Fort Payne City Schools response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been and continues to be based upon the most up-to-date guidance from state and local health officials as well as the ADPH and CDC.  Our primary focus has been our students’ academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs.  Our ultimate goal for the upcoming school year is to continue in-person teaching and learning as safely as possible.  FPCS plans includes opening the 2021-22 school year with five days per week of in-person instruction at all school sites. Additionally, we will offer virtual school for any interested students in grades 9-12 and  for any student who has a significant health need or situation that would necessitate virtual learning.  Details about the FPCS’s plan to return to in-person instruction can be found on our COVID-19 Return to Learning plan at our web page at www.ftpayk12.com.

 

The Fort Payne City Board of Education sought meaningful consultation by asking for input from a wide variety of stakeholders in our planning process. Requests were sent out to staff and parents, posted on social media, and posted prominently on our website. The district reviewed and discussed suggestions for what best would address the learning loss in our schools and how we could best implement prevention and mitigation strategies in our schools in order to continue in-person learning at all campuses. Our schools will each have family and community engagement plans which can include meaningful reporting on the implementation of ESSER funded programs and services and gathering of family input.  These funds will be utilized to continue our efforts to provide in person in person learning to all of our students , address student learning losses and to maintain a safe learning environment for all of our staff and students.

We will use ESSER funds to continue to provide everyone with a safe learning environment.  Cleaning the schools and every classroom will help prevent the spread of COVID-19 among all students, staff, and families. We will ensure that no student or teacher will be denied participation based on gender, race, national origin, color, disability or age. Additionally we will use funds to employ both EL and SPE teachers to provide services and increase student inclusion and access to the general education curriculum. We will use ESSER grant funds to purchase web-based curriculum to provide virtual instruction and provide all students access to the programs.  Because a significant portion of our students are from families where Spanish is the primary language spoken at home, we will provide user instructions for the curriculum both in Spanish and in English."

 

The CFO will actively monitor ESSER grant allocations and prepare program budgets, schedules, and budget amendments to ensure compliance with statutory requirements. Additionally, the CFO will collect and manage all required data elements by developing systems of collaboration with relevant program directors and supervisors in the collection of required data elements. The CFO  will audit all purchases prior to the obligation of funds to ensure funds are expended as approved in the ESSER grant applications. Additionally, the CFO will audit expenditures prior to requesting grant reimbursements and maintain documentation necessary for year-end audit reporting. Additional responsibilities include developing systems for assuring compliance with program requirements, monitoring program activities for progress and compliance, and evaluating program results against stated objectives. Required reporting elements will be posted on the FPCS website for public comment.  The CFO has elected to not use ESSER funding for the administration of ESSER grants. 

Input was sought from our stakeholders prior to applying for these funds.   Stakeholders were surveyed and results were analyzed by district leaders and fund request decisions were made in consideration of their input.   We will continue to seek input from the public by posting the plan on our district website page and continue to be transparent and provide stakeholders answers to their questions. Revisions to our ESSER budgets  will take into consideration public input .  Monitoring of the benefit of our implementation will occur  during a mid-year review as a follow-up to the continuity of service plan in January 2022 and every six months thereafter.