Public input needed to access funds for school

Luverne Public Schools is seeking community input in how it will spend $1.170 million in coronavirus relief in the next three years.
The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief III or ESSER III is targeted for personnel or activities that address learning loss that resulted from the pandemic’s disruption of in-person learning over the past two school years.
A portion of the money is also intended to address social-emotional and mental health impacts from the pandemic.
Luverne School staff submitted a preliminary list of possible uses for the money to the Minnesota Department of Education, meeting the Oct. 1 deadline and indicating interest in accessing the funds.
However, a stipulation to the release of the $1.170 million is a public survey.
“This is kind of the first step in getting everyone’s input and then target specific groups based on data from the survey,” said district business manager Tyler Reisch.
Luverne officials recently released the survey through emails to parents.
Community members may access the survey at the school’s website, www.isd2184.net/ESSER Funds Survey.
Unlike the first two rounds of pandemic relief, the third phase of funding requires pre-approval of specific programs and/or additional personnel or equipment.
School board members discussed possible uses and requirements the district must meet in order to access the funds. The district will have three years to spend the funds.
Among potential uses for the funds are additional summer tutoring, after-school, extended-day and extended-school-year programs.
Additional personnel included technology support, substitute teaching staff, mental health and counseling professionals and additional nursing support.
The survey asked participants to choose a number of suggestions to help school board members and administrators decide to which areas they should direct the funds.
Board members tabled the possibility of creating two positions using the money until the community survey is completed.
Administrators recommended creating job duties and potential salary ranges for the re-creating of a full-time substitute teacher and a health aid to work in the nurse’s office. Both positions are listed on the survey.
The survey is available through Friday, Nov. 5.
Questions can be asked and the survey completed during the upcoming student-teacher conferences in the elementary and middle-high schools on Thursday, Nov. 4.
Elementary conferences are from 4 to 8 p.m. The middle-high school conferences are from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.
Since March 2020, the federal government has passed three relief packages in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the ESSER I distribution, Luverne Schools received $111,000 in emergency funds to cover additional costs associated with the pandemic.
The district received $520,000 in a second distribution (ESSER II) to develop and implement plans to return students to in-person instruction.