LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – Lake County Division 35 of the California Retired Teachers Association (CalRTA) continues to show its support for local students and current teachers by sponsoring teacher mini-grants.

This school year, Division 35 awarded four mini-grants of $200 each to teachers in Lake County schools.

The only requirement is that the funds be used for the purchase of materials that can be reused in successive years, not for one-time expenses.

The Grant Committee, chaired by Elva Hohn, recently announced the following recipients of the 2017-18 grants:

– Jodi Mansell, a kindergarten teacher at Lakeport Elementary School, will use the grant money toward math games, replacing very old ones as well as ordering new ones.

– Jamie Breedlove teaches first grade at Lakeport Elementary School. She received a grant to purchase a rug that will provide each student with their own space to sit during group lessons.

– Amanda Laughner, a science teacher at Upper Lake High School, received a grant for the purchase of digital blood pressure meters which will be used in her biology, anatomy and physiology classes.

– Alisha Bazzano is a kindergarten teacher at Coyote Valley Elementary School. She will use the grant money to purchase Light Brite screens for her students to practice the spelling of sight words.

The Grant Committee met in December of 2017 to review and evaluate applications for the grants.

“It was a difficult decision to finally select only four from the many deserving applications,” said Hohn.

Members of the committee visited the recipients' schools to present the award at a faculty meeting.

Division President Joyce Anderson added, “We would like to thank all the teachers who submitted their applications. If we can grow our membership by just five more, we would have the resources to fund five grants in the next school year.”

Retired teachers are encouraged to join. Information can be obtained by visiting the Division 35 Web site at https://div35.calrta.org/ and clicking on the “Contact Us” button.