BATON ROUGE — Six East Baton Rouge Parish teachers received more than $29,000 in grants to support classroom projects, the school district announced Tuesday.

The funding comes from the Deborah Rochelle Teacher Grant Program, which is administered by the Kelly Gene Cook Sr. Charitable Foundation and has been in place since 1991.

The program provides money for educators to carry out creative classroom initiatives aimed at improving student learning and engagement.

Lionel O'Conner of Jefferson Terrace Academy received $4,950 for a project called "JTA TIGERS TALK Media Lab: Building Scholars Through Student-Led Broadcasting."

Tiffany Stafford of Southeast Middle School received $4,998 for "Small Steps, Big Progress: Supporting Fine and Gross Motor Growth for Students with Severe Disabilities."

Iesha Smith of Istrouma Magnet High School received $4,566 for "The Math Lab Initiative," and Philip Shelley of Scotlandville Magnet High School received $4,996 for "Grow the Swarm."

Gemma Baisac of Tara High School received $4,730 for "Words Without Walls: Lowering the Filter with Collaborative Stations."

Fnu Kamal of Liberty Magnet High School received $4,970 for a project called "Decoded: From DNA to Proteins to Us."

The grants are named after Deborah Rochelle, a former educator and niece of Kelly Gene Cook Sr.