The Bureau Henry Stark Regional Office of Education has been awarded a federal 21st Century Community Learning Center grant to provide extended day programming and extended year programming for area students.

Angie Zarvell, superintendent of the Bureau Henry Stark Regional Office of Education, said the federal grant award provides a total of $999,520 in the first year of the five-year grant. The grant will allow for the creation of eight full-time site coordinators and other new positions as programs at each school are established. Hopefully, site coordinators and some programming plans will be in place by mid-January, Zarvell said.

Schools which will benefit from the grant include Bureau Valley South in Buda, LaMoille’s Allen Junior High and High School, Central Junior High School in Kewanee, Wethersfield Junior High and Senior High in Kewanee, Colona Grade School and Galva Elementary, Junior High and Senior High. The amount of grant money for each district will be dependent upon the established programs and also shared programming between districts, Zarvell said.