Tuesday, January 30, 2024
The COVID-19 pandemic changed the lives of every person involved in and around education. School districts scrambled to quickly meet the needs of students, families, and staff, while also building sustainable systems for delivering education and support for the unknown future. The federal government's ESSER funds were dispatched to "assist schools with creating healthy learning environments, return students to classrooms, and address local needs."
The funds, dispatched in three distinct phases, helped local educational agencies address key areas to support students and learning. If the pandemic proved one thing, it is that education is interconnected with many kinds of community, well-being, and other social structures. The disbursal of ESSER funds have helped to show us that with resources, local school districts (with oversight from state and federal governments) can dynamically and effectively address educational challenges to their communities.
We wanted to gather together some of the stories of how districts used ESSER funds to show some of the creativity and transformative initiatives that came out of these supports. While by no means exhaustive, these school districts give us a sample of how different communities addressed the challenges of the pandemic and built structures that can continue to serve them into the future.
Nekoosa School District
As a response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the district created a night school program. As part of this, the district hired staff to assist in working with students to gain credits; so that they may graduate on time with their peers.
A graduation specialist was hired in partnership with the Boys and Girls Club of Wood County. This role is a support during the school day that meets with students who are failing courses during their study hall to prevent credit deficiencies.
A school psychologist provided support in furthering the district's MLSS work to have stronger structures to support students with mental health concerns.
Wauwatosa School District
ESSER III funds were utilized to address learning loss through the implementation of evidenced-based interventions. Specifically, the funds were used to pay salary and benefits for the following new positions:
- Six social emotional specialists
- Four mental health specialists
- One director of student success (0.5 of this FTE by ESSER)
Social Emotional Specialists co-trained and supported educators in developing the skills necessary to establish culturally responsive learning environments, including understanding behavior as communication, developing classroom expectations and routines, providing positive feedback, and appropriately responding to misbehavior using a continuum of corrective, supportive strategies. These roles have focused on rebuilding safe and supportive learning environments through reinvesting in positive behavior interventions and supports (PBIS) within the schools, and providing greater access to interventions meant to further build essential life skills for students who need additional support.
Mental Health Specialists have focused their work and collaboration with administrators and the Division of Pupil and Family Supports in developing strong suicide risk and threat assessment processes to assess student needs, as well as individual student behavior plans. Mental health specialists have provided greater family and community outreach. For example, through collaboration with community service providers like Children’s Community Mental Health Services (Wraparound), MKE Urban Stables, TRUE Skool, Inc., and REDGen, wellness fairs and engagement sessions have been held to educate families about the resources available in the community, signs of anxiety and substance use, and ways families can support their child(ren) and collaborate with the school.
Mental health specialists have also supported universal/tier I strategies including the development and improvement of the weekly advisory period which includes a social-emotional and mental wellness skills curriculum, academic and career planning, and school culture activities.
The director of student success has worked closely with the Division of Pupil and Family Supports team to assess and respond to gaps exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, including re-establishing roles and responsibilities for Pupil and Family Supports staff, and refining a service delivery model that is both proactive and responsive to the social-emotional, behavioral, and mental health needs of students. This includes executing a staff professional learning plan on tier I/universal strategies for social-emotional and behavioral support, ensuring tier II and III interventions are delivered with fidelity, and refining team-based problem-solving processes. It has been extremely beneficial to have a dedicated leader to steer this work, allowing the district to proactively plan forward for students in a consistent and equitable manner.
Though these positions are only one component of our success, the actions taken are a direct correlation to improved outcomes as evidenced by reduced major (i.e. administrator managed) student behavior incidents.
Wisconsin Rapids Public Schools
Family engagement and parent partnerships staff
At the start of off-campus learning at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, the district purchased Zoom licenses district-wide so teachers could provide instruction to students who were learning off-campus.This was effective from 4K through 12th grade as teachers held everything from morning meetings, group work, homework check-ins all the way to science labs via Zoom.In addition, the district purchased Kajeets, mobile hotspots and internet access for those families who were forced into off campus learning and did not have the means of reliable internet for their students to continue their education. The district also offered an off-campus “pen and paper” option for students whose parents did not want to receive the lessons virtually. We used ESSER funds to help offset the costs of this program, including the cost of materials as well as the cost of hiring extra personnel to staff the program adequately for grades 4K-5. With this program, families picked up materials on Mondays and completed the work with their children at home during the week and returned the completed work on Fridays. Also, the district has continued offering Zoom Parent Teacher Conferences which have been very popular - especially at the 6-12 level. Because of this option, participation in conferences has increased.
The district's therapy programs also created parent partnerships, as you can read in the description for Gaggle Therapy and When Life Is a Puzzle Counseling Center below. Because of the ESSER III grant dollars, WRPS was able to quickly move toward connecting all of families with the technology resources they needed to provide continuity in their students’ education.
