hedge fund manager, Julian Robertson. Several years ago he setup a grant fund for businesses and schools exclusive to Rowan County. So much of the technology and repairs that our schools have benefited from are directly linked to this Foundation. They award several grants a year ranging from a couple thousand dollars to a couple hundred thousand dollars.

I resolved early last year to write a major grant for North Rowan to double the number of iPad carts. We were fortunate to obtain funding 4 years ago for 1:1 student iPods, but now the trend in education is moving towards iPads. This puts us at a disadvantage amongst our school system. We are not the first on the list to receive new technology because on paper we already have plenty.

This means that the option to get new technology ASAP falls to the people at the schools who put in the work to advocate for themselves.

Okay, on to the reason why I titled this blog, "Different Perspective". Writing this grant I had to look at NRHS in facts and figures. Test scores, growth, graduation rate, discipline referrals, etc. It was the first time I had given the school an overall look instead of what I see here day to day. Since NRHS became a 1:1 iPod Touch school, test scores have risen by over 20%, graduation rates have risen 15%, and discipline referrals are down 60% per 100 students.

The point being, today showed me more reasons to praise our school, and maybe a different way of approaching the features and what things need to be said about this school. It was a neat perspective I did not expect to have!