FOLEY, Ala. - The Foley City Council unanimously agreed to provide $3,500 worth of financial assistance for Foley High School's English Elective Program at Monday's council meeting.
FHS teacher Berkleigh Cirilli attended the work session and reminded the council she requested $10,000 last year and only received $3,000 and wanted to request a little bit more.
"I made your pennies go as far as I could," she said.
The program consists of a Journalism class, an oral communication class and a newspaper production course where students produce five issues of the school newspaper.
Cirilli said the money provided by the city is not enough to completely fund the program with the production of the newspaper alone costing around $3,800. Add field trips, equipment purchases and the desire to purchase laptops and introduce multimedia journalism aspects like Websites and blogs, and additional funding must come from the school itself, Cirilli said.
"We're trying to teach these kids how to do something that many people think is archaic," Cirilli told the council, referring to the national movement from newspaper journalism to online journalism.
Mayor John Koniar said the program is good and "is money well spent," but the city is watching its funds closely a year removed from the oil spill.
Cirilli told the council she believed this program was valuable enough to receive $10,000 funding when school athletic programs receive more.
"I'm passionate about my kids…I don't think $10,000 is a lot compared to $1 million for something not in a classroom," Cirilli said. "Sports are not everything."
The city pledged $1 million around three years ago to build a multi-purpose indoor facility at the school to be used by athletic teams and extracurricular groups, Koniar said.
