Colfax school district receives $431,000 in federal ESSER funding with another $780,000 in the works
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By LeAnn R. Ralph
COLFAX — The Colfax school district has received $431,000 in federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds (ESSER) related to the COVID-19 pandemic and is eligible for another $780,000.
When the pandemic started and the schools were closed in March of 2020 for the remainder of the year, the Colfax school district bought laptop computers for staff for virtual teaching and some social distancing stickers for a total of $84,234 reimbursed from ESSER 1 of the Coronavirus Aid, Relieve and Economic Security Act (CARES), said William C. Yingst Jr., district administrator, during his report on the ESSER federal dollars at the Colfax Board of Education’s February 14 meeting.
The school district purchased 65 laptops at a cost of $1,295 each along with four packs of social distancing stickers for $68, he said.
At the time, no one knew if there would be more ESSER funding available for schools, but as it has turned out, there were two more rounds of funding, Yingst said.
Ashley Goulet, Yingst’s administrative assistant and the school district accountant, is exceptionally good at keeping track of receipts and making spreadsheets so that submitting receipts for reimbursement has gone smoothly, he said.
ESSER II
For the second round of ESSER funding, the school district received reimbursement for $346,845, although the funding was barely enough to cover the additional costs related to COVID, and in fact, the school district had another $18,576 in expenses that was not reimbursed, Yingst said.
Items purchased with ESSER II funding for the 2020-2021 school year included 90 Chromebook computers and bags for $35,272; licenses for virtual learning for Google Suites for $2,120; nine Promethean Boards for $23,279; 69 headsets and 74 cameras for teachers to teach virtually for $39,639; and five Redcat Devices for classroom teachers wearing masks at a cost of $7,590.
A Redcat Device is a wireless microphone to amplify the sound of the teacher’s voice, which can be muffled because of the mask, Yingst said.
Some students have varying degrees of hearing difficulty, and the masks can make it particularly hard to hear what the teacher is saying, he said.
Other items purchased under ESSER II include Plexiglass dividers and food service sanitizer for $17,723; hotspots for virtual students for $9,084; personal protection equipment (PPE) supplies for the school nurse at a cost of $11,011; custodial PPE supplies at a cost of $4,571; and a sanitizing service for $20,517.
The hotspots for connecting to the Internet only work as well as the cellular telephone service that is available, Yingst said.
Some areas of the school district do not have very good cell service, so the hotspots did not always work very well, he said.
Additional items under ESSER II include social distancing supplies and equipment for $8,023; medical assistant pay/extra nurse pay for $26,759; full-time substitute teachers for $87,131; COVID leave pay for $65,261; and HVAC contract/rental for $7,390.
The COVID leave pay for staff is federal law, Yingst noted.
ESSER III
The ESSER III funding is available over three years and must be claimed by September 30, 2024, Yingst said.
The school district must submit a budget for the ESSER III funding by March 11, he said.
The ESSER III funding will be helpful because the state Legislature did not increase school funding for 2021-2022, and everything you can think of has increased in price, such as food and fuel, Yingst said.
The money will be used to offset the Colfax school district’s budget for 2021-2022 and 2022-2023, he noted.
More Promethean Boards are on the list for $75,879, and 15 news boards were ordered just the other day, Yingst said, adding that 26 Promethean Boards must be replaced all together.
Other items on the ESSER III budget include the virtual learning service, Edgenuity for $75,000; more Chromebooks and bags for $75,000; hotspots for $35,000; PPE supplies for the school nurse at a cost of $30,000; medical assistant pay for $64,500; full-time substitute teachers for $100,000; sanitizing supplies for $30,000; interventionists for $250,000; and increasing the speech and language pathologist to full-time at a cost of $45,000.
Donation
In other business at the February 14 meeting, the Colfax Board of Education accepted an anonymous donation of $4,140 to offset the cost of past due lunch money owed to the district.
The money will be deposited into the Food Service Fund 50 to assist with what students still owe for lunches, Yingst said.
For the past two years during the pandemic, the United States Department of Agriculture has made school lunches free for students.
Several school board members expressed heartfelt appreciation for the anonymous donation to help families who had fallen behind in paying for school lunches prior to the pandemic.
Food service
During his superintendent’s report to the Board of Education, Yingst noted that on a recent day, the district’s food service had served 605 meals.
On a good day, the count is usually between 400 and 500 meals, he said.
What accounted for the high number of meals?
“Pizza dippers,” Yingst said.
Unfortunately, because of supply chain problems created by the pandemic, there are still shortages on certain food items, he said.
The food service staff is doing an excellent job, however, “and no one is going hungry,” Yingst said.
Other business
In other business, the Colfax Board of Education:
• Learned that the school district has received $72,2000 from the Emergency Connectivity Fund (TEACH grant) for 200 Chromebooks.
• Learned that the summer swimming dates will be June 6 to June 17 at the Elk Mound High School swimming pool
• Learned that summer school dates will be June 20 through July 1 at Colfax Elementary.
• Learned that the 2022-2023 school calendar is still “a work in progress.”
• Learned that the second Friday in January count was the full-time equivalence of 749 students. The number is six less than the third Friday in September count.
• Learned that the Colfax FFA Alumni Farm Toy Show will be held on February 27.
• Learned that Aimee Fruit took first place in the Dunn County 2022 Poster contest. She will move on to compete in the West Central Area 2022 Poster Contest.
• Learned that the Colfax High School play performance of “Catch Me If You Can” will be held on Friday, March 25, at 7 p.m.; Saturday, March 26, at 7 p.m.; and on Sunday, March 27 at 2 p.m.