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On Thursday May 31, Washington Township Schools closed out the school year with a celebration to honor all of the educators and staff who make a difference in the lives of children every day. Among surprise announcements of the District’s Teacher of the Year, employees had another large surprise: the announcement of an $800,000.00 gift to the District from private funders to support the district wide deployment of International Baccalaureate (IB).
Washington Township is making transformational and systemic changes that enhance the teaching and learning for all Washington Township students. Having hosted the International Baccalaureate Diploma Program for more than 20 years, the District is extending the International Baccalaureate (IB) to all of its elementary (Primary Years Program) and middle school (Middle Years Program) students, making it the first K-12 district-wide IB program in the state of Indiana.
The private donors to IB in Washington Township are Township residents, District alumni, parents of current students, parents of graduates, faculty, and staff. “This is one of the largest single contributions of private dollars given to a public school district in Indiana, if not the largest,” said Dave Sternberg of Loring, Sternberg and Associates.
The private dollars are allocated to the support of implementing the International Baccalaureate framework district-wide through IB professional development, IB materials & resource, IB curriculum writing and quality assurance of the IB deployment. Currently all 7 of the District’s elementary schools, and all 3 middle schools, as well as the North Central High School, are all IB Candidate Schools.
“Every child is worthy of this opportunity (IB) and we want to give it to them,” said one of the donors and Washington Township Schools Foundation President, Kris Cudahy.
“We believe in and support all of the wonderful work that teachers are doing in Washington Township, and this is one way that we can show that support,” said donor Perry Griffith.
The Washington Township Schools Foundation gives tremendous additional support to Washington Township Schools and has granted over $2 million since 1997, in small grants from throughout the District.
This $800,000.00 gift of private dollars is the start toward a one million dollar public campaign that began on May 31, 2012.
Watch a video here from the donors about why they support public education:
