By Rod Blackburn
Partners In Education Foundation’s PIE Patrol distributed over $10,000 by funding twenty grants to USD 490's schools on October 22, 2026. This is the first of two grant award cycles for the school year; PIE has about $15,000 still available for the Spring Grant cycle. In addition, we have almost $12,000 in annual program awards to various departments from over twenty endowed funds designed to specifically benefit a program or department. With the addition of a couple of outside grants, we anticipate our classroom impact to be almost $35,000 this school year!
Starting off at Skelly Elementary School: Cathie Rollings: “See the Signal!” & “Making Fractions Visible”, Taylor Reed: “Mallet Madness”, Jordon Tullis: “Every Student Plays” & “Building Tomorrow”
At Blackmore Elementary School: Kate Hadley & Megan Litke teamed up for “Ready, Set, GoGo Speech”
Grandview Elementary: Holly Bright: “The Magic Beneath Our Feet”, Misty Currier: “ABC Arc Matts” & “Art Drying Matts”, Trinity Thomas: “Hands-On Learning Bins & Flexible Seating”, Kayci Scott: “Small Group Resources”, Kely Middleton: “Strum Your Way To Success”, Cristian Hubbard: “Flex & Focus Flexible Seating”
El Dorado Extend: Kody Melugin: “Hockey & Fitness”
El Dorado Middle School: Sarah Windholz: “A Seat for Success”, Brittan Jost & Madeline Nichols got Horseshoe Teacher Tables for their classrooms
El Dorado High School: Autumn Cress: “Cooking Up Ceramics”, Effie Winn: “Headphones for All”
These awards were made possible by using PIE’s endowed fund allocation model for the twenty-five endowed funds designed to encourage teachers, librarians, and others to try new and innovative classroom ideas. Our awards can be used to replenish outdated supplies or equipment to improve the classroom. Plus some of our funds are designed specifically for Special Education needs.
Partners In Education Foundation is a not-for-profit foundation established in 1989 to enhance educational opportunities for the students of USD 490. For more information contact Rod Blackburn, Development Director at rod.blackburn@pie490.org, 316.322.4800. Or visit our website: www.pie490.org.