Arch Coal Foundation Announces Second Annual Innovative Teaching Grants Program for Delta County Schools

SOMERSET, Colo., May 20 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- The Arch Coal Foundation will again award Delta County teachers grants to support innovative teaching ideas in the 2008-2009 school year.

The announcement was made by Pete Wyckoff, general manager of Mountain Coal Company and its West Elk mine.

"In our initial year, 20 teachers from around the county were awarded grants totaling almost $10,000," said Wyckoff. "These grants covered unique ideas that ranged from biology to reading, from poetry to environment.

"Our program tests ideas that improve education," said Wyckoff. "The most powerful aspect of our teaching grants program is the merging of the expertise and experience of area classroom teachers with the financial assistance to bring about new and innovative ways to spark student learning."

Grant materials for next year have been delivered to each school in the county and distributed to teachers, according to Wyckoff. For additional copies or information about the program, please call (970) 929-2303. An electronic grant application is available at http://www.archcoal.com/community/teachinggrants.asp.

Wyckoff noted that the grants program is available only to Delta County classroom teachers, including those who received grants in the first year.

"We are looking forward to receiving a whole host of new ideas this year," explained Wyckoff. "Some teachers may have found that their initial grants from this school year need to be further refined or modified to obtain better results, such as enhanced reading skills or higher level understanding of science. Because our goal is to increase learning, we believe allowing follow-up grant requests will encourage the further refinement of new teaching approaches."

The grant applications are due Sept. 12, 2008, which will allow teachers plenty of time to develop their ideas during the school year, according to Wyckoff. A panel of judges, comprised of Mountain Coal personnel, educators and community members, will meet soon after the deadline to determine the grant recipients, and a banquet to celebrate the 2008 grant recipients is expected later this fall.

Arch Coal, Inc. is one of the nation's largest coal producers. Arch Coal's Mountain Coal Company and its West Elk mine employ almost 450 people in Delta County, Colo. The company's core business is providing U.S. power generators with cleaner-burning, low-sulfur coal for electric generation. Through its national network of mines, Arch Coal supplies the fuel for approximately 6 percent of the electricity generated in the United States. The company is listed on the New York Stock Exchange and maintains its corporate headquarters in St. Louis.