
Slocum secured nearly $260,000 in state Science, Technology, Engineering and Math – or STEM – grant funds for math interventionists. The funds are being used to hire three educators to provide intensive instruction for students who scored low on the Standards Based Assessment exam last school year.
The Deming district received $225,000 this year for the GEAR-UP – or Gaining Early Awareness and Readiness for Undergraduate Programs – effort. The federal program promotes higher education by improving the college and career-readiness of students. This is the first year of a seven-year program which will follow this year’s seventh-graders through their first year of college.
It looks like Slocum also helped the district receive over $625,000 in grants for a Fresh Fruits and Vegetables Program. The program, which is awaiting confirmation for this school year, brought in approximately $135,000 last year for Bataan, Bell, Columbus and Memorial elementaries.
Another recent grant – awarded to the tune of over $83,000 – will allow the district to address health curriculums within the schools in four stages. The Wildcat Wellness Project is funded by the Paso del Norte Health Foundation.
And Slocum helped secure $25,000 in a Safe Routes to School grant for Torres Elementary, and another $19,500 for a New Mexico Transformational Community Grant which will expand the Safe Routes to School program to two additional elementaries.