Phil Hardin Foundation Chief Executive Officer Rebecca Combs-Dulaney, right, presents the Meridian Public School District Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor with a grant check of $1,663,500.

    The Meridian Public School District has received a grant of $1,663,500 from the Phil Hardin Foundation.

    The money will be used to support the expansion of the Little Wildcats Pre-K program, the addition of District Instructional Specialists, the establishment of the Fine Arts and Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) Small Learning Communities, and continued support and growth of the Teacher Incentive program.

     Chief Executive Officer of the Phil Hardin Foundation Rebecca Combs-Dulaney said, “Our support continues to be predicated on the performance of the administration, teachers and students in the execution of research-based innovations and strategies that improve every classroom in our schools.”

    The Phil Hardin Foundation announced it will continue to work closely with the administration to build on district successes.

    The grant will be distributed over a three-year period. The additional Pre-K classrooms, Fine Arts and STEM Small Learning Communities, and Instructional Specialists are all scheduled to begin in August of the 2013-14 school year.

    “One motto of the Meridian Public School District is ‘Creating Top-Down Support for Bottom-up Success,’ and no organization illustrates this more clearly than the Phil Hardin Foundation,” said MPSD Superintendent Dr. Alvin Taylor. “The Phil Hardin Foundation has been supportive of me and this administration from day one, and they have played a significant role in the success of the school district.”

    Last year, the Phil Hardin Foundation also awarded MPSD with a grant totaling $1,065,000 for the Recruiting and Retaining Effective Teachers and Leaders program and implementing the Health Small Learning Community at Meridian High School. The Health Small Learning Community opened in August.