The Marmaton Valley school district expects to get about four times as much CARES funding in the next round of distribution to help schools impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
Superintendent Kim Ensminger said the district was given a rough estimate of about $242,000 in the next round of funding. She expects the money to be released to the district in February or March.
The first distribution brought about $55,000 to the district, which mostly was used for sanitation and disinfection products as well as personal protection equipment and “hot spots” to provide internet services to students who did not have such access at home.
This time, the district’s primary needs would focus on improving the HVAC systems in school buildings to improve air quality, and to help with assessments for summer school for students who fell behind because of remote learning or other COVID-19 related issues.
Educators call the lost learning “the COVID slide.”
“We’re making great gains, but I’d like to see what our spring assessments tell us,” she said.
The district has lost about 17 students this year, mostly due to families that moved. In many cases, someone in the family lost a job because of the pandemic and that led to the move.
Other families decided to leave the district to homeschool. The district offers remote learning as well as participation in a virtual school that allows students to graduate as Marmaton Valley High School alumni.
“That’s a huge impact on a small school,” Ensminger said, as funding for districts is based on enrollment.
In general, the district has been able to handle the impact of the coronavirus. Some remote students returned to in-person learning, leaving just 13 students still learning remotely.
Around Thanksgiving, the district sent its junior high and high school students home to work remotely for a short time because of an outbreak. Students and faculty were able to seamlessly transition to remote learning and back to in-person learning, Ensminger said.
“I was so proud of my teachers. They did an amazing job transitioning.”
IN OTHER news from Monday’s school board meeting, board members learned the district should receive $50,000 from the Prairie Queen Wind Farm’s Payment in Lieu of Taxes (PILOT).
