• The-year-of-more.png
  • Darlington County School District - Four DCSD schools receive a total of $56,000 in arts g10/12/2021

    • Share:
    October 12, 2021
    DARLINGTON, S.C. – Three elementary schools and one middle school in the Darlington County School District will soon be able to expand and upgrade their arts programs thanks to $56,000 in total grants from the S.C. Department of Education.
     
    Thornwell School for the Arts (TSA) and Hartsville Middle School (HMS) are the recipients of Distinguished Arts Program grants each worth $18,000. Lamar-Spaulding Elementary School (LSE) and Brockington Elementary Magnet School (BEMS) each received Equitable Arts Program grants of $10,000 each. The S.C. Department of Education made the announcement of the awards official this week.
     
    Teachers at each of the four awarded schools spent time and effort last school year writing their grant proposals: Dee Driggers from LSE, Stacy Johnson from TSA, Marlin Ketter from HMS and Gina Wilkerson from BEMS.
     
    Marisa Johnson, DCSD’s coordinator for Arts and Innovative Programs, celebrated the awards and hard work by arts teachers across the district.
     
    “Ensuring that students receive a quality arts education is vital for the growth of students, and these teachers have taken a giant step to make that possible,” she said. “I am extremely proud of their efforts in writing the grant proposals to expand their school arts programs and provide their students with state-of-the-art equipment and supplies. Each year, we aim to have more of our schools submit arts grant proposals to support innovative arts learning. What a job well done for these teachers and schools.”
     
    These particular arts grants comprise the state’s Arts Curricular Innovation Grant Program, which is funded through the Education Improvement Act by the S.C. General Assembly. According to the S.C. Department of Education, the purpose of the grants is to “assist schools and districts in developing and implementing arts initiatives that support quality arts education programs that significantly improve student achievement in the arts.
     
     
    Contact:
    Audrey Childers
    audrey.childers@darlington.k12.sc.us, (843) 398-5100