LUMBERTON — Four Robeson County Public School staff members have been approved for a a total of $6,336.69 in N.C. FAST grants.
Mike Ward, the former state superintendent, and Henry Johnson, the former U.S. assistant secretary of Education and former associate state superintendent with the Department of Public Instruction, officially notified the staff recently.
These grants were approved in the second round of grants for FAST NC. Three of the grant recipients are teachers at Magnolia Elementary School. The teachers, Crystal McDonald, Erica Oxendine and Deanna Caulder, plan to utilize their grants to purchase school supplies such as headphones, a video player and basic needs for the class. The fourth recipient, Serilda Goodwin, is a PSRC migrant education recruiter in the Migrant Education Program. Goodwin received the largest grant of $4,000. She will use the money to replace bilingual books, games, iPad chargers and covers for the ESL Program.
Ward and Johnson visited the PSRC Central Office to notify Goodwin and each of the three teachers in their classrooms at Magnolia. Ward said the grants are definitely impressive.
“They are grants aimed at helping youngsters have a better learning environment who have lost so much in the storm,” Ward said. “What was really heart warming was they were submitted by school teachers who had themselves lost so much in the storm.
“They put their own issues aside and said we are going to do something for kids. They put together these marvelous grants. It is a real honor for Dr. Henry Johnson and myself to present these official notices of their grants being awarded.”
Caulder, the second grade teacher at Magnolia, will receive a $1,100 grant for supplies. Caulder’s home was destroyed by Hurricane Florence.
FAST NC was created to assist students and school employees who have had great difficulty in the wake of Hurricane Florence and Hurricane Matthew. The idea was to create a fund that would help replace school supplies and equipment that were not covered by insurance. To date, FAST NC has raised more than $400,000.
