WINTON – Hertford County Public Schools is celebrating.

The district has been the recipient of a variety of grants that will help education, technology and dropout prevention.

The grants were announced to the Hertford County Board of Education during their regular meeting Monday night.

After the grants were announced, school board members said they were grateful for the help of teachers and administrators in bringing money to the district.

“These grants don’t save money for Hertford County Schools,” board member Ronald G. Baker said. “They provide things that simply wouldn’t be there.”

For his part, Board Chairman John D. Horton said he was pleased with the announcements because of the initiative shown by the staff.

“I’ve been here a long time and there have been years where we received no grants,” Horton said. “To hear this many in one night is just great.”

The first recognition of a grant was $37,500 received by Ahoskie Elementary School from the Kate B. Reynolds Foundation. The grant will provide physical education and recess equipment for the school.

It was written by teacher J.J. Beale.

Hand-in-hand with that financial reward is a $30,100 grant awarded to Riverview Elementary School teacher Cheryl Helms. That grant, also for equipment, was also awarded by the Kate B. Reynolds Foundation.

Also announced was the receipt of a $25,390 grant for BEARS (Building Excellence and Reaping Success). The grant was written by teacher James Futrell of the Ninth Grade Success Academy to help African-American males entering high school with reading and/or math deficiencies.

Frances Peele, a central office administrator, was also recognized by the board for securing a $96,769 dropout prevention grant to be used by Hertford County Public Schools for the Choice Program.

The goal of that program is to create a cohort of 50 students (150 over three years) and provide them with a foundation for life-long learning interest in mathematics, science, technology and career development activities.

The school district also celebrated the receipt of a $25,000 grant to fund the e-book pilot project in the Ninth Grade Success Academy.

Superintendent of Schools Dr. Michael G. Basham expressed his gratitude to State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson for her help in securing the grant for Hertford County.

Each member of the school board expressed their appreciation to those who sought the grants and the work they would help undertake in the district.