By Caitlin Murray<br><a href="mailto:murrayc@gnnewspaper.com">E-mail Caitlin</a>
The Niagara Falls City School District was awarded $1.2 million in federal grants Thursday that will introduce three social workers into the district for the first time and add two additional counseling positions.
The grant, which is distributed in $400,000 increments annually for three years, is offered through the U.S. Education Department’s Elementary and Secondary School Counseling Program and is awarded based on need for improved counseling services.
The funds will be used to target young children in the Falls as a preventative measure in curbing behavioral problems in the long term, said Carmen Granto, superintendent for the district.
“It became painfully obvious that we needed social workers to cooperate with the agencies and work with the families to make our efforts more focused and hopefully more efficient,” Granto said.
Most of the funds will be spent to add five new positions: Harry F. Abate and Niagara Street elementary schools will each be assigned full-time social workers, G.J. Mann and 79th Street schools will go from having a part-time to a full-time counselor each, and one social worker will be assigned exclusively to special education students.
Lawrence Martinez, a district administrator in charge of grant applications, said the elementary schools have had a high number of students being forced out of the classroom by suspensions.
“It’s hard to believe you can have a kid in kindergarten that’s totally unmanageable,” Martinez said. “And what typically happens is the teacher has 20 other kids to worry about and can’t give them the help they need. So every year, it’s the same kid — and if it’s not solved in kindergarten, you can be sure to see it in first grade.”
Granto said adding to the district’s counseling efforts will help academic performance in a way the district couldn’t on its own before.
“This will have a direct impact on how our students perform,” Granto said. “And we could never do this with our general funds.”
Contact reporter Caitlin Murrayat 282-2311, ext. 2251
