NORTHAMPTON — The Northampton Education Foundation has announced more than $60,000 in annual grants for various programs in the Northampton public schools, as well as announcing a new plan for distribution of its endowment grants.

Rather than give an endowment grant to a specific program at Northampton High School this year, NEF announced it would instead be giving the school $100,000 over the next three years “to enrich, enhance and sustain educational experience” for students at the school, according to a release put out by NEF. The news comes as the school district faces several cuts to staffing and programs after the approval of this year’s school budget.

Marty Wohl, a co-presidents of NEF, said the plan to restructure the endowment grant process had been several years in the making, but had been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic as well as recent turnover, with the district seeing three superintendents and three high school principals over the past two years.

Now that both positions are settled, with Portia Bonner and Ben Taglieri accepting the superintendent and high school principal roles, respectively, NEF decided to put its restructuring plan into process. The newer plan allows for schools to be able think more long-term in how to support various programs that have come into fruition due to the grants, according to Wohl.

“The difficulty in grant funding is how to sustain it,” Wohl said. “This gives us that opportunity.”

Though only the high school will be part of the new plan this year, the foundation plans to implement the process for JFK Middle School for the 2025-2026 school year and then across the district’s four elementary schools for the 2026-2027 year, with a committee to determine how the funds will be distributed among the elementary schools.

Wohl said the way the school will use the funds will be determined at a later date in the early fall, once the school year has started.

“The decisions made should come from all stakeholders in the community,” Wohl said. “It’s not just the principal and the school council, it’s all voices that are important.”

For this year, $27,000 in endowment grants will be given across all NPS elementary schools for “Tiered Augmentative and Alternative Communication” support for preschool to grade two students, given out as a way to address an identified need for children with communication issues or for students whose first language is not English. The support includes modifications to the current curriculum to provide greater accessibility to students and implementation of more inclusive practices in classroom settings, according to the NEF.

NEF also announced more than $25,000 to be distributed to nine different projects across schools in the district as part of its small grants program,

Notable among the small grant awards is $3,000 for the continuation of the Introduction of Homesteading class at Northampton High School. Begun last school year by woodshop teacher Bob Melnik, the class teaches students various methods of self-reliance, such as how to forage for food, sew clothing and even make their own root beer.

Including the homesteading grant, there are four total small grants going to Northampton High School, with the other three going to support college visit field trips, workshops to develop a curriculum based on social justice and mindfulness and a band percussion coach.

JFK Middle School will receive $3,000 to certify an educator in Project Lead the Way, a pre-engineering program that teaches students coding projects. The district’s elementary schools received a total of $12,495 for four projects, with the money going toward research on monarch butterflies with local author Naila Moreira, literary development for first grade students at Bridge Street School, a reading and math family collaboration program at Leeds and a performance by local entertainer Brett Outchcunis at Bridge Street that teaches social skills.

NEF grants programs are funded through annual donations from the community. The organization states that since 1991, the date of its inception, it has invested more than $1 million in contributions into activities benefiting the Northampton public schools.

“This is the fruition of incredible community support,” Wohl said. “The community is the story here. They see the value of education, and they care about that value.”

Alexander MacDougall can be reached at amacdougall@gazettenet.com.