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Baldwin alone receives state grant amid widespread consternation
There is good news and bad news. The good news is that Baldwin has been awarded nearly $110,000 in funding by the New York State Extended Day/Violence Prevention Program. The bad news is the district is the only one on Long Island that will receive any money.
The announcement of the award sparked criticism and accusations of unfairness in many areas when it was revealed that Baldwin was the only school district whose application had been approved.
The Extended Day grants are awarded on a competitive basis — of 431 applications statewide, only 102 were approved — but critics pointed to discrepancies in application scoring as well as the fact that student population seemed to be inversely proportional to the distribution of the awards.
A total of $24.3 million was allocated this year by the State Legislature to the State Education Department for what the department’s website calls “grants on a competitive basis for collaborative projects between public school districts and not-for-profit educational organizations and community-based organizations.” The funds were intended for use by “extended school day programs and school violence prevention programs” to stage “activities that promote tolerance.”
Baldwin funding
Baldwin’s award, $108,000, will be spent on several types of programs, according to Assistant Superintendant of Instruction James Scannell. Summarizing objectives first detailed in Baldwin’s application, Scannell told the Herald, “We plan to use the grant to fund many initiatives. We want to fund student support services, help with Regents prep, homework, things like that. We’re also looking at a Saturday school academy — a place where students who are new to Baldwin could come, figure out where they stand, what they need, and get some help fitting in. We also want to work toward better student connectedness. Some research shows that one strong indicator of student success is having a strong adult presence with which to identify. We’d like to take some of this money to match up kids with adult advisors.”
