Please fill out the form on the Community Engagement page.
Our process for decision making around spending American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds includes community engagement.
Along with the opportunity to participate at a public board meeting where grant funds will be discussed, we invite you to provide additional feedback.
The form will remain open to responses from January 31, 2022 through February 11, 2022.
Any questions submitted in this form will be responded to through an FAQ posted at the bottom of this page as questions are received.
From Community Feedback
September 16, 2021
What is the focus of the $300,000 allocated to curriculum planning and purchase?
The BRSU is conducting an audit of the current curriculum and anticipates the decision will be made to purchase new curriculum in one or more core content areas. These funds are being set aside now for any curriculum purchase, as well as to provide a monetary stipend to the teachers who are conducting the curriculum review and/or selecting new curriculum.
Are the positions covered by the ARP ESSER funding intended to be temporary, or is there a hope that there will be an avenue to fund them once the ARP ESSER funding has been spent down?
These positions are not expected to continue into the general budget, this is why we are not including too many positions from this funding source.
I’d like to see investments in outdoor spaces, not only for play, but for a learning environment.
We are building outdoor learning pavilions out of ESSER 2 funding at each school in order to have stable, outdoor learning spaces at each school. These have all been approved and will be constructed over the next two years.
I have concerns about the long term educational impact of kids falling behind after almost 2 years of non-traditional school.
We are monitoring this carefully and meeting our students where they are and taking steps to support them on making more than a year’s worth of growth annually. Building a well aligned system of support in which our student’s learning is maximized in the classroom and they are given intervention in addition to this instruction will go a long way to maximizing learning opportunities for students.
Mental health. How much is spent?
We have a social worker and student engagement specialist that are added to our budget from ARP ESSER. We have increased our guidance counselor staff by a 1.0 FTE position. We have school based clinicians and additional social-emotional intervention at 5 of our schools. These staff members are adjusting their programming to meet the needs of our students today, even if that means operating differently than they have in the past. It is important to remember that this funding ends in September 2024, so any positions we add using ARP ESSER funding will not continue once the funding time frame is over.
I believe this once in a lifetime funding opportunity should be used to invest in infrastructure and long-term investments that can benefit teachers and students for years/decades to come. It's important that these funds be split fairly, and transparently, among the schools. Some schools are in greater need than others.
Some construction projects were included in our ESSER 2 grant and others are included in ARP ESSER. All schools are having significant work done and specific projects by school are found on the BRSU ESSER web page. A few highlights include new windows, updates to HVAC systems and air circulation systems, updates to flooring and outdoor learning pavilions at every school.
I am concerned about funding positions that will end. The district should consider funding infrastructure that has long term benefit.
With the three ESSER funding sources, we are working to minimize the number of short-term positions that are funded. We do, however, have academic and social-emotional needs that are more acute than in typical school years that require additional staff to support. The intention of these funds is to provide short-term support that will lead to a longer term positive impact.