06-06-2025
Braggs School receives uses grant for computers, intercom
BRAGGS — A $92,086 grant from the Braggs School District Foundation helps the school improve technology and security, School Superintendent Clayton Vaughn said.
The grant, awarded in May, paid for 21 laptops for teachers, 19 desktop computers for staff members and a school-wide intercom system.
"This allows us to be completely modernized with our technology," Vaughn said. "We were on our last leg with computers and technology, and the teachers using it."
The grant comes on the heels of a $870,000 bond issue passed in February that funded new computers and internet connection, new HVAC units, a new bus and new sport utility vehicle.
"The students get Chromebooks, new servers and new access points through the bond," he said. "But there was still some technology stuff I couldn't get with the bond."
Now every staff member and teacher has a new computer or laptop, he said.
Vaughn said the new intercoms are activated through a phone line.
"Safety and security have definitely been updated with the intercoms," Vaughn said. "We didn't have intercoms that worked in every room."
The system includes intercoms in the gym, cafeteria, hall and each classroom. There also is a loud speaker outside. Vaughn said the outside intercom is one-way, while all others are two-way.
Vaughn said the foundation "offers opportunities that otherwise wouldn't be there for all the students."
Braggs Public Schools Foundation is funded by a $530,000 endowment left by the late Lorena F. Walker, a Braggs graduate, in 2002, said Foundation Secretary Melinda Goodnight.
Goodnight, a 1981 Braggs graduate, said the foundation has a long history of offering scholarships to qualified graduating seniors.
She said the foundation has given $106,000 for scholarships over the years. The scholarships pay $1,000 a semester for students attending college or trade school.
"We think that's pretty amazing considering our graduating classes are very small, they number eight to 14," Goodnight said. "We're trying to provide more financial help for the students, and encourage and entice them to go to a higher education program."
The foundation also funded hundreds of new books for the school library and 40-50 Chromebooks.
Vaughn said the bond money is beginning to come through. He said the new bus and suburban will be delivered Monday and HVAC unit bids will be opened later this month.
