McLean makes plans for ESSER III funds

A BLANK CHECK

FCPS implements emergency funding bill to support return to school

NYLA MARCOTT NEWS EDITOR

Following months of planning and debate, FCPS accepted a one-time grant of $188.6 million to aid in the safe and effective return to in-person school. The funds were provided through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER). The majority of funds will be allocated to addressing unfinished learning and providing for students’ academic and emotional health needs.

ESSER is part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (CARES) passed on March 27, 2020. One year later, the American Rescue Plan (ARP) provided an additional $120 billion in funds for ESSER III.

“What I really liked about [ESSER III] is that the schools have their discretion on how they can utilize it,” said Systems of Support Advisor Emily Geary, who leads the academic implementation of ESSER III funds at McLean. “It’s rare that we get money, and they’re like, ‘Do what you want to support your kids.’”

McLean has created a team devoted to using the additional funds within the school, consisting of three head liaisons: academic learning, social emotional health and clubs and activities. ESSER III funds will be divided between these groups with each working on improvements or the implementation of new programs.

“All of this money that we’re getting has the potential to be impactful for students,” school finance technician Jennifer Hill said. “We want to be able to [help] the students do as well as they would have in a non-pandemic year.”

Some teachers and parents have expressed concerns that the ESSER III funds were provided for political goals and will not be as beneficial for resolving school problems.

“Throwing money at problems [is] oftentimes seen as an easy fix,” said counselor Greg Olcott, the social emotional health liaison for McLean. “On paper it looks fantastic, but the real nitty-gritty hard work isn’t always addressed by those big wads of money.”

Although McLean has not yet received the ESSER III funds, the school has already begun to use some of the money it is scheduled to receive in the future.

“[Additional services will be funded] through the school’s appropriated funds,” Hill said. “We are hoping that what we have spent already will be covered by ESSER III—that’s the assumption.”

When McLean receives its allotted money through ESSER III, the school will be refunded for its expenditures. In the meantime, very detailed records will be kept regarding use of the funding.

“Federal grants are very structured, and you have to follow them by the letter,” Hill said. “It’s going to take a lot of logs, a lot of record keeping and a great amount of detail.”

Funds allotted for academics will primarily focus on providing students with support for their classes. Helping Highlanders, a tutoring group that meets after school on Wednesdays and Thursdays in the library, was created to provide students with assistance completing assignments.

“[At the Helping Highlanders sessions,] we have teacher tutors who are there,” Geary said. “We’re going to have some peer tutors [to create] a space after school where kids can come work and get support.”

Teachers are also offering flexible scheduling for virtual tutoring sessions. The assistance is offered at a range of times throughout the week including weekends to provide students with a more college-like experience.

“Teachers can hold virtual review sessions, say, on a Saturday or at night, or something that might be more convenient for the students,” Geary said.

The ESSER III funds are intended to

HELPFUL SESSIONS — Students receive help after school from special education teacher Tim Marden through the new Helping Highlanders program, which meets every Wednesday and Thursday in the library. McLean is using ESSER III funds to offer additional pay for teachers to provide students with homework help and tutoring.

support all students, but some teachers wonder whether or not the assistance will benefit students who do not participate heavily in their classes.

“A challenge is that the kids who really need the most academic support don’t want to come after school or work with a teacher in Highlander Time,” Geary said.

Given that teachers can make extra income through private tutoring, schools previously struggled to keep teachers after school to provide tutoring since they did not receive compensation for their time. ESSER III funding will allow schools to be more competitive in keeping teachers after school for student tutoring and club events.

“The tough thing is that teachers can leave school and go get paid $100 an hour to tutor right down the road,” Olcott said. “We’re now able to use some funds to pay teachers to stay after with kids. It’s not $100 an hour, but the hope is that it will help encourage teachers to want to stay after.”

In addition to being paid to tutor after school, teachers will receive compensation for their roles as club sponsors. They will, however, need to meet certain requirements to earn compensation.

“The factors are basically how much time they put in, how many club meetings that they had and…the average number of students that attend the meeting,” said Jeremy Hays, the assistant director of student activities, who is helping to implement ESSER III funds for clubs.

Although paying teachers to stay after school and sponsor clubs has the potential to increase or create new tutoring and learning opportunities, some fear that teachers will be discouraged by the additional obligations.

“I think that keeping teachers excited about these opportunities as the year goes on [will be a challenge],” Geary said. “Not that they don’t want to help kids, but that they already do a lot. We are, in a sense, asking them to do something else, too. I think that’s going to be a challenge for us.”

Counselors and teachers have observed unusual levels of stress following the return to in-person school.

“The biggest challenge we have is the fact that we’ve got some students and some adults who are at a January level of stress in October, so people are getting more maxed out quicker,” Olcott said.

The section liaisons are concerned that providing excessive resources with the funds could do more harm than good by further increasing stress levels.

“We’re trying to figure out how to walk that tightrope of helping our students with... the resources we’ve been given, while not trying to overwhelm our students and not wasting money,” Olcott said.

Funds for social emotional health have been devoted to creating lessons for training sessions to be covered in the new Advisory period. Olcott has some reservations that efforts to provide mass support will not be beneficial for all students.

“We’re dealing with minds and emotions,” Olcott said. “Every [student] is unique. There isn’t one single pathway that works for every single one of them.”

McLean used some ESSER III funds to hire multiple classroom monitors. The monitors will work full time at McLean to help alleviate substitute teacher shortages.

“We are able to use money for classroom monitors,” Hill said. “What I’m hoping is that these classroom monitors will take the pressure off the teachers, and hopefully, improve [students’] learning.”

While the funds will temporarily allow for increased school expenditures, it remains unclear if schools will have to terminate the new programs and services when they no longer receive the additional funding. It is possible that the increased spending could result in FCPS needing a larger budget.

“It’ll be interesting to see how this impacts [schools], because the federal government is not always going to have all this money that they can give to schools,” Geary said. “Principals have a certain discretion to how they manage their school’s budget each year, but you can’t keep everything.”

ESSER III funds present both unique opportunities and challenges for school staff who are working to effectively implement the use of the additional funds.

“We’re in a pickle right now because more isn’t always better,” Olcott said. “Oftentimes, we’re caught in a tricky spot, because we want to help, but at some point, we’ve got to realize that helping isn’t always just adding on things to do or things to deliver to students.”

ON PAPER, IT LOOKS FANTASTIC, BUT THE REAL NITTY-GRITTY HARD WORK ISN’T ALWAYS ADDRESSED BY THOSE BIG WADS OF MONEY.”

- GREG OLCOTT SOCIAL EMOTIONAL HEALTH LIAISON