Norwalk schools take advantage of ESSER money

NORWALK — Government help from the pandemic for schools is about to end. Norwalk City Schools got about $5.2 million in ESSER funds and will spend all of that money. The program ends in September 2024, and ESSER funds are on a use-it or lose-it basis. ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funding is a portion of the three COVID-19 relief laws which have allocated about $190 billion in aid to states and school districts. This emergency funding is designed to help address educational issues arising from the pandemic by providing schools with resources to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the COVID-19 crisis. The ESSER funding program can be used for various expenses related to COVID-19 prevention or response activities that support students' social-emotional well-being and academic achievement. These funds also provide crucial support to students who are most impacted by the pandemic, such as English language learners, students with disabilities, low-income students; racial/ethnic minorities; foster youth; homeless youth; and those attending rural schools or participating in certain programs like Title I or IDEA. As school districts race to counteract the effects of the pandemic on students, one particular challenge looms large: On Sept. 30, 2024, COVID relief funding for public K-12 education will officially expire. Norwalk officials talked about how the school used its money at Tuesday night's school board meeting. "There aren't too many things we talked about that didn't happen," Superintendent Brad Cooley said. Here are some of the top projects highlighted: New phones "We actually put a new server in every building," said Jen Gerber, director of instruction and technology. "The project, honestly, was a nightmare." It took a lot of work, Gerber said, but "at the end of the day we ended up saving $100,000 with this new system. Good functioning phones." Replacing all of the fiber runs and access points "We continue to add programs that rely on the internet," Gerber said. "(We) replaced over 2,000 feet of fiber runs and cabling. Increased band width from about 1 gig to 10 gigs. The system we switched to allows us to trouble-shoot from our phones." The improvements, Gerber said, was this: "Took our dirt roads to nice paved roads." The cost was originally put at $279,000, but with help from other programs "Only ended up costing us about $57,000." Clever-Touch devices "Another program that had glitches," Gerber said. "130 devices needed to be put into our classrooms. We don't have all of these cables anymore. We are able to put them on tables to share between rooms." As far as curriculum, Gerber said the schools have implemented a new program to help teachers interact with each other with consistent data points, a new K-5 reading service and training for teachers in K-3. "Conversations are happening between grade levels ... we are looking for consistency with implementation and not perfection," she said. "All of our staff have had a lot thrown at them, but elementary, in particular. ... We have great people in our whole district. They are the reason that any of this stuff works. "All of this technology stuff are great tools to work with, but at the end of the day it is our people who make things happen." Gerber also singled out her staff and the custodial staff for all of their hard work they put in to make everything happen. Director of Operations Dan Bauman highlighted some of the new projects and how they were paid for. "(We were) looking at other sources of revenue ... federal grants and safety school grants," he said. "We were able to use other sources of funds." Bauman talked about the book vending machines. "The students love it," he said. "Hundreds of books have gone through the machine and into the hands of our kids. Kids love it. Main Street just got theirs in August and it is starting to catch on there." Bauman said the district is looking to put GPS systems in all of the buses. "Hopefully that will be in place soon, before Christmas. That will be a huge asset for our transportation." He talked about the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. "We did not get the 21st Century Grant," he said. "Continue to look at other ways to fund that program. We've had over 60 kids on a consistent basis. Some growing pains but it will continue to grow and flourish." He said the district got a grant to purchase Chromebooks and a Clever-Touch for the club. Other purchases: • Microscopes for Main Street School. • New acoustics for the Middle School band room. • Sensory room at Maplehurst and Main Street School • Acoustic panels for speech room at Main Street School • Air purifiers at all of the schools • Modular building at Maplehurst for our speech and language therapists. There are four offices in the modular building Cooley took over the discussion, pointing out the following additions: • Learning-loss subs • Six elementary teachers • Two literacy coordinators "Once ESSER money runs out can we continue?" he said. "The two literacy coordinators are an important thing to continue." • Literacy tutors • Summer custodial help • School supplies for student families who need help • A therapy dog this year for the elementary schools and another one next year for the high school • Learning bus "We have buses available that we want to convert to a learning bus that we can move from building to building and provide a lot of fun activities as you go site to site," Cooley said. Treasurer Joyce Dupont said the district spent about $2.8 million last year and the rest of the $5.2 million this year. "We pretty much have it all allocated," she said. "We have stipends set aside for next year for all of our staff ... so that's ready to go."