The Greenville County Schools Board of Trustees met on Tuesday, Feb. 9, to discuss a range of issues from remediation funding to money for more personal protective equipment.
School district administrators presented a remediation plan that would use $38.5 million in coronavirus relief funding to assist students who the school district says have been left behind academically due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have a plan in place this year,” said Superintendent Burke Royster at the meeting. “We have it funded through [coronavirus relief] funds from the state that will carry us until the end of the school year, but the timing on this is critical in order that we be able to adequately make plans for the summer.”
Royster said planning for the academic year 2021-22 also must be completed since the district will need to hire teachers.
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New staff, additional programs and materials would be needed for the next two years as the school district works to bring students’ performance back up, said officials. The remediation plan would include $7.5 million each for this summer and next summer while providing over $20 million in supplies and materials.
Board members voted unanimously in favor of the plan but will vote again at the next board meeting to make it official.
In data presented to the board, Jeff McCoy, associate superintendent for academics, showed that more than 7,000 students who attend in-person instruction in the district had at least one failing grade. For students attending the virtual program, that number was closer to 8,000. He said some students were still making up work for the previous term.
The board also approved $635,0000 to purchase adequate personal protective equipment for the school district.
