An ESSA Success Story: News, Advice, and Best Practices

Do you need more funding and support for your physical education program? Assistance is available in the form of Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) funding, but you need to advocate for it. This month’s webinar features Carly Wright, SHAPE America Director of Public Policy and Advocacy and Georgi Roberts, Director of Curriculum and Instruction for Fort Worth ISD. Carly will share the latest updates on ESSA and resources, while Georgi will reveal how she earned more than $299,000 in ESSA funding over the last two years for her district. Start your journey today and learn how to advocate for ESSA funding for your school.

About the Presenters:
Carly Wright is the Director, Public Policy & Advocacy for SHAPE America – the Society of Health and Physical Educators. Carly works on federal, state, and local initiatives related to improving, implementing, and assessing school health education and physical education programs and policies in schools. She also represents SHAPE America before the U.S. Congress, federal agencies, and participates in national coalitions which work to elevate and promote health and physical education policies across the country.

Georgi Roberts is the Director of Health, PE and Coordinated Health for the Fort Worth Independent School District (FWISD). FWISD is a large urban school district with a population of over 85,000 students. She has been in this position over 15 years. Georgi’s responsibilities include designing and implementing standards-based curriculum, providing mentoring and resources to over 250 Health and PE teachers and overseeing the district’s Local Wellness Coordinators. To do this, she has also been very successful in acquiring the funding required through grants and donations as well as building a strong local budget to support the work of the teachers and schools. Recently she has been to obtain funding through the ESSA program to support both recess and PE programs. She is a past recipient of the Channing Mann K-12 Administrator of the Year award as well as the “Joy of Effort” award for her work and love of helping schools & teachers develop excellent health and PE programs.