By NICK GOSNELL
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — Hutchinson USD 308 is seeking public input on needs that they will spend COVID relief money on.
"We are going to do an electronic survey, open that up in January and everybody can give input, all 308 stakeholders," said Business Manager Sheila Meggers. "We'll post that on our website and on Facebook and we'll email that out to staff as well. Anyone can fill that out, but we also want a little bit more discussion and so we are going to model some in person sessions after the community ARPA input sessions that happened here this fall."
They'll try to make it efficient, time-wise.
"We'll hold some 90-minute sessions," Meggers said. "It's a structured discussion, in which people will look at what needs came up during COVID, how we can best address those, if we were dreaming big. We do have some categories that those have to fit into, but we are going to invite a wide range of people and get some diversity in there and get some input. It is a requirement with ESSER III with our application, but it's also a great opportunity for us to get some really good input."
These funds will be looked at separately from the rest of the school's budget.
"There actually are 16 categories," Meggers said. "Those categories are pretty broad. We will have to do, 20% of our funds will have to address learning loss, specifically. Then the remaining funds can go to things like purchasing educational technology, sanitation supplies, mental health services and supports, school facility upgrades. There are a bunch of categories, but really, we can brainstorm our needs and the categories are broad enough that they will likely fit into any one of those."
ESSER III funds can be applied toward school district needs arising between March 13, 2020 and September 30, 2024.