ESSER allocations questioned

Dozens of teachers and staff of Creston Community School district swarmed the district boardroom March 21 for open forum where Jennifer Downing spoke on budget shortfalls and appropriation of ESSER III funds, and Calie Worisek spoke on the need for social, emotional support for staff and students due to COVID.

Support for teachers

Downing appeared before the school board as a “concerned parent, taxpayer and member of this community,” after learning about the district’s projected decrease in revenue – estimated at $440,000 – due to declining enrollment.

“Does this mean we have to condense our class sessions?” Downing asked. “I can tell you this is not the time to make adjustments in staff.”

In fear class sizes will increase, Downing said this is a time teachers need more support.

“The pandemic has proven difficult to many of us in this room,” she said. “Have any of you step foot in a classroom on a weekly basis to fully understand what is going?”

ESSER

Downing questioned CCSD school board’s appropriation of ESSER III funds.

ESSER III is the the American Rescue Plan’s Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief Fund III – a third round of federal CARES Act relief money received by the state and divstributed across school districts for the purpose of reopening pre-kindergarten through 12th grade schools, sustaining the safe operation of schools, and addressing the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on students.

Of the $697 million received by Iowa, $2,729,720 was allocated for Creston Community Schools. Of that amount, $545,958 is to be used to address the impact of lost instructional time due to COVID.

In a time when teachers and students are struggling, Downing asked why ESSER funds were used to purchase of an oven and two freezers for the schools’ facilities, bleachers and concrete projects.

Just before the start of the 2021-22 school year, CCSD completed concrete work at Panther Stadium to address storm water drainage deficiencies, and in October, the board approved safe space for spectators, seating, and replacement of asphalt in the high school’s parking lot south of the concession stand. More than $160,000 of ESSER funds were spent on these projects, which were approved by the school board and Iowa Department of Education.

“I don’t understand why those funds were used from ESSER III,” said Downing. “Why are we not making a more valiant effort to be intentional in supporting teachers, staff and students in our classrooms?”

During the meeting, there was concerned expressed that the district would not be replacing the middle school principal and special education director positions. In a meeting with media the next day, Superintendent Deron Stender said that’s not the case, but when staff resign, the district always examines if there is an opportunity for cost savings.

“I heard last night (March 21) in the same meeting, someone say, ‘Well, we’re glad that we don’t have the special ed director anymore.’ At the same time, I heard someone saying, ‘Well, you’re absolutely insane if you don’t have a special ed director.’ So even in the same meeting with the people there, we can’t agree on what the priorities are,” said Stender. “And this is what the crux of the issue is.”

When it comes to suggestions of hiring more staff, Stender said it’s not that simple.

“We have a budget and we can add three more counselors, ... but there’s a trade off. Identify which three people are not going to be here.”

Stender said when it comes to using ESSER funds to bring on more staff, he said its not ideal.

“The worst thing you can do is hire people and let them go within a year or two, no matter what,” he said. “Everybody forgets that (ESSER) was grant dollars. So when I talked to the board, it was, ‘Let’s allocate these resources in one-time projects ... ' So a lot of our projects, if you look at that list, are things that can last for 20 years.”

Next meeting

A special CCSD board meeting will be held 6 p.m. April 4 and the board’s next regular meeting is 6 p.m. April 18.

In other school board news, the board ...

• approved the 2022-2023 budget.

• approved the resignations of Jackie Anderson, custodian; Ryan Kissell, K-5 stem teacher; Weston Rolene, high school geometry teacher; Paul Jordan, middle school social studies/history teacher; Maddie Travis, assistant cheer coach; and Stacy Shepherd, high school Spanish teacher.

• approved the contracts of Madeline Gude, high school Spanish teacher for 2022-23; Ryan Kissell, high school boys soccer coach; and Kelsi Kautz Carlisle, kindergarten teacher for 2022-23.

• approved the voluntary transfer of Becki White, from ELL to middle school Level I special education teacher.

• approved the 2022-23 school calendar.

• approved the summer food program.

• approved the certification of the March 1 special school board election and adoption of the revenue purpose statement.

• approved the 2022-23 district health insurance with ISEBA.

• approved the Budget Guarantee Resolution for FY23 for the regular program budget as allowed under Iowa Code 257.14.

• approved the second and final reading of the policy series 100 and 200, and first reading of policy series 300.