Newtown Middle School art teacher Leigh Anne Coles is hoping the public will help her with a project that will benefit NMS students. She has set up a fundraising campaign to acquire four Google Chromebooks for students to use.DonorsChoose

Ms Coles said on Thursday, October 8, the goal is to raise $814 for four Chromebooks. Until October 12 DonorsChoose is matching donations, dollar for dollar, when the donor uses the code SPARK at checkout.

The full project is raising funds through January 27.

DonorsChoose, according to the website, is an online charity designed to raise money for projects for public school classrooms. When a project reaches its set funding goal, the materials are distributed to the school, according to the site. If a project does not reach its goal, donors are refunded their donations in the form of an account credit, which can be used to support a different project or to send the teacher with the original goal a DonorsChoose gift card.

The site also charges for processing fees and for providing the services, like postage and processing thank you letters from the classrooms with completed projects, according to the site. These charges are included in the total fundraising campaign.

“Currently, we have one ‘teacher only’ desktop, and one ‘teacher only’ iPad in each classroom, both of which have access to the internet,” Ms Coles wrote on the project’s website. “We encourage our students to bring their personal devices, if they have them, to use as a tool in the classroom to look up references. Internet accessible technology has brought the world to our students fingertips, however, in our classroom, it is only limited to the ‘teacher only’ technology, or student technology… if they have it.”

Ms Coles, who is listed as the project overseer on the fundraising site, estimates 814 NMS students will be helped through the project.

“Our students have art once a week, where they have a chance to express themselves through the projects they create,” she wrote. “The new art curriculum has a strong focus on cultural concepts that span the world, which foster connections to other academic areas.”

If the project is completed through DonorsChoose, Ms Coles wrote the Chromebooks will be set up and designated for “a ‘student only’ resource center, where students with or without personal technology can access the world, where they can research and develop inspiration for their designs.”

Ms Coles also said the Chromebooks will help foster 21th Century learning skills.

“The donations will help us to develop a permanent ‘student only’ resource station in the classroom, so all students can access references and find inspiration for their projects,” wrote Ms Coles.

According to DonorsChoose, the site is a 501(c)(3) charity, and donations are tax-deductible.

The fundraising page for the NMS project is available here.