BOARDMAN — The Boardman Local School District is working to fill learning gaps created by the COVID-19 lockdown, developing a two-step plan to help students get back up to speed.

“Gaps in learning have unfortunately been something schools have dealt with, even prior to COVID-19,” Jared Cardillo, director of instruction, said.

He said over the past year, the number of students learning remotely steadily decreased. While that helped some students, a good number still fell behind — but all of the students were touched by the lockdown.

“Teachers in all subjects would say that it affected their students,” Cardillo said. “As a district, we need to take extra precautions with state-tested subjects.”

TWO PHASES

To fill in the gap created by COVID-19, the district put together a plan. Cardillo said stakeholders, teachers, parents, administrators and students together formed a two-step response to the learning gap.

“Phase 1 is summer school for students who were identified as behind grade level,” he said. “We provided a robust and focused curriculum for our students.”

He said roughly 250 students attended summer classes which, due to the numbers, were held in every school building in the district.

“We also used a more data-driven approach to selecting the curriculum,” Cardillo said.

The second phase will take place this fall with an additional five, one-year teachers hired to help with increased intervention.

New to the Boardman district for 2021-22 is the Spartan Online Academy.

On June 16, the Boardman Board of Education approved the establishment of an online academy as an option for eligible students. The academy is handled by Lincoln Learning Edgenuity, a licensed third-party educator.

Cardillo said the academy allows Boardman to keep the state funds that would have left the district when a student goes to a private school. The academy will be a long-term option and eligibility will be focused on what is best for the student.

PAYING FOR THIS

For the two-step gap-closing plan, Cardillo said a lot of the cost is being covered through COVID-19 relief, called ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds. ESSER was established as part of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act in March 2020.

Boardman has four funding streams for ESSER and coronavirus relief funds. So far the district has racked up $11,021,924 in federal funds that are distributed by the state, according to Terry Armstrong, Boardman’s treasurer.

He said the first stream was the Coronavirus Relief Fund for $226,435. The second stream was ESSER I funds in the amount of $786,508 of which $712,808 has been spent with the remaining amount appropriated.

The ESSER II funds totaling $3,083,422 recently were approved. Application for this was made on June 14, and covers expenses going back to March 13. These funds can be used until September 2023.

Armstrong said the final revenue stream is ESSER III funds for $6,924,928 that can be used until September 2024. The district is going through the guidance / compliance process with the Ohio Department of Education for this funding.

Armstrong said uses for the money cover areas that COVID-19 disrupted or affected. This includes hand sanitizer and products, masks, cleaning products, after-school programs, substitute costs, Chromebooks and laptops, wireless service for students, technology assistance, food distribution products such as freezers, extra time for bus drivers due to alternative routes and schedules, summer school teachers and assistants, summer curriculum products, summer transportation wages, summer food service wages, other costs for summer school and creation of an online academy.

“These are supplies, equipment, services and personnel costs thus far,” Armstrong said. “I would add that district officials have engaged in meetings internally and with external stakeholders with a goal of developing an effective plan for the use of ESSER funds.”

jtwhitehouse@vindy.com