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The Greene County School District is expected to receive over $1.6 million in federal funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds.

Superintendent Tim Christensen says the money is targeted to be spent for COVID-19 relief or mitigation efforts. He points out one area the money can be used for is updating the heating and cooling systems for school buildings to improve the air quality as a mitigation measure against COVID-19, which is being looked at for the elementary and middle schools. 

Christensen notes another way to spend the funds is ways to fulfill the learning gaps that students experienced over this last year because of the pandemic. He explains that they are looking to use funds on summer school and enrichment programs with Greene County ISU Extension, as well as hiring temporary positions.

“We’re looking at hiring elementary and middle school math interventionists to help again close the gap in math. We’re looking at hiring a school/family liaison. We’ve got approximately 100 kids that are remote learning this year that will need to come back to school next year, reintegrate them back into the school system, work with the students, work with the families to make them feel comfortable about being back to school.”  

Other areas include technology upgrades to audio and visual learning, along with providing additional counseling services. 

Christensen adds, the ESSER funds must be spent by June 30, 2023, meaning the additional positions will only be two year jobs. He says the goal is to close the learning gaps and provide as many mitigation measures against COVID-19 to ensure as much safety for students and staff going forward. You can click the link below to see the updated list of ESSER projects. 

ESSER-Expenses-List