Bartholomew Consolidated School Foundation (BCSF) has used grant money to wipe out negative cafeteria balances for students across Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.
Deepti (Agashe) Vijaykumar, foundation executive director, said the grant — provided by Cummins — will fully cover negative account balances this semester, and part of next semester as well. The BCSC district serves more than 11,000 students.
BCSC officials did not have specifics of how much the grant was, or the extent of the negative cash balances in food service accounts by press time on Friday, but did say that donations in these situations typically go towards student accounts with negative balances at schools not part of the Community Eligibility Provision (CEP), which provides federally-funded meals at no cost to students.
W.D. Richards and Mt. Healthy elementaries were added to the CEP this year, after BCSC’s four Title One Schools — Clifty Creek, Schmitt, Smith and Taylorsville elementaries — were added last summer.
The foundation is gearing up for the annual Harlem Wizards game at Columbus East High School on Nov. 23, with proceeds going towards teacher grants the foundation gives out in the fall and spring.
Tickets for the Harlem Wizards game and more information about the foundation can be found at bcsfstars.org
The foundation has given away more than $20,000 in teacher grants this year, Vijaykumar said, adding that anyone who wants to fundraise for the district can do so with the foundation serving as the fiscal agent.
“If someone is passionate about something within BCSC: it could be art, it could be music, it could be the robotics league, it could be anything,” Vijaykumar said. “They can reach out to us and we will match their passion and their dollars to any gap that is there within BCSC.”
Vijaykumar encouraged those interested in supporting the district to do so by contacting schoolfoundation@bcsc.k12.in.us.
