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Why We’re Reaching Out

The American Rescue Plan (ARP) Act, the third federal COVID-19 relief law, passed in March 2021, provides one-time funds for our district through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) III grant program.

The grant application process includes several required steps that Whitnall School District must complete in order to receive the ESSER III funds.

We need your help as Whitnall School District families, students, staff, and community members to share your ideas and input on the programs and services that may benefit from these funds.

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Our Planning Committee

Whitnall School District leaders have been drafting our plans for the ESSER III funds. This group consists of:

Administrators: Superintendent, Directors, Principals
Board of Education

ESSER III funding information was shared at the following public Whitnall board of education meetings:

August 9, 2021 October 25, 2021

We are seeking feedback from the following stakeholder groups:

Whitnall Families, Whitnall Staff, Whitnall Students, and Whitnall Community Members

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ESSER III Grant Basics

Whitnall School District is expected to receive $1,597,688 in ESSER III funding.
Funds may be used to support our response to the COVID-19 pandemic taking place from March 13, 2020 through September 30, 2024.
Funds are intended to help safely reopen and sustain the safe operation of schools and address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the nation’s students.

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What is ESSER III money for?

Whitnall School District must use a minimum of 20% to implement evidence-based interventions to address learning loss.

In addition, Whitnall must ensure that interventions respond to students’ social, emotional, and academic needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups.

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Disproportionately Impacted Student Groups

Underrepresented subgroups specifically mentioned in USDE guidance as likely to have been disproportionately affected by COVID-19:

Each major racial and ethnic group
Children from low-income families
Children with disabilities
English learners
Gender
Migrant students
Students experiencing homelessness
Children and youth in foster care

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Snapshot of Whitnall Needs

Who is being disproportionately affected by COVID-19 in our district:

Early childhood and young learners
Special education students
Advanced learners
Low-income families
Students at all three levels (elementary, middle and high)

What we are seeing:�

Young learners with delayed social and emotional development
Young learners will gaps in foundational literacy.
Advanced learners with less exposure to rigorous academic experiences.
The learning “gap” has increased for students at risk and who relied on intensive and in-person intervention
Increased need for social, emotional, and academic supports
Increased mental health supports

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What else can these funds be used for?

ESSER funds may be used to prevent, prepare for, or respond to COVID-19. Examples include:

Preparedness and Response

PPE; hand sanitizer; infrastructures to promote physical distancing; improving indoor air quality; establishing a team to develop guidelines for infection control practices, etc.

Addressing Longterm School Closure

Additional staff to support virtual instruction; providing/delivering school meals; etc.

Outreach and Services for Special Populations

Professional development for staff to serve English Learners remotely; paying staff to teach parents of students with IEP technology and software; etc.

Mental Health Services and Supports

Additional school based mental health staff (school counselors, school psychologists, school social workers, etc.); Peer to Peer sucide prevention and mental health literacy

Education Technology

Devices and software for remote instruction; improved cybersecurity; etc.

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Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan

In addition to an ESSER III plan, Whitnall must also submit its Safe Return to In-Person Instruction and Continuity of Services Plan.

To prepare for the 2021-22 school year, administration along with the Board, developed plans to allow students and staff to return safely, outlined illness guidelines, and highlighted mitigation measures.
The 2021-22 WSD COVID-19 Plan and Mitigation Protocols were shared with the community at the August 24, 2021 board meetings, where public comment was heard. All guidelines, plans, and updates are found on the Navigating 21-22 page on the WSD website. The following can be found on this page:

Whitnall Focus Group Research from Teaching and Learning in a Pandemic
Moving Forward Communication, including:

All communication to families
All bi-monthly board reports on COVID-19 with details of current status
Our learning dashboard and case data metrics

Case data is updated twice a week and a learning dashboard is updated twice a week and available to the community to monitor.

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Proposed Priorities for Addressing Learning Gaps

Minimum of $319,500 (20%) of ESSER III to learning loss or identified achievement gaps:

What we propose to focus those funds on:

Increase core content staffing (4 teachers) at WHS to address return of virtual students into courses, build robust credit recovery courses, and provide leadership in 7-12 curriculum alignment ($360,000 per school year)
Program Implementation Specialists - Literacy (x2) (two one-year contracts for each position) ($200,000 per school year)�
Contract services to improve special education services ($20,000)
Expand resources for providing special education specially designed instruction ($40,000)�
Phonics Curricular Resource Adoption (K-3) and training ($20,000)
ELA Curricular Resource Adoption (K-8) and training ($125,000)
Math Curricular Resource Adoption (6-8) and training ($75,000)

SPED resources: STARI costs, Bridges math intervention

Contracted services: Peggy Black

Increase core content staffing at WHS to address return of virtual students into courses, build robust credit recovery courses, and provide leadership in 7-12 curriculum alignment ($320,000 per school year)
Expand classroom libraries to provide students equitable access to with high quality literature
Contract services to improve special education services
Expand resources for providing special education specially designed instruction
K-3 Phonics Curricular Resource Adoption = est. $50,000
ELA Curricular Resource Adoption (K-8) = est. $250,000
Program Implementation Specialists - Literacy (x2) (two one-year contracts for each position) = est. $360,000
Math Curricular Resource Adoption (6-8) = est. $100,000

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The remaining amount of funding will be used to address other needs:

What we propose to focus those funds on:

Increase nurse staffing by 50% ($50,000 per school year)
Maintain pupil services personnel to address behavior, social and emotional needs ($100,000 per school year)
Student Family Assistance Program (SFAP) ($20,000 per school year)
Student perception survey ($8,000 per school year)

Proposed Priorities for Addressing Other Needs

Any remaining ESSER funds, including CARES and ESSER II funds, will be used by the September 30, 2024 deadline for operational expenses not covered by the Wisconsin state budget as funded and recommended by the Joint Finance Committee.

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Where we go from here…

Next Steps

The community input survey will be open from February 3-11, 2022.
We will review and consider feedback from the survey and modify its plan accordingly.
We will submit our final ESSER III plan to DPI by March 2022.
We will provide update to expenditures for ESSER III on the Whitnall School District website and at board meetings.

While not required, we encourage you to click the link below to share your input:

Stakeholder Input Survey