Oil City School District is moving ahead with spending close to $12 million in COVID grant funding from the state and federal governments.
Superintendent Lynda Weller said the district will be reimbursed once it spends the money from the various grants, which can be used over several years. She added that there are “strict guidelines” on how the money can be spent.
In total, the district has received $11,921,539 in COVID-related funding through nine grants.
Funds from the ESSER III grant have been allocated to employ 10 English language arts teachers, eight math teachers, nine science teachers, two math specialists, one reading specialist and three speech/language teachers to help students with learning loss for three school years from 2020 to 2023, according to a handout provided by the district.
Weller said the district has already been reimbursed for 2021 expenses.
The funds will also be used to purchase new English language arts, math and social studies textbooks as well as two nine-passenger vans to assist with transportation for after-school programming, the handout noted.
Weller said that when the district applies for a grant, it must state up front what it plans to do with the money. She added the application can be changed later if the district alters how it would use the money.
The next largest grant the district received was the federal ESSER II grant of $3,412,000 that was used to purchase an air quality improvement system and pay several teachers over the course of three school years from 2020 to 2023, the handout noted.
The Metasys system, an air quality controls system at the high school, middle school and Hasson Heights Elementary cost almost $1 million, Weller said.
The rest of the grant money will be used to employ seven second-grade and seven third-grade teachers over the course of three school years, according to the handout.
The district also received a grant from the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) for $53,339 that was used to purchase 18 interactive whiteboards for classrooms.
Business manager Susan Fisher said the district has spent most of the PCCD grant and is in the process of spending the ESSER II and ESSER III funds.
Due to the guidelines of the PCCD grant, $2,054 went to Venango Catholic High School and St. Stephen School, Weller said. The amount was calculated based on how many students the private schools had, she said.
The district also received a Learning Loss Set Aside grant for $536,528 that the district is planning to use for summer school 2022 and 2023 as well as afterschool programming for the 2022/2023 and 2023/2024 school years, among other things.
Weller said the district is looking at after school programming and working out transportation for students who would participate in the programs.
An idea that has been proposed is to have week-long camps with different focuses such as STEM and math as a way for students to have fun while practicing skills they may need extra help with, Weller said.
Any student who wants to participate in the summer school would be welcome to do so, Weller said.
The Learning Loss Set Aside grant will also cover adding several positions at Smedley Street Elementary for 2022 to 2024 as well as social, emotional, mental health (including professional development) and reading support materials and resources.
The district was also recently awarded $22,458 in American Rescue Plan — Homeless Children and Youth II funds for the transportation of students identified as homeless for three school years.
Another $12,131 was used by the district to pay special education teachers to instruct the most fragile special needs students in their homes from the 2020-2021 school year through the 2022-2023 school year.
In the earlier days of the COVID pandemic, the district received several other grants that often were required to be spent in short periods of time, Weller said.
The ESSER I grant of $758,000 the district received was used to purchase Chromebooks and iPads for students as well as purchasing cleaning supplies and masks and face shields. Money from the grant was also used to employ four first-grade teachers for three school years.
Weller said that prior to March 2020, when COVID restrictions hit Pennsylvania and schools were closed down by order of Gov. Tom Wolf, the district didn’t have a Chromebook or iPad for every student from kindergarten to eighth grade.
The ESSER I funds and money from two other grants were used to buy Chromebooks for each Oil City student from second to eighth grades, Weller said. Kindergarten and first-grade students were issued iPads, she said.
One of the other grants used to purchase Chromebooks, a PCCD COVID-19 grant of $199,814, was also used to buy cleaning supplies and personal protective equipment as well as cover cyber school costs.
The district also received $24,150 through the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief fund, which was used to buy Chromebooks.
Each student at the high school has been issued a Chromebook when they entered ninth grade since 2008, Weller said.
“The high school was in great shape. We were ahead of the curve,” she added.
Venango Catholic School and St. Stephen also received a little over $29,000 from the ESSER I funds, Weller said.
