Harrison County, West Virginia, BOE Discusses US Bailout Funding Plan | VM News

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CLARKSBURG, Va. (WV News) – In a regular meeting on Tuesday, the Harrison County Board of Education discussed plans to allocate the remaining US bailout funding for emergency relief to schools elementary and secondary (ESSER).

The meeting followed a presentation in Morgantown earlier today in which Harrison County school officials presented their ESSER plans to several department heads in the West Virginia Department of Education.

“This presentation was their chance to hear about our plans for facilities and learning loss – those were the two main topics we discussed with them,” said Harrison Superintendent Dora Stutler. “They asked a few questions and then told us we were good to go. There really weren’t any suggestions or changes.

Schools in Harrison County are expected to receive $ 28,993,808.40 in ESSER funding.

Stutler said that once the plan is submitted for public comment, the school system will make the necessary revisions and submit the final plan to the state.

The Harrison County Schools’ ESSER presentation included data throughout the pandemic, including data on academics and learning losses, attendance and behavior, staff needs, technology and infrastructure, as well as health and safety.

“We provided an overview of the pandemic data and described the success of our summer program,” said the superintendent. “We discussed the loss of learning experienced and the fact that our main focus is English and math. “

Stutler said she then presented a strategic action plan for the allocation of ESSER funding, which included basic and targeted academic interventions, mental health supports for staff, mental health supports and behavioral programs for students, summer learning and enrichment programs, after-school programs and CVC. and ionization projects.

Allocations will be split between school years and summers and must be used by January 2024.

According to Stutler, all schools will receive funds to run after-school, preschool or lunch programs, during which each school will have at least two English tutors and two math tutors. Tutors will be paid with funding from the Student Learning and Engagement Opportunities Grant provided by the state Department of Education.

Programs must include recreation, clubs, an interest component (except high school) and a STEM component. High schools may choose to have science and social science tutors instead of the recreation, clubs and interests component.

The allocations outlined in the Harrison County Schools ESSER Plan are as follows:

From September to May for the 2021-2022 and 2022-2023 school years, $ 4,265,353 or $ 2,132,676 per school year will be provided for contractual interventionist positions in each of the elementary schools in order to provide additional assistance to students. pupils during the teaching day. Approximately $ 8,400 will be allocated for materials for interventionists over the two-year period.

From August 2021 to June 2022 and August 2022 to June 2023, professional development will be offered to all staff in developing self-care strategies for resilience, with each school creating a “self-care staff menu” and a development services contract for the school years 2021-22 and 2022-23.

The plan allocates $ 155,972.69 for contractual professional development services for mental health support staff.

In addition, $ 150,000 will be allocated to provide the school system with self-care items for students, sensory items and other materials for things such as “corners of peace” to create quiet spaces and resources.

Each of the schools will receive $ 6,000 and may apply for larger grants, which will be funded based on the number and quality of submissions.

In the summers of 2023 and 2024, Harrison County Schools plans to bring back its strong summer learning program, with stipends including $ 1,714,962 for staff, $ 64,600 for equipment supplies and licenses and 40,000 $ for contractual services with Parks and Recreation over the two-year period.

After-school, after-school and / or lunch programs will receive $ 1,107,417.80 for staff and $ 9,600 for materials and supplies from September 2021 to May 2022 and September 2022 to May 2023.

Finally, Harrison County Schools will allocate $ 17,073,474.49 to update and replace current HVAC and ionization systems in school buildings, with a completion date of January 2024.

The plan states that the goal of the facilities projects is to provide better air quality, with all projects determined by the overall educational facilities plan, the age of the equipment and the recommendations of the inspections of the facilities. State Department of Education websites.

“We’re trying to cover as much as possible with this funding – from tutoring to mental health well-being and making necessary improvements to our facilities,” Stutler said.

Editor-in-Chief Kailee Kroll can be reached at (304) 626-1439, by email at [email protected] or on Twitter at @kaileekroll.

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