Terry Yarbery, right, presents Ashley Brant of Sallisaw Schools with a check for their sensory room.
Tuesday, May 4, 2021 - The Pervasive Parenting Center (CPRC) recently donated $600 to help three local schools. The funding, which is part of an ongoing classroom grant program the nonprofit agency offers, will be used to help special education students in Sallisaw, Moffett and Poteau.
Ashley Brant, a special education teacher at Sallisaw schools, requested funds to help further develop a sensory room that is used to help middle school students with sensory issues have a safe place to calm down.
Kim Seaton of Moffett with the assistive technology purchased by Pervasive Parenting Center.
Kim Seaton, a special education teacher at Moffett schools, received assistive technology for the special education department. Included in the request are noise-canceling headphones, ear buds, wireless mics and mouse pads. These items will help with testing and day-to-day instruction for children in special education.
Terry Yarbery, right, presents Tanna Weaver of Poteau a check for their life skills classroom.
Tanna Weaver, a special education teacher at Poteau, requested $200 to help with supplies in her classroom. Funds will be used to help supply the high school's life skills classroom.
As funds are available, school districts in LeFlore, Sequoyah, Latimer, and Haskell counties can apply for classroom grants to assist with purchasing supplies for their special education classrooms. To date, the center has donated more than $2,600 in grant funds throughout eastern Oklahoma.
Each school had to explain in less than 200 words what the grant would be used for and why the money was necessary. A committee made up of PPC board members approves the awards based on need.
“We understand that budgets are tight in schools,” said Kodey Toney, director of the Pervasive Parenting Center. “This is especially true in the special education departments. We feel this is a little way of giving back to the community and helping the children in our local schools. We’re here to help families, schools and especially the students,” he said.
The Pervasive Parenting Center is a nonprofit organization that launched in January 2014 to help families in eastern Oklahoma find resources available for people diagnosed with autism and other disabilities. The agency is partially funded by a grant from the U. S. Department of Education, but the funding for the classroom grants comes from donations and fundraisers.
For more information, call Toney at (918) 658-5076 or visit ktoney@pervasiveparentingcenter.org. You may also visit the website, www.pervasiveparentingcenter.org.
Laura Brown, KXMX Staff Writer
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