Marion L. Bates Endowment Fund for Faculty Enrichment Grant

The Marion L. Bates Endowment Fund for Faculty Enrichment supports educators in Rockford Public School District #205 to enhance their professional growth. Established in memory of devoted teacher Marion L. Bates, the fund provides grants for enriching activities that foster intellectual development. Eligible applicants must have at least three years of service in the district, and funding can be used for diverse educational pursuits, excluding routine teaching expenses or equipment.

To support Rockford Public School District #205 faculty to further their intellectual development and interests.
Marion L. Bates, mother of Margaret L. Bates and Kendall P. Bates, was a devoted educator who received her Bachelor's degree from the University of Michigan and her Master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin. She was a teacher for many years, with special interests in history and languages, especially Latin and German. She loved to share her knowledge and worked in many ways to make the community a better place in which to live and learn. She was a member of the Board of the Rockford Public Library in the early 1940s and then was appointed to the Board of Education, serving for many years as its secretary.
Marion's children, Margaret and Kendall, established the Marion L. Bates Endowment Fund for Faculty Enrichment in their mother's memory. The purpose of the Marion L. Bates Endowment Fund for Faculty Enrichment is to provide monetary awards for faculty in the Rockford Public School District #205 to further their intellectual development and interests.
What We Look For
The enrichment grants may be used to fund activities that help teachers further develop their intellectual development and interests. These activities need not be basically pedagogical in nature, but the anticipated impact on classes and coursework may be considered. A wide variety of educational activities may be considered, but funding may not be used for computer hardware and/or equipment, which the school district should provide.

Eligibility

To be eligible for funding, an applicant must:

• Be a teacher with three (3) years of employment in the Rockford Public School District #205.Eligible enrichment activities are those that:
• involve personal or professional growth for the applicant;
• may include additional study or pertinent travel;

show educational linkage to inspire students to be more engaged in their studies, whether through an applicant's classroom, extracurricular, community education, or teaching activities;
demonstrate quality and creativity in pursuing enrichment activities; and
provide opportunities to expand and extend the applicant's range of personal experiences.Past applicants and past recipients are eligible to reapply.

Ineligibility

Activities that are NOT eligible include:

• Personal vacations, and

Activities that are normal or routine expenses of teaching faculty or are typical of professional continuing education, including teacher's workshops, specialist conferences, subscriptions to professional journals or newsletters, institute day expenses, or other all-school or all-faculty events.