WILTON — Franklin County Retired Educators Group has announced that Gerald D. Cushing School is the 2016 recipient of the group’s annual grant. 

The group annually funds a $300 grant to a teacher or group of teachers in Franklin County. The grant rotates throughout the county, between Regional School Unit 9, RSU 73, RSU 58 and Rangeley schools, giving teachers in each area an opportunity to receive the grant. 

In the past, the grant has funded an after-school art program, an American Sign Language talent show with a speaker, a field trip to attend a performance by the Portland Symphony Orchestra and a robotics team attending a state competition, as well as other benefits.

This year, the grant will be funding an opportunity for prekindergarten, kindergarten and first-grade classes at Cushing School in RSU 9. The classes will visit the Northern Stars Planetarium in Fairfield in conjunction with their reading and science units.

At the Franklin County Retired Educators Group’s May 2017 meeting, the teachers and students benefited will give a presentation of how the grant money was used.

Each October, the Franklin County Retired Educators Group has an auction following the meeting. Members bring new, gently used or homemade items, usually having more than 100 items on which to bid. The 2016 auction brought in almost $600.