Paris, Tenn.–The PLUS Endowment Board of Directors today presented $40,000 in checks to the Paris Special Schools and Henry County Schools districts for a combined total of $84,500 so far this school year.
The award was thanks to the continued generous support of numerous individuals, civic clubs and local businesses. This school year these funds are used to help meet special needs and requirements brought about by these difficult and trying times, according to PLUS Endowment Official Steve Blount.
Today’s presentation was held at the Eiffel Tower Park in Paris. Present for the presentation were both Directors of Schools Dr. Leah Watkins (Henry County Schools) and Dr. Norma Gerrell (PSSD) and PLUS Endowment officials.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the check presentations replace the evening dinners at which individual teachers and schools have received checks in past years.
PLUS Endowment was created in 1999 as a 501 (c) (3) non-profit organization for the purpose of providing funding for educational opportunities over and above those provided for by the regular school budgets of both the Henry County School System and the Paris Special School District.
Each fall teachers use the funds granted to them by PLUS to provide innovative and creative learning experiences for their students.
In its first year (1999) PLUS awarded six grants to local educators for a total of $2,500. The amounts awarded has grown each year and for the 2019 school year more than $77,000 was awarded.
In recent years the focus of the PLUS Board of Directors has been to “award more than the year before”, Blount said. “However by the beginning of the 2020 school year the board recognized there were just too many unknowns about what kind of disruptions and changes COVID-19 might impose on our school systems. Realizing that awarding grants to individual teachers as in the past wasn’t feasible the board has worked with the directors of the two school systems to identify needs that could be met through special support donations.”
Photo: From left, Patsy Blount, Marie Berryman, Dr. Leah Watkins, Randall Perkins, Dr. Norma Gerrell and Steve Blount. (Jennifer Morris photo).