Jamie McClintic

Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona Educational Service District has been named one of this year’s 10 Education Excellence Award winners and has received a $2,500 grant for the program, Interactivity: Delivered Expert to Student.

The Education Excellence Awards are hosted by the SET SEG Foundation in partnership with the Michigan Association of School Boards (MASB).

Jamie McClintic, the AMA ESD’s occupational therapist, was instrumental in getting this award and grant, according to Larry Johns, Pied Piper School principal and special education supervisor for the AMA ESD.

“Dr. Jamie McClintic is our occupational therapist,” Johns said. “And she’s been with our organization for 20 years, and she provides occupational therapy services to our entire region.

“This particular grant and this award is around a handwriting curriculum and program,” he continued. “This grant is going to fund equipment — a computer, green screen, software — so that she can create, basically, an asynchronous curriculum and delivery of this program to all of our students, particularly the youngest, that are engaged in learning the handwriting techniques.”

He explained that McClintic has been using her own equipment, and this grant will open up more opportunities for her to reach the students.

“It’s extremely important,” Johns said of obtaining the grant. “This will just take it to a very professional level.”

He said McClintic’s work impacts 125 teachers and more than 3,000 students on a weekly basis, including all of the kindergarteners in the AMA ESD.

“This will just create a very polished and professional delivery of that handwriting curriculum,” he said. “She’s able to create a caricature of herself delivering those handwriting lessons and those skills in a very creative and engaging way for that population.

“She’s equipping the teachers, with those students in their classrooms, using this resource, to follow up on that skill development,” Johns said.

He said McClintic works for the kids around the clock.

“She’s a great advocate, very passionate,” Johns said. “It doesn’t turn off at all.”

In addition to the grant, award recipients receive an “Education Excellence Winner” road sign and commemorative trophy to proudly display their accomplishment.

Launched as a special education program in 2009 and expanded to reach general education students in 2014, the Interactivity: Delivered Expert to Student program provides effective handwriting curriculum to more than 3,125 students every week. The primary goal of the program is to increase consistency in the district’s handwriting curriculum to allow direct delivery from the instructor to the student as well as a means of progress monitoring through the use of interactive boards. This approach provides engaging instruction to students in-person and remotely. The program promotes overall writing fluency which transcends grade level and progresses with students by establishing a solid foundation of mechanics that shifts focus to composition over time.

“It’s an honor for us to recognize Alpena-Montmorency-Alcona ESD and their educators, and to help support and advance their special program’s efforts,” said John Hagel, SET SEG Foundation interim executive director. “Dedicated, passionate teachers and staff in public schools are what help provide opportunities to learn, grow and build brighter, stronger futures for students in our communities and state.”

The SET SEG Foundation is fueled by its mission to enable students to pursue enrichment opportunities that advance learning, leadership and civic responsibility by providing services, scholarships, grants and financial support directly to Michigan public schools and Michigan public school students.

The AMA ESD, one of 57 Intermediate School Districts that were established in Michigan in 1962, serves Alpena, Montmorency, and Alcona Counties. For more information, visit ​www.amaesd.org​.