Vienna Public School District 55

Vienna Public School District #55 Approved FY23 ARP ESSER III Grant Use of Funds Plan:

• FY23 Non-Certified Salaries and Benefits - $313,682  (certified & non-certified staff including custodial, cafeteria, paraprofessionals, nurse, and social worker)

• FY23 Instructional Technology Purchases - $79,042    (includes Chromebooks, iPads, mobile Smart Boards, and classroom document cameras)

• FY23 After School Tutoring Program - $5,312

• F23 Cleaning/COVID Supplies - $ 7,515 (includes PPE and sanitation supplies)

• FY23 Building Projects - $455,575 (Jr. High/First Grade HVAC Replacement Project)

• FY23 Innovative Programming - $7,740 (Educator RISE Program)

Total FY23 ESSER III Grant Request - Approved:  $868,291

Vienna District #55 will use ESSER III funds to support CDC, IL Health Department, and IL Governor's Executive Order prevention and mitigation strategies for the pandemic.  This includes the purchase of cleaning supplies, PPE supplies, face coverings, additional nurse staffing to facilitate pandemic mitigation procedures, food service capital outlay to support multiple student and staff eating stations to ensure social distancing, additional certified and non-certified staff including custodial staff to support both instruction and pandemic mitigation operations, and additional school social worker team staff to support student SEL operations.  All supplies, materials, and purchased service expenditures approved by the ESSER III grant were aligned with implementing pandemic prevention and mitigation strategies, including improving air quality in nine (9) classrooms by replacing outdate HVAC units with updated HVAC systems during the Summer of 2023.

Reserve funds are being used to support the District #55 to expand the after-school tutoring program during the 22-23 school year.  Reserve funds will also be used to support a portion of summer school district costs, including providing meals for students during the Summer of 2024.

Remaining ESSER Funds will be used to pay for various district employee FY23 salaries (i.e., school nurse, school social worker, school facilities manager, night-shift custodian, portion of the district's business manager salary, cooks, and other non-certified staff). Remaining funds will be used on the implementation of innovative programming (USDA RISE Program), and the purchase of needed instructional technology for students and staff in FY23 and FY24.  Remaining funds will be used to pay a portion of an Summer 2023 HVAC replacement project that replaces 11 classroom HVAC systems for the purpose of improving overall air quality in the 1970's and 1950's portion of our PreK-8th grade school building.  

Vienna District #55 progress monitors all students (K-8) for ACES (Adverse Children's Experiences) quarterly.  This data is used by the District #55 SEL Team, District #55 RtI Team and District #55 Leadership Team to develop needed SEL interventions and strategic planning recommendations that are delivered to the Vienna District #55 BOE by the Superintendent for budgetary recommendations.  Vienna District #55 also partners with Resiliency Southern Illinois, the Partnership for Resiliency, and Arrowleaf, Inc. to assess current conditions and develop action plans for improvement through a monthly PLC process.  The aforementioned partnerships are pathways to engage a wide variety of district and community stakeholders to facilitate meaningful two-way ongoing communication on meeting SEL benchmarks.  Vienna District #55 also participates in quarterly meetings with Johnson County and  Southern Illinois Stakeholders via the Johnson County School Safety and Wellness meetings - this includes partnerships with the Johnson County Early Childhood Cabinet and Birth to Five Region #21 Illinois to support SEL goals.  All of these connected entities support systematic SEL interventions that respond to social-emotional, mental health and academic needs of all students and particularly those students disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Vienna District #55 will use funds it reserves under Section 2001(e)(1) of the ARP Act to address the academic impact of lost instructional time by expending funds for staff, supplies and materials associated with FY23 extended day learning programming that serves between twenty-five and thirty-five K-8 students who are locally determined to be at academic risk during the 2022-2023 school year.  Remaining ARP ESSER Funds will be used to upgrade nine classroom HVAC (i.e., improve air quality) systems, replace outdated student instructional technology devices (chromebooks and iPads), add additional classroom instructional technology (i.e., ViewSonic Boards), purchase supplies and materials to support COVID-19 cleaning and safety mitigation plans, and maintain non-certified staff positions in FY23 including school social workers, custodial, cafeteria staff, business manager, central office secretary, and licensed paraprofessional support staff who directly support classroom instruction.

District #55 will ensure that ARP interventions that are implemented will close the gap in meeting the social-emotional, mental health and academic needs of all students and particularly those students disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 by using funds to employ additional school social work staff, engage in professional staff development activities that support resiliency, ACES and SEL, and upgrading ELA, math, science, social studies and SEL curriculums in grades K-8.

The District #55 Safe to Return Plan was approved by the District #55 non-certified staff, the VGSEA, and the Board of Education after thorough public vetting and input from both District staff and community partners and stakeholders.  Consultation with district legal counsel and IEA legal counsel was connected to CDC and IDPH guidance along with ISBE guidelines and recommendations throughout the planning and review period.  This included focus group work and agendas, surveys, community and school partnership symposiums, Board of Education meetings and labor relation meetings to finalize a Safe Return to School Plan and gather a wide variety of input about what was prioritized for the ARP ESSER III RFP.

To ensure that the Safe to Return Plan and ARP ESSER III RFP met the needs of students enrolled with IEPs, 504s, and English Learners, LBS1 staff and parents/guardians were engaged in face to face conversations with District #55 administration about specific Safe to Return Plan procedures prior to the BOE approval and implementation of the Safe to Return Plan.  These stakeholders were also a part of the focus group and symposium work that took place prior to the approval of the Plan.  The District #55 Homeless liaison and school social work staff were instrumental in addressing specific Safe Return to School objectives to maintain a continuity of learning and support eligible homeless students enrolled at Vienna District #55.  This work (homeless and foster care students) was included in the focus group and symposium process as well as when meeting with the VGSEA leadership to develop the Safe to Return Plan and the ARP ESSER III RFP.

Opportunities for public input was facilitated by the District #55 administration and Board of Education and was publicly promoted on the District #55 website for weeks prior to the Board of Education approving the Safe Return to School Plan and the submission of the ARP ESSER III RFP.