In addition, early ESSER dollars were used to reconstruct some spaces in district schools to designate as “Family Rooms” where parents could come into the school to meet with counselors, interact with classroom teachers, administration and/or other support staff. These rooms also became reference rooms for families - offering information about outside resources available in the community as well as providing resources to help with learning at home. The district initially created these social distanced spaces because of the ESSER II dollars. Since then, the district has improved the spaces as time elapsed and ESSER support continued.
Boys and Girls Club Morning Jumpstart Program
The Wisconsin Rapids Area Boys and Girls Club has previously offered a "Before and After School" wrap-around program for the students of the Wisconsin Rapids area that was held at the clubhouse located in town. That program had to be capped at 80 students for the morning program due to space constraints and available personnel. There was a wait list of over 150 students who wanted to enroll in the morning program.
After COVID, the need for an expanded Morning Jumpstart Program appeared even more necessary. As parents found themselves returning to work in person, there was an increased need for morning daycare for students. Many of the district's truancy challenges at the elementary level stemmed from parents not being able to get their children to school. Getting kids through the doors for Jumpstart keeps them at school for the entire day.
The district and the Boys and Girls Club envisioned a program that was housed in each of the district's elementary buildings and provided a soft start for students with some academic support for students every morning. The program now serves well over 200 students district-wide and is located in six out of seven of its elementary buildings and will be expanded to all seven next school year. ESSER III grant dollars funded the initial start-up costs for each of the individual programs and continues to pay the wages for the employees of the Jumpstart Program. The program has been such a huge success to lend extra support, academically, socially and emotionally, that the district has developed a solution to prioritize funding in order to keep the program going once the ESSER III grant dollars are expended in September of 2024.
Exposure to Menominee culture and Native American history Ho-Chunk nation SEED program conference to develop skills needs to address mental and academic needs of Native American students
In their local, year-long SEED seminars, SEED Leaders and Colleagues have used their own experiences and those of their students and children to widen and deepen school and college curricula and make communities more inclusive. The Ho-Chunk Nation partnered with the National SEED Project at the Wellesley Centers for Women to offer the Wisconsin SEED Institute. Participation in SEED training is intended to build stronger relationships and to earn and give trust across communities. WRPS has had several teachers take part in this nationally recognized program with the hopes of understanding more completely how traumatic events in a community, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, can affect cultures differently. The goal is developing ongoing conversations in which all voices are heard. WRPS was able to participate, in part, because of the ESSER III grant dollars which funded the registrations, travel and other costs associated with the program.
Gaggle Therapy
As a result of the pandemic, there has been an increased need for students to develop strategies to cope with increased mental health issues. Gaggle Therapy provides virtual mental health services for students within the district's school buildings or at their homes so more services can be provided to a greater population. WRPS contracts with Gaggle Therapy and they provide professionals who meet virtually with students. Students or staff can participate in teletherapy sessions from home or at school, with no out-of-pocket costs for families or billing their insurance.
The use of Gaggle Therapy has been helpful in meeting existing therapy needs in light of current mental health staff shortages. Parental permission is required for students to receive services, and Gaggle Therapy follows all FERPA and HIPAA guidelines. WRPS pays a retainer fee and can use the services as needed, with any unused service credit being either refunded or rolled over to the next year. The $55,000 retainer fee is based on a percentage of the district's student population. WRPS was able to offer this service because of the ESSER III grant funding.
WLPCC Mental Health Services
Since returning to fully in person instruction, WRPS has been contracting with When Life’s a Puzzle Counseling and Consulting (WLPCC) to provide mental health therapy and counseling services to students attending Howe Elementary School. Participation is voluntary and can end at any time. Students are referred for services via a staff member or parent, and parents sign a permission form in order for their student to participate. There are no out of pocket costs for families. Services end at the end of the school year, or if the funding threshold of $20,000 is reached. WRPS was able to offer this service because of the ESSER III grant funding. Seven students received services on a weekly basis and there was also a waitlist.
According to Howe Elementary School Principal, Tina Miller, “We were so thankful for Maria Shaw to be an onsite counseling provider at Howe School. Her days were full, and we had students on a waitlist as we know that in-person therapy is a better option for most elementary-age students than using online therapy options. Students looked forward to their time with Maria, and parents reported that they were thankful for the on-site opportunity to reduce lost instructional time for pickup and transportation to and from services. Most local providers only had openings during the day, which makes it hard for elementary-age students to adjust to leaving, returning, and processing content covered by the therapist. We saw learning increase when the students had Ms. Maria consistently present in our school each week. They trusted and built a relationship with her, which impacted the program's effectiveness. We also appreciated the immediate communication (parents signed an ROI) we could have with the therapist for updates on student needs and teacher/student services observations.”