Schools get $3.3m grant from DOD

The Indian River and Carthage central school districts will receive a combined $3.3 million in grant funding from the Department of Defense Education Activity program, part of an effort to help local schools serving the children of military service members, the agency announced Friday in a press release.

The Carthage Central School District received $2 million to implement the "All Students Higher Achievement" project, which will target students at risk of academic failure with literacy intervention programs in kindergarten through 12th grade. The program will be implemented at all of the district's five schools.

The Indian River Central School District received a $1.3 million grant to implement a revised math curriculum in kindergarten through fifth grade at Calcium Elementary, Evans Mills Primary School and Indian River Intermediate school.

The grant funding was determined by the number of military-affiliated children in each district. The program provided a total of $56 million through 44 grants to public schools across the country, said Connie Gillette, a spokeswoman for the DOD Education Activity.

This was the first year for the agency's grant program. In 2007, Congress authorized the Education Activity program to expand its reach to help support the 92 percent of students from military families who do not attend Department of Defense-run schools.