P.I. school gets $5,000 Laura Bush grant

PRESQUE ISLE – The librarian at Pine Street Elementary School will be adding hundreds of books to the library’s collection this year thanks to a $5,000 grant from the Laura Bush Foundation.

The grant for the Presque Isle school was the only one awarded in the state, according to a list on the foundation’s Web site.

The Laura Bush Foundation provides grants to school libraries across the country to purchase books.

Jane Foster, a reading teacher/librarian at the local elementary school, said Thursday that the money will be used to purchase hundreds of books.

Foster said she learned about the grant opportunity last year when she was visiting a Web site where she orders books for the library. She currently has a budget of about $800 to purchase books. She said the Web site had a link for the Bush Foundation grant program.

Although the school didn’t meet the priority standards – those that offer free or reduced-priced lunches to 90 percent of the student body – Foster said she tried for the grant anyway, but never expected to get the maximum funding a school can receive.

“I’m very pleased and surprised that we got the full amount,” she said.

Foster learned about the grant award on Friday and received the check Tuesday. She said she is going to wait until the fall to start purchasing books as there will be no staff at the school over the summer. The school has six months to spend the money.

“That will not be a problem,” Foster said. “I have a wish list already. I want to get another set of encyclopedias and more chapter books for these little guys that are more age appropriate.”

The grant, she said, is a welcome surprise, because it supplements what the school can afford for new books – instead of having the money to buy about 50 to 80 books, Foster now has the funding to buy anywhere from 300 to 500 more books.

Foster also has received some local funding to bring new items to the library. She received a $1,000 grant from Wal-Mart – she just picked up the check this week – and she garnered a $500 donation from the Presque Isle Rotary Club.

Every little bit helps, Foster said, which is why she plans to continue writing grants for the school library.

Next year, she’s going to try for a grant from the Stephen and Tabitha King Foundation.