SCHOOL BOARD BULLETIN

+ The gift of education
The Stephen and Janine Marrone Foundation gifted $100,000 and a match grant of $300,000 to Incarnation Catholic School of Sarasota to help cover education costs for students. The Marrone Foundation has pledged to match donations and gifts of up to $300,000 over the next nine months. The foundation stated it chose Incarnation School for its strong Catholic values, success of its students and its U.S. Department of Education designation as a National Blue Ribbon School.

+ Improving literacy
Sarasota High School teachers have started a literacy team to incorporate more comprehensive reading into their curriculum. Teachers will attend trainings to learn how to facilitate different reading techniques for students, including asking more in-depth questions about the text, having students take notes while reading and looking at graphs and photos before reading the text. Teachers are preparing students for the type of text analysis they will encounter in college and as adults.

+ Advocacy learning
Nine students in Rabbi Geoffrey Huntting’s Temple Sinai confirmation class attended the Religious Action Center’s L’Taken Social Justice Seminar Feb. 16 to Feb. 18, in Washington, D.C.. The students learned about public policy issues, explored the Jewish values surrounding those issues and learned how to lobby for social action.

The Religious Action Center invites 2,000 high school students from across the country to a series of sessions throughout the spring.