Owasso Teachers Receive Nearly $75,000 In Grant Money

Some teachers received an early Christmas present after the Owasso Education Foundation gave out nearly $75,000 in grant money.

Educators say the money is a blessing. They plan to use the grants to buy things for their classrooms that they otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford.

“Our school district’s so wonderful to have this extra organization that does this,” said Rebecca Shackelford, a music teacher at Hodson Elementary. “It is like Christmas. I love it!”

As a recipient of one of the grants, Shackelford is getting new instruments for her classroom.

“Some of my drums are worn out,” she said. “I thought, wouldn’t it be great if we had a whole class set so that we could all have a drum at the same time? So, that’s what this is doing.”

At Northeast Elementary, pre-kindergarten teacher Chelsey Fulton is getting three grants to use on projects for her students.

“You put in the work every day, and for people to see the things that you do and give you the ability to do more is remarkable,” said Fulton.

OEF President Kaci Miller was part of the busload of administrators and community leaders surprising each of the teachers. She says it is special to reward the hard-working educators.

“I think a lot of teachers use their own funds sometimes to provide some of these resources because they want that for their kids,” she said. “We’re able to come in and take that off their plate.”

Other grants will be used to pay for things like 3D printers and even a flight simulator at the high school.