In a presentation at its Monday meeting, the Columbus Municipal School District unanimously accepted $15,000 in a donation from Columbus Light and Water and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
CLW general manager Angela Verdell and TVA government relations manager Amy Tate each presented $7,500 checks to CMSD. The combined $15,000 will go to Stokes-Beard Elementary School as the official community partners.
Board president Yvonne Cox said the money can be used for anything the elementary school staff and students may need that is not covered by other district funds.
“It’s like an unrestricted fund gift for the principal and her staff to use in numerous ways,” Cox told The Dispatch. “There’s no certain way she has to use it. She can use it to improve parent involvement, academics, field trips or different types of incentives. When it comes to purchasing books and supplies, the school does all of that, but she can use it for things the funding codes cannot pay for. … I think it’s awesome that there’s $15,000 for her to do that, and that much for an elementary school will go a long way.”
As a community partner, CLW brings various activities to the school to teach students about the energy business throughout the year. Verdell thanked the board for allowing Stokes-Beard to CLW’s partner school, as it partnered with Stokes-Beard for the first time in this capacity for the 2021-22 school year.
“(Stokes-Beard) is the first school we’ve partnered with in the district,” Verdell said. “We had a really great year. We were able to, we think, bring some exciting and cool things to students concerning the business, the nature of the business that we’re in. Thank you for allowing us to do that. … We had a great year, and we’re looking forward to an even better year (this school) year.”
The donation from TVA comes from their Community Care Fund, in which the organization partners with local power companies for initiatives in the community to help with the quality of life, according to Tate.
Tanesha Jennings, principal of Stokes-Beard, was present to show CLW appreciation from the students and staff. Jennings presented Verdell with a craft the students and staff worked on to say thank you for the last school year’s partnership.
“The students and staff really enjoyed our partnership, so much so that the students and staff wanted to take a moment to make something to show how much they appreciate it,” Jennings said. “It was our first year to partner together, and we, the kids, the parents, the staff, really enjoyed the activities they came and presented to the students.”
In other business, the board unanimously approved hiring two new principals.
Monte Johnson will take over as the principal of Fairview Elementary School, and Shamika McKinney will be the new principal at Franklin Academy.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 48 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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