By Deseray McKinzy
The Watson Chapel School District superintendent Dr. Jerry Guess, announced at Monday’s school board meeting that he will be presenting a list of purchases needed for the school year that amount to the $3 million state funding through ESSER II.
ESSER II is under the CARES Act in response to the coronavirus and Relief Supplement Appropriations Act 2021 to help address learning loss, preparing schools for reopening, and testing, repairing, and
upgrading projects to improve air quality in school buildings.
Some of the purchases that Dr. Guess specified included purchasing three school buses to replace three older ones, air condition repairs & upgrades, and adding fill-up stations to every water fountain.
Dr. Guess further spoke more about these purchases and more,
The items on the list were approved by members of the board and will be presented Tuesday to the state to get approval to purchase immediately.
Dr. Guess mentioned reading materials needed for the summer school sessions that they will be conducting this summer. The board discussed summer school and will be conducting two summer sessions for 7th-12th grades and one session for K-6th.
The first session for the 7th-12th grade will be from June 7th and end June 30th and the second session will take place July 6th-July 29th.
K-6th will not begin summer school until Mid-July beginning July 12th-July 29th which leads up to the start of the 2021-22 school year. The goal for the district is that the students to be taught by the next grade level teacher to prepare the students for the next year.
Each session will be provided transportation, lunch, and will only take up to 6 hours a day and students will have every Friday off.
Dr. Guess also presented to the board that the summer school teachers will also gain a $5 hourly increase in pay amounting to $40/hr.
