Originally published March 4, 2018 by KXAN-TV, Austin, Texas.
Kids laced up their running shoes Sunday in Georgetown to “chase the chief” — the Georgetown police chief, that is.
The Sixth Annual Chase the Chief 5K and Fun Run took place at East View High School.
In her search for funding to add heart rate monitors to all eight of the Irving Independent School District’s middle schools, Sandi Cravens learned a valuable lesson: requests never made are rarely granted.
In January, Cravens, Irving ISD’s Health and Physical Education Coordinator, received $35,000 from the district’s Every Student Succeeds Act’s Title IV-A funding allocation to purchase sets of adidas Zone for IHT Spirit wrist heart rate monitors to be used across her district. If not for some quick thinking by a new administrator, Cravens might not have even made the request for ESSA funding.
“I was familiar already with Title IV but I didn’t pay too much attention to it because I assumed the money would go to another group of people in our district because that’s usually how it works,” she said.
That feeling dates back to the reality of the No Child Left Behind Act, where schools focused primarily on the core subjects of math, English, science and social studies, leaving little time and even fewer funds available for electives such as art, music and physical education. Read More
Funding for new school initiatives including technology can be challenging, but creative teachers continue to find ways to help raise money by advocating for their needs, including staging community events that bring stakeholders together for a common cause.
Last year, IHT and partner adidas combined to launch the IHT Spirit FitFest powered by adidas. FitFest is a “fundraiser in a box” program that helps schools host community-wide events designed to raise awareness for the physical education program and, more directly, money to purchase PE technology including the adidas Zone for IHT Spirit wrist heart rate monitor.
“IHT and adidas help you every step of the way,” said Indian Springs Elementary School PE teacher Tracie Hammond, who organized a FitFest event at her school in 2017. “They set you up with all of your supplies, everything you need to have a successful event.” Read More
From direct budget allocations to accessing federal funding, educators look anywhere they can to obtain funding for their physical education programs. Here are five success stories of teachers and administrators finding funding to purchase heart rate technology for their physical education program.
In West Des Moines, Iowa, Brian Rhoads found funding in the district’s curriculum budget. As a physical education teacher-turned-administrator, he knew that the funding existed but that P.E. had missed out on it for several cycles. He drafted a data-rich proposal to implement heart rate monitors into the district’s P.E. curriculum and the administration granted the funding.
“Physical education has been left out of those funds for many years – no one knew to ask for it,” he said. “Well, I asked for it. It was perfect timing because we were in our curriculum adoption process, so the district simply allocated what we needed. A lot of money has gone unused because people weren’t tapping into it.” Read More
With guidance from her department head, Irving Independent School District (Texas) Health and Physical Education Coordinator Sandi Cravens applied for and received $35,000 from her district’s Every Student Succeeds Act allocation.
After working with her supervisor and the district’s director of federal funding, Cravens researched the program she wanted to develop and gathered supporting material to create a proposal to purchase a set of IHT’s adidas Zone for IHT Spirit heart rate monitors and physical education assessment software in each of her district’s middle schools. Irving ISD funded Cravens request through the district’s ESSA’s Title IV allocation, which designates that funding be used for Student Support and Academic Enrichment.
Though the Department of Education is still approving ESSA implementation plans from several states, funding for the current school year has already been distributed. Physical educators are still adjusting to the new reality that they can — and must — seek out the funding that can only be used for specific programs.
“I was familiar already with Title IV but I didn’t pay too much attention to it because I assumed the money would go to another group of people in our district because that’s usually how it works,” Cravens said. “They discussed that a certain percentage of Title IV money had to be spent on the health and safety of kids. My boss, thankfully, said he knew exactly who to talk to about it.” Read More