Funding from the William Barry Love Foundation gave Muskogee Public Schools a boost to start the year.
MPS received more than $1 million in grants from the foundation, named for the late William Barry Love, president and CEO of Love Bottling.
The grants include $694,400 for a reading interventionist and math interventionist at each elementary school, $187,500 for MPS Early College High School program, and $100,000 each for after-school programs at Pershing Elementary and the 6th and 7th Grade Academy.
District Federal Programs Director Donna Parker said the grants are life-changing.
“We have not had any interventionists in math, so this is going to be phenomenal for our math students,” Parker said. “And then to have two after-school programs financed, especially our sixth and seventh grade because they have not had anything.”
Parker said the interventionists help students learning below grade level.
“We were pretty blessed to get a few teachers who retired and they came out of retirement for us, and we’re super excited about that,” Parker said. “Students have been given their first benchmark, and we’re assessing the data now.”
The after-school programs, which start later in September, offer tutoring, homework assistance and special interest classes, she said.
The Early College High School program, a partnership with Connors State College, allows Muskogee High students earn an associate’s degree while still in high school.
That grant covers three-fourths of program costs, with the remaining fourth, $65,000, coming from the City of Muskogee Foundation.
William Barry Love Foundation Chairman James Gulley said this was the first year the foundation gave out grants since Love died in 2020. Gulley said Love wanted to establish a trust to help Muskogee children and youth.
Gulley said the foundation gave out $2.6 million this year. This included grants to Hilldale Public Schools, Kids’ Space, Muskogee STEAM Center and Muskogee CASA for Children, as well as MPS.