DETROIT – The W.K. Kellogg Foundation made it known that it is offering $51 million in the space of five years to public schools located in Michigan- the hometown of Battle Creek. The aim of doing this is to tackle bad academic performances that are known to be connected to racial discrimination and inequality.
This grant comes as the president of the United States, Donald Trump is canvassing for an increase in federal funding to help students attend private, public or charter schools. Betsy DeVos who happens to be a native of the area, as well as Education Secretary, is in charge of school choice.
The funds gotten from Kellogg will be directed toward employing early literacy support staff in Battle Creek public schools, making available a pre-kindergarten summer program and finally the creation of a means of improving student behavior that includes alternatives to being suspended. This grant will also be used to project academies within the Battle Creek system which are in connection with the field of interest of the students. It will also be used to invest in the arts and athletics, and to give recruitment and retention incentives for teachers in addition to other things.
This gift was released after the officials of the school had planned for a year. It is also dependent on the release of a study by a New-York University- affiliated center that brings to limelight decades of racial disparities in a city containing about 50,000 people that are made up of 7% Latinos, 18% Blacks and 70% whites.It was discovered by the Kellogg-funded study that over one-third of students in public schools that are located in Battle Creek and are an opportunity to get out of the district are rich white students. Other students who are black, Latinos and poor white students are left with no real opportunities to get prepared for college and career.
Kim Carter, Superintendent of Battle Creek schools, has made it known that she is determined to deal with the issue of racial inequality instead of dwelling on it. Carter went on to say the district made its plan known to the Kellogg Foundation, which is named after the breakfast cereal because it lacked the means of carrying it out by itself. President Donald Trump asked Congress to work on the extension of nationwide school choice programs that would be of benefit to a whole lot of students. Included in this group are Hispanic children and African-American children. However, the educational system is not yet sure of the exact legislation that was being proposed by the administration.
According to DeVos, accessing charter, private and public schools should be the right of every parent.CEO of La June Montgomery Tabron and Kellogg Foundation President described school choice as a strategy “of mobility,” and the New York University study shows those who lack resources aren’t mobile. Carter has made known that one significant step in Battle Creek’s plan will be increasing the number of specialists that students can work with in little groups or individually. The extra staff will be working at different levels. Their job is to boost academic skills in addition to increasing mental, emotional and social health.
According to known records, this grand is one of the biggest of its kind offered to a United States school district. $100 million was donated to the school district in Newark, New Jersey by Mark Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan. However, a lot of the other gifts were less than $50 million or were going to take a long time to be distributed. According to Kellogg, $300 million has been committed to treating issues of radical disparities for children of color in the foundation.
Established in 1906, Kellogg Co. has its corporate headquarters and principal research development facilities in Battle Creek along with one of four U.S cereal making plants. Although the foundation was established in1930, it is independent of the company while remaining the largest share owner.