By FULLER ROYAL
Staff Writer

U.S. Representative Mike McIntyre was on hand Wednesday morning to present two checks for grants totaling nearly $3.8 million to the Columbus County and Bladen County school systems.

During a ceremony at Acme-Delco Middle School, McIntyre presented the first check – $3,367,721 – for the two counties’ Hands-On-Early-Reading Assistance (HEART) programs.

Columbus and Bladen applied jointly for the grant. About 60 percent or $2 million of that grant is slated for three schools in Columbus County while the remainder will be used for two schools in Bladen.

The second check, earmarked only for Columbus County, was for $505,394 in E-rate technology funding.

HEART is funded by an Early Reading First Grant, a pet project of First Lady Laura Bush. Early Reading First is authorized by the No Child Left Behind legislation and is part of President George Bush’s Early Childhood Initiative.

Schools receiving HEART grants enjoy an unprecedented amount of materials, resources and equipment as well as highly trained reading experts. Early Reading First is an off-shoot of the older Reading First program.

Reading First’s goal is to have all children reading well by the end of the third grade.

The three schools chosen to receive the funds are Chadbourn, Hallsboro-Artesia and Tabor City elementary schools and will be merged with the state’s existing More-at Four reading programs.

Each school will have two classrooms dedicated to serving as early childhood centers to provide training and materials designed to strengthen early language and literacy skills.

The Columbus County Schools have experienced a great deal of success already with the older Reading First programs at Williams Township and Cerro Gordo elementary schools. A third Reading First program will be added at Chadbourn Elementary School this year, thanks to an additional grant.

The programs, because of the expense, have not been placed in all of the schools. The grant also pays for two reading coaches, one early intervention specialist and one half of an English as a second language instructor.

The system will also employ a speech therapist for the sites.

The E-rate funds, according to the county’s technology director Ken Buck, will be used to fund the school system’s technology program, which includes its countywide network and Internet connections.

Since 1998, the Columbus County Schools have received more than $9 million in E-rate funding.

Buck said that during the last decade, the schools had used the funds to build and install a local area network (LAN) at each district location. Each LAN provides a minimum of eight active data drops in each classroom and two per office.

E-rate paid for the installation of a PBX phone system and centralized voice mail system throughout the district.

Also, the schools built and installed a broadband wide area network (WAN) within the district making it possible for Internet access across the district as well as providing connectivity for centralized applications.

Wireless local area networks were installed at each district location.

The funds are also used to pay for all eligible telecommunications services such as trunk lines, DID lines, PRI and general maintenance and are used to pay for all eligible Internet access services.

Prior to McIntyre’s , he taught the attending eighth-graders a civic lesson on right, responsibility and respect.

Principal Miriam Davis welcomed the guests. Eighth-graders David Bridgers, 14, and Travon King, 14, opened with The Pledge of Allegiance.