The OPS Foundation presented an investment plan of almost $150,000 for the next four years with three goals in mind: Collaboration, Investment and Impact.

The Otsego Public Schools Foundation provides thousands of dollars each year to Otsego teachers and students as well as investing in current programs and helping to launch new initiatives to positively impact our students’ education.

On Monday, July 11^th, OPS Foundation president, Larry Collier, presented the Foundation’s Big Ideas – a series of investments over the next four years that total close to $150,000. These investments – made possible by the generous donations of others – total $115,000 for 2022, then smaller amounts from 2023-2025; $59,000 of this year’s plan are for senior scholarships. The other $56,000 will be spread across all of our buildings and focus on everything from literacy to science and social-emotional supports.

“We look at this donation as an investment in our students’ future to positively impact their lives,” says OPS Foundation president, Larry Collier.

Total investments include:

• $6,000 for Robotics
• $3,600 for after-school media center
• $19,350 for elementary science and literacy
• $15,000 for elementary playground story walks
• $8,100 for family literacy efforts
• $750 for summer lunch program activities
• $2,000 for OMS 6^th grade camp
• $2,000 for OHS 9^th grade camp
• $1,000 for West Campus High School
• $59,000 for scholarships
• $25,000 for staff grants
• $2,000 for the OMS AIM class
• $1,200 for kindergarten enrollment/screening/welcome
• $3,600 for re-set rooms (social-emotional support)

A few of the plans will be implemented over a series of years like the playground story walks and literacy programs; the rest – totaling $115,000 – will be a part of their investment for the 2022-23 school year.

All donations into the OPS Foundation are turned around and given to the students, staff, and schools at OPS. To learn more or to donate to the Foundation, visit opsfoundation.org. Below are more details on a few of the new initiatives outlined in their Big Ideas proposal.

Playground or Community Story Walks

Story Walks is a project that places children’s story book pages along popular walking routes in the town or playground. The project aims to be a fun and engaging form of literacy for the whole family. Funding would include one for each playground at each elementary building, starting at Alamo.

Family Science and Literacy Nights

Gear Up for some reading and science fun! This investment would have OPS teaming up with the Kalamazoo Nature Center and AAESA Science and Literacy coaches to provide fun evening activities for the whole family. This would focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) and literacy with integrated activities and free books!

Science and Literacy

This focuses on cross-content materials. They would provide a wider range of books and other tests would be provided for classrooms for investigating science phenomena; increase classroom libraries to provide repeated opportunities for children to learn and use new vocabulary; and encourage disciplinary (science) talk to improve language development.