Forty-one teachers and staff members of the Lake Pend Oreille School District were honored Thursday evening for their above-and-beyond contributions to our public schools. The celebration was the first of its kind for the Panhandle Alliance for Education annual grant program.

“It was time we publicly honored those who do so much for our students” cited David Slaughter, President of the organization. “These are forty-one of the 476 grants that have been awarded since our grant program began in 2003. But that is just too many teachers to recognize here this evening!”

The eleven years of grant giving totals over $1,182,000 in dollars invested directly into our classrooms through the program.

The event was also an opportunity for PAFE’s top donors to meet the 2013 grant recipients. It was a celebration recognizing not only the teachers for their passion and commitment to teaching, but also the donors who make the awards possible through their financial support.

Awards were presented by the PAFE Grants Committee Chairman Vickie Pfeifer, and Shawn Woodward, LPOSD Superintendent and Grant Committee member.

The 2013 grants totaled over $77,000 in valuable classroom experiences for our youth.
Educational disciplines were broad including math, science, technology, reading, writing, music, dance, career planning, school bus safety, and teacher professional development. The awards are the result of a competitive process where all teachers in the Lake Pend Oreille School District are invited to participate.

Over sixty-seven applications were received and reviewed by the PAFE Grants Committee. Chairwoman Vickie Pfeifer stated, “It’s not an easy process of elimination when all of the grants submitted are wonderful ideas that merit approval”.

A special award titled the Glass Slipper Award for Excellence in Education was established in 2009 to recognize an exceptional grant each year for the following characteristics: innovation, collaboration among teachers, teamwork among students and a high caliber anticipated outcome. The 2013 recipient for the Glass Slipper Award for Excellence in Education is Sandpoint High School Post-Secondary Guidance Counselor Jeralyn Mire for her grant titled Scholarship Streamline. The grant will provide a coordinator to work with local scholarship groups to organize and consolidate the scholarship data and encourage the use of a common scholarship application.

Jeralyn had this to say “I am honored and appreciate this special award so very much. What a wonderful celebration and it was really great to hear about all the other grants!”

Annual distributions from PAFE’s Special Funds held by the Idaho Community Foundation (ICF) are awarded to teachers at this time. Several of the forty-one grants announced fall into this special funds category.

The Betty Ann Diehl Fund for Music and Arts Education in the Idaho Community Foundation was awarded to teacher Randy Wilhelm for his Lake Pend Oreille High School grant for Guitar and Voice Lessons.

The Dave and Laurie Wall Fund at the Idaho Community Foundation will be divided to pay for two grants in Math and Science including: Wind Chimes for Sandpoint Middle School Math Teacher Patrick Lynch; and Advanced Placement Math Training for Sandpoint High Math Teacher Mary Bird.

The Panhandle Alliance for Education is a nonprofit organization composed of local citizens, businesses, and educators. Their mission is to promote excellence in education and broad-based community support for the Lake Pend Oreille School District. Donations are distributed as a working pool of money used to fund teacher grants, a district-wide reading program, post-secondary guidance opportunities for high school students, READY! For Kindergarten, an early childhood literacy program for families, and in partnership with the Equinox Foundation, a professional volunteer coordinator. The Panhandle Alliance for Education is building a permanent endowment which is managed by the Idaho Community Foundation and the Inland Northwest Community Foundation. Local citizens are encouraged to help by making tax deductible donations. To learn more about PAFE, or to make an on-line donation, visit the web site at www.panhandlealliance.com or call Marcia Wilson at 208.263 7040.