An influx of stimulus funding is expected to begin flowing to local schools under the American Rescue Plan signed by President Joe Biden last month.
The $1.9 trillion stimulus package included aid to local governments and direct checks to most Americans. It also included $120 billion in funding for education, with Long Island schools slated to receive nearly $324 million in rescue aid, according to figures released by Sen. Charles Schumer’s office.
While details on the parameters of those funds, which would largely be allocated based on the number of students living below the poverty line, are still emerging, local superintendents embraced the idea of additional funding. Schools will also receive increased federal aid from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act and Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act, according to state aid projections.
With uncertainty still remaining about when schools can return to some pre-pandemic normal, the Shoreham-Wading River School District plans to roll over its current COVID-19 compliant program to keep students in classrooms full-time as part of its preliminary 2021-22 budget.
That includes keeping the Briarcliff School in Shoreham open next year. The building was reopened last fall for the first time since 2014 to allow the district to have adequate space to bring back all students and maintain social distancing.
District officials outlined a proposed $81.7 million budget during a Board of Education meeting Tuesday night as well as two additional propositions that voters will decide on in May. The budget represents a 5.97% increase from the current budget, but officials noted that the larger than normal increase is due to pandemic-related changes such as increases in staff, costs of personal protective equipment and additional technology equipment.
The easiest way isn’t always the best way.
That was the message Shoreham-Wading River Superintendent Gerard Poole delivered to his school board last week, along with a proposed revision to the school district’s response to reports of a positive COVID-19 case among students or staff members in kindergarten through-fifth-grade classes.
The current district procedure when someone in that group tests positive calls for the entire affected class to be automatically quarantined for 10 days from the date of exposure. That quarantining is intended to prevent spread.
Mr. Poole said the district’s reopening committee met a couple of times to discuss a more “nuanced approach” that would offer more flexibility.
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Here are the headlines across the North Fork for Wednesday, Jan. 27.
RIVERHEAD NEWS-REVIEW