Merrimack Valley School District is using its $374,000 in CARES Act and Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funding to buy personal protective equipment for staff and students, cleaning supplies and to boost technology for the fall, but it still isn’t enough to cover everything that’s recommended within the state’s new safety framework, Superintendent Mark MacLean said.
“$374,000 sounds like a lot of money, but it doesn’t go very far,” MacLean said during a virtual meeting with Sen. Maggie Hassan on Monday. “We know that we need more money. Any support that we can get that gives a little bit more of an influx of money will allow us to get things like plexiglass dividers, infrared scanners…some way to support our nurses, the list could go on and on.”
Needing more funds to pay for personal protective equipment and other COVID-related expenses is becoming a common refrain for New Hampshire school districts, as educators prepare to return to school in the fall, many with face-to-face instruction.
Merrimack Valley School District is operating on a framework where families can choose remote-only learning or partially remote and partially in-person learning for their children this fall.
School officials hope assistance will come from Washington, they told Hassan.
The remote discussion offered a window into districts’ challenges as New Hampshire families clamor for a return to in-person learning and schools scramble to acquire the funds necessary to afford unbudgeted safety items recommended for keeping the virus at bay.
Kevin Carpenter, principal at Kennett High School in North Conway, said transportation is a big issue, especially for high schools that bring students in from many sending towns.
“The CARES Act funds don’t go very far at all,” he said. “We’ve already exceeded what we’ve been allocated.”
Katherine Brown, a special education teacher in the Rochester School District, said educators are also worried about air quality in the buildings, and are trying to decide whether to spend funds on extra PPE or on updating old ventilation systems.
“I think this is where we see funding in schools as being critical,” Brown said. “Schools are at the epicenter of our communities…how safe our schools are is going to radiate out and be as safe as our communities are.”
Affording these additions is a challenge for the school districts who did not receive federal funds, according to Rachel Borge, director of special services in the Hudson School District. The relief funds were allocated using the same formula as Title I funding; schools are only eligible to receive it if they serve at least 40% economically disadvantaged students.
“We have communities in our state that did not receive any Title I funds, and that means they did not receive any ESSER funds,” Borge said. “They are struggling now to figure out how to cover the cost of all these unbudgeted items we need within our existing parameters.”
Jessica Stein Pollack, president of the parent-teacher organization at Christa McAuliffe School in Concord expressed concern over how to address the social and emotional well-being of kids who are anxious about the pandemic.
“What happens when they’re in school and ‘Michael’ goes home because they think he has COVID, your teacher’s not here because they have COVID, and the anxiety that’s going to cause,” Stein Pollack said. “How do we make sure the kids are going to be supported through this anxiety?”
Concord School District will announce on Aug. 3 whether they will be operating remote-only or with a hybrid model similar to Merrimack Valley’s.
Brown said social and emotional well-being is also a funding issue, as that support comes from having enough guidance and counseling staff on hand.
“I understand the social and emotional issues are at the forefront for every teacher I know right now,” Brown said. “Everybody is thinking about how can we reach these kids in our classrooms and make sure they are supported… and also make sure we have the personnel in place to support the kids that may have been through trauma,” Brown said.
Hassan introduced a coronavirus relief bill in the U.S. Senate at the end of June, to provide $430 billion to support child care facilities, K-12 schools, and higher education institutions during the pandemic. She said Monday that money for education, from preschool through college, should be “a huge part” of the next relief package from Washington.
“We need to make sure all students, including students with disabilities or who have other particular needs, have their needs addressed at a time when it is so critically important that our kids know that we’re supporting them through this challenge,” she said.