The Pond Cove Parents Association has donated $26,000 to Pond Cove Elementary School, which will be used in a variety of ways to help students at every grade level in the school.

Principal Tom Eismeier said money will enhance computer technology for the third and fourth graders, buy more books and reading materials for the K-2 classrooms and for the purchase of a scanner and accompanying software for special education that will allow text to be scanned and read aloud by the computer.

The PCPA has supported educational efforts at the school through grants to teachers and the school as a whole, including paying for the purchase of digital cameras and bringing a whale skeleton to the school.

The parents group has also sponsored a visiting artist program that brings artists into the classroom to promote hands on activities for students.

The PCPA raises money several ways, including from a book fair and an ice cream social in the spring, a craft night in February and Fallfest in October.

Eismeier said the PCPA has been “historically very generous … with classroom and teachers’ needs,” but this year there was “a healthy change.”

Last winter the PCPA decided to explore the effectiveness of the money they provided piecemeal by circulating a survey to all teachers at Pond Cove. One of the things the PCPA discovered was many teachers were still unaware of the untapped resources available through the mini-grants.

“At the very least its exposed all these resources and made it easier for the teachers to access them,” said Eismeier. He added that “it’s got educational priorities out there.”

The results of this survey prompted the PCPA to offer the money to the school in one lump sum, which will still include mini-grants for teachers who apply.

“It’s really focused this year,” said Eismeier. “This way we’ll see where it’s going.”

The initial figure offered was somewhere between $16,000 and $20,000, but when Eismeier and Kelly Hasson, teacher leader at Pond Cove, presented their proposed use of the funds to the PCPA, the group decided to give more and upped the amount to $26,000.

“This is the tip of the iceberg,” said Eismeier. “It’s made us think about other money through grants and looking at our budget”

The mobile computer lab at Pond Cove will get an additional eight computers and the whole school will go wireless, a convenience already enjoyed by the middle and high schools.

The approval to have the wireless equipment installed over April vacation has already been given.

These technology enhancements will largely benefit the third and fourth grades, where new writing and reading curriculums are in place.

The teachers from kindergarten through second grade support this expenditure because they realize their students will benefit from the technology in a few years, but they also requested more books and reading materials to enhance learning in the lower grades, Eismeier said.