The boards of education for the Regional 4 School District were updated on the status of new COVID-related grant funding at a series of individual board meetings held in November.

Since the boards were last updated on the grants at the start of the school year, the parameters of the state Department of Education’s Coronavirus Relief Funds (CRF) changed to allow districts to reallocate the funding. This funding needs to be spent by Dec. 30.

“Initially a large chunk of that allocation had to be used for a very specific purpose,” said Kristina Martineau, the now-former assistant superintendent of schools, at the Nov. 23 Chester Board of Education meeting. “We couldn’t use it for personnel, which was a great need for us and for whatever reason they bucketed everything into transportation.”

(Martineau has since taken a position as Westbrook superintendent of schools.)

With the change, the districts in Chester, Deep River, Essex, and Region 4 were able to put funds toward personnel, including building substitutes and custodians. This freed up funds from the federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) grant to pay for a qualified substitute teacher in each school building beyond December.

The substitute teacher position “gives us substantial support in the building to meet the needs of absences related to COVID but also to have a really high-quality day-to-day sub that can support our kids through these learning experiences,” said Martineau.

Superintendent of Schools Brian White expanded on the district’s financial status related to COVID-19 at the Nov. 23 meeting.

“We were very planful in Chester, as well as across the region, where we were able to apply some of the unanticipated surplus from last fiscal year to really get a head start on the items that we knew we were going to have a need for,” he said.

These items, approved at the end of last fiscal year, included personal protective equipment, hand sanitizer, and cleaning materials.

White reported that to date, there have not been any financial strains related to COVID across the major budget categories and that even with some unanticipated labor costs for substitutes and custodians, “it’s been relatively manageable.”

“The coronavirus relief funds have definitely been a welcome addition this year that we have been able to spend, I think, pretty strategically,” he added.

Breakdown of Grant Funding by School District

Chester anticipates receiving $73,093 in CRF funds, with $15,047 allotted for a building substitute, $13,758 for a temporary custodian, and $44,288 for cleaning equipment, supplies, and hand sanitizer stations, among other items. The $23,407 in ESSER funds in Chester are planned for a building substitute that would cover staff absences related to COVID-19 after December.

Deep River anticipates receiving $95,801 in CRF funds, with $11,734 allotted for a building substitute, $8,737 for a temporary custodian, and $75,330 for cleaning equipment, supplies, and touchless faucets, among other items. The $27,888 in ESSER funds in Deep River are planned for a building substitute that would cover staff absences related to COVID-19 after December.

Essex anticipates receiving $168,569 in CRF funds, with $15,000 allotted for a building substitute, $14,868 for a temporary custodian, and the remaining spent on cleaning equipment, supplies, touchless faucets, and touchless toilet flushers, among other items. The $14,016 in ESSER funds in Essex are planned for a building substitute that would cover staff absences related to COVID-19 for an additional 53 school days after December.

Region 4 anticipates receiving $193,323 in CRF funds, with $25,000 allotted for building substitutes, $16,000 for temporary custodians, and $114,323 for cleaning equipment and supplies.

A portion of the funds, $38,000, will be used for non-personnel transportation, including an upgraded bus camera system, increased school bus cleaning, and another vehicle to help reduce ridership for social distancing.

The $24,2567 in ESSER funds will cover building substitutes at John Winthrop Middle School and Valley Regional High School for an additional 28 days beyond the time covered by the CRF funds.