The pandemic has increased the need for timely handling of employee leave concerns and absences due to COVID. To help meet these demands, we have hired an additional leave specialist to handle the increased volume and complexity of absences. 

During the Summer of 2021, Colonial School District will continue providing meals, at no cost, to youth 18 years of age and younger. Meal packages will be delivered to local communities twice a week (including both breakfast and lunch). The Summer Meal Program will begin the week of June 14th, 2021 and run through August 12th, 2021. As students return to school for the 21-22 school year, schools will resume their traditional model of providing breakfast and lunch to students.

Managing and maintaining critical infrastructure projects will enhance the condition and extend the life of our buildings without adding additional costs to Colonial residents through referendum.

The HVAC projects will increase the circulation of fresh air throughout the buildings as well as minimizing moisture in the air through more effective chillers. This will enhance the air quality of our schools and help to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and other contaminants.

Colonial will also be partnering with Communities In Schools to support high school students who are showing warning signs of school drop out. Communities In Schools provides staff who provide both academic and nonacademic support to students including connection to community resources, mentoring, tutoring, family assistance, opportunities for service learning and college/work access and readiness. This program will continue to help support students’ social emotional wellbeing and support re-engaging with school for any student who is showing signs of struggles.

A contract with Communities in Schools (CIS) has been placed in several Title 1 Colonial schools to link the partnership of community-based resources to promote social-emotional learning and academic support. CIS develops mentoring/tutoring, after-school programming, individualized interventions, and family assistance. Sample services within the contract include: 1. Non-academic assistance: Connecting young people with a host of services — healthcare, housing, nutrition — resulting in students more prepared to learn. 2. One-to-one mentoring: Instilling the confidence to succeed, the belief that education creates opportunity, and setting the expectation for success. 3. Tutoring and academic support: Increasing academic performance and building confidence. 4. Family assistance & parent engagement: Ensuring children have a supportive home life, and that parents have access to the services they need. 5. Out-of-school enrichment & service learning: Strengthening the resiliency of children to succeed by expanding their understanding of what the world has to offer. 6. College and work access and readiness: Addressing college readiness earlier in school better prepares students to take advantage of going to college and increases employability.

Colonial is using funds to ensure that our students continue to have all of the supports they need to succeed in the changing landscape of this pandemic. This includes SMART Board replacements for our secondary classrooms (elementary classroom SMART boards were replaced with ESSER II funds). We have found that facilitating ‘room and zoom’ situations is easier with SMART boards, while having other instructional benefits. While we anticipate providing face to face instruction five days a week, we recognize that the need for flexibility and novel solutions for times when students may need to quarantine or other unforeseen factors prevent in person instruction for all students

Additional investments in Chromebooks for our students will also help ensure that every student is ready to engage in instruction even if they cannot come to school.

The Grant specialist will assist with the added tracking and administrative tasks of the various ESSER grants. This staff member will be housed in the Business Division and tasked with ensuring that all spending from the ESSER grants is consistent with the statutory requirements and in line with the application. This person will also handle amendments and any reporting tasks required with assistance from other departments as needed.