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ARP ESSER Grant

Delta School, along with its Health and Safety Plan further submits with this page the awarding of an allocation of Federal Funds under the American Rescue Plan Act (ARP), Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) funds, hereafter referred to as ARP ESSER funds, totaling $193,371 and will be providing funds for the five (5) areas below as the COVID pandemic continues its assault on educational institutions across the nation.

Delta School’s planned usage of ARP ESSER Grant Funds will focus on mainly one student group.  Delta School an Approved Private School, exclusively provides educational, social and emotional support services to Students with Disabilities eligible under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act [IDEA]).

After numerous discussion sessions and feedback from staff, parent and community groups with a wide range of school and educational data being presented and discussed, five (5) areas emerged as deficient or potential problem areas soon to be deficient, with everyone in agreement that all were able to be discovered after being exacerbated by the pandemic. 

  1. 34,999.00: The only portion of the funds to focus on Special Education Teachers, Related Service Providers, and Para educators. With students’ emotional & social wellbeing to be addressed in the aftermath, these funds will provide an intensive two-day period of instruction on “Non-violent Interventions & De-escalation Strategies” for the entire staff of Delta School. This also falls into the “Staff recruitment, support, and retention” category of the appropriate uses of ARP ESSER funds.
  2. 56,000.00: The first of two major instructional expenditures, these funds will purchase approximately 800 hours of services of a Certified Math Coach as math and literacy were the two areas found deficient in the previously mentioned planning meetings.
  3. 88,200.00:The second major instructional item, these funds are for the contracting of two (2) Registered Behavior Technicians.  Behavior support and crisis response strategies were found potential problem areas, necessitating the allocation of these funds for acquisition of these personnel for their specific expertise when responding to all manner of student behaviors both positive and negative.
  4. 12,250.00:These funds to be spent on seat licenses for the Orton Gillingham Literacy Instruction for Struggling Readers.  Along with math, literacy was the other major subject area that would most benefit with the purchase of an enhanced program with more widely utilized and proven methods of instruction, and will promote positive reading level advancement for all students taking the program.
  5. 1,922.00:The final direction of funds under this grant will focus on life skills.  This expenditure will be for licenses for “bundles” containing the “Functional Life Skills Curriculum” and includes thematic unit plans, activities and assessment, digital and printable.

ARP ESSER funds when announced available to Educational Institutions directed focus on four (4) key areas and specific student demographics with regard to expenditure of funds.  While Delta Students qualify in many of the other student groups listed in the grant, Students with Disabilities (eligible for IDEA) was the group that would contain 100% of the Delta population.  The four key areas of focus when planning the use of funds are a) continuity of instruction, (impact of lost instructional time) b) chronic absenteeism; c) Student Engagement; and d) Social-emotional well-being;

It is the belief of most everyone involved in the discussions and planning for the usage of Delta’s ARP ESSER funds, that the resulting expenditures listed above provide for the betterment of everyone at Delta School to ensure the continuity of learning.  All current staff members will better themselves via professional development and a more structured curriculum.  Delta staff as a whole will progress positively with the addition of professional personnel, each possessing highly specialized skillsets that are very much needed at Delta School. All students will experience the positive effects of everything the ARP ESSER funds will provide for Delta School, all four of the aforementioned key areas of focus will each be systematically improved time and again as the proposed expenditures are brought to fruition.