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Sullivan County, NY - Congressman Maurice Hinchey (D-NY) today announced that he has helped secure a $446,232 federal grant for the Sullivan County Board of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES) to install videoconferencing equipment at the BOCES site and nine county schools across five school districts. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Rural Development agency awarded the grant through its Distance Learning and Telemedicine (DLT) program, designed to enhance educational and health care services in rural America. Hinchey petitioned Rural Development to reconsider the BOCES application after its proposal was originally denied.
"This federal grant will allow Sullivan County schools to more effectively use available technology to improve educational opportunities for our schools and the community," Hinchey said. "Distance learning will provide teachers and students with much greater access to information, services and training and strengthen the quality of education in Sullivan County. At a time when school budgets are increasingly stressed by higher operational costs, this funding makes possible the use of distance learning tools that will make a tremendous difference to our schools and help our students succeed."
BOCES notified Hinchey's office that it was passed over for the distance learning funding after receiving notice from the USDA. Hinchey urged USDA to reconsider the BOCES application based on the fact that USDA had not given consideration to BOCES' location in a federally-designated REAP Zone and awarded appropriate preference points on the application. Hinchey was successful in convincing the agency to adjust the grant application's score to reflect BOCES' location in the REAP Zone, considered an Empowerment Zone/Enterprise Community (EC/EZ) by the federal government, which allowed the USDA to award BOCES the full amount of the grant proposal.
“Access to this modern technology will allow five rural school systems in Sullivan County to greatly enhance the quality of education for students of all ages,” said Patrick H. Brennan, State Director of USDA Rural Development in New York. “I thank Congressman Hinchey for supporting this valuable Rural Development grant program and the proposal submitted by the Sullivan County Board of Cooperative Education Services.”
Once the teleconferencing equipment is in place, BOCES will be able to implement a wide array of distance learning activities to provide increased access to educational content, professional development for teachers, and expanded access to technology and adult education/vocational training for Sullivan residents. All sites will use videoconferencing, connecting rural schools together as well as allowing them to work with hub sites that provide expertise in the area of professional development.
"This grant provides funding for portable distance learning units that enable students to access new educational opportunities over the Internet and between classrooms," BOCES Superintendent Dr. Martin Handler said. "The other important use of this technology will be expanded staff development for teachers in the five participating school districts. We certainly appreciate all the help that Congressman Hinchey provided in obtaining this grant."
REAP Zones are first cousins to the nationally recognized Empowerment Zones & Enterprise Communities (EC/EZ) and are pilot projects of the USDA. In January 1999, Hinchey persuaded the USDA to establish this new program in his congressional district. The Tioga County REAP Zone covers all of Tioga County and the Sullivan-Wawarsing REAP Zone covers all of Sullivan County as well as the Town of Wawarsing, including the Village of Ellenville, in Ulster County. The two REAP Zones in the State of New York, which were designated as such for ten years, are only the third and fourth in the entire nation.
The school sites that will receive the teleconferencing equipment as a result of the new grant are: Tri-Valley Central School, Roscoe Central School, Benjamin Cosor Elementary School, Fallsburg Jr./Sr. High School, Liberty Elementary School, Liberty Middle School, Liberty High School, Livingston Manor Central School District, and Sullivan County BOCES Alternative School in Youngsville.
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