The American Federation of Teachers has awarded a $22,500 COVID-19 Response grant to the Windsor Teachers’ Association (WTA). The WTA is one of 13 groups nationwide to share in $275,000 in grant money to help support Hybrid, Remote and In-Person Learning.
The grant will help the Windsor Central School District develop an engagement toolkit for virtual learners to improve student attendance and provide mobile hot spots for students lacking internet access.
“We are so thrilled to be a recipient of the COVID-19 Response grant. The award will assist us significantly with supporting student engagement and attendance through several initiatives during these extremely challenging times,” said Jill Houseknecht, president of the Windsor Teachers Association.
“In these unprecedented times of students participating in hybrid, remote and in-person learning environments, attendance and student engagement are more critical than ever. We are so thankful for the support of the American Federation of Teachers as we strive to create innovative, successful strategies to reach and maximize the learning of all students. We are also excited to create a ‘toolkit’ to assist other school districts across the country in replicating the strategies that prove effective based on our experiences in the Windsor Central School District,” said Barbara Phillips, Director of Learning and Continuous Improvement for the Windsor CSD.
The grant money will support programs throughout the entire 2020-2021 school year to help the district develop its “Engagement Toolkit for Virtual Learning” to ensure high engagement and high attendance levels in a hybrid or fully-virtual instructional environment.