There are federal dollars out there for just about anything that can combat COVID and local boards and commissions are looking for ways to spend those bucks.
When Ben Davis from Davis Disaster Consulting told the Clarksdale Municipal School District board Thursday of projects he was looking to secure FEMA funding for, discussion quickly turned to COVID issues in the schools.
Clarksdale High School, Oakhurst Intermediate Academy and Kirkpatrick Health & Medical Science Magnet School all went to virtual learning for 14 days due to COVID.
Davis said the four projects he was looking to secure FEMA funding for would be to get water bottles, personal protective equipment, cleaning and sanitizing and plexiglass dividers in local schools.
“That (water bottles) gets rid of water fountains in the school where you touch everything,” Davis said.
The cleaning and sanitizing project would go beyond the buildings.
“That’s providing anything from wipes all the way up to the spray to sanitize the buses as well as the school classrooms and any deep cleaning that may occur,” Davis added.
The plexiglass is intended to help students distance themselves from one another.
“With that plexiglass project, we’re looking at barriers in between some of the students in classrooms that may have additional students,” Davis said. “We’ve got enough for all of the classrooms for each school, but we definitely want to put them into the elementary schools.”
Davis said improving the air conditioning has helped the schools. He added it was time to start looking outside of ESSER and FEMA funds for other grant opportunities.
Board member LaFiesta Roland said there should have already been plexiglass in the classrooms.
“We are allowing our children to be in these classrooms and, to me, this should have been done prior to school opening,” Roland said.
Davis pointed out to Roland the plexiglass was pushed back to deal with the HVAC and air quality, which was an emergency.
“We’ve run into a few hiccups with writing the project and going back and forth,” Davis said. “Was it the best use for the funds? It was a team decision that maybe it was a better use of the funds for emergency work of getting the air quality done. Those are the funds I’m saying you have on hand in the account, that it was a better use of those funds to take care of the emergency of improving the air quality for the entire school and not just the separations. That decision was made based on the current need, which was air quality because some of the schools didn’t even have circulating air.”
Board member Dr. Bishop Zedric Clayton asked how far along the HVAC projects are.
“Most of the schools are up and running,” Davis said. “We’re waiting on some materials and we have a HVAC report that we can share with you guys by next week. Hopefully, by next week, we can show you the condition and what money has been spent thus far.”
Davis said Snyder Electric is footing the bill for the HVAC projects and is going to be reimbursed under ESSER funding.
“The plexiglass case, you would have had to pay for it up front,” Davis said.
Board president Delores Harris said the projects had to be prioritized and fresh air is now coming in and out of the buildings.
“The chemical that is being used is a 90-day chemical so it sanitizes everything that’s touchable,” Harris said. “It’s a work in progress as he’s explaining to us.”
As the discussion progressed, Roland said, “I’m hurting” three times.
“I’m still stuck on the shields,” Roland continued.
Davis said the shields are still a project, but did not fall into the top priority.
The issue of shields quickly became an emotional issue for Roland.
“The priority was the air,” Roland said. “We should have had two priorities. The air and the shields for our children in these schools. I have learned, not from us, that we have had several schools that have had to shut down because our children have obtained the COVID. Now, this is not funny to me. Their lives are at stake and I keep hearing, ‘It’s about the children. It’s about the children.’ Really? Really? That should have been done before schools were open. Find the money.”
Roland did not offer any solutions for funding that would make children safer.
Clayton brought up how some schools are learning virtually.
“My assumption, if we’re shutting schools down because we have several cases in the building, right, that have come up in these particular buildings to the point where the decision was made for these buildings to be shut down, it just seems like good practice for us to make sure that we put in all the precautions,” Clayton said.
Clayton said the air quality has improved and there is no way to keep COVID out of schools.
“We can’t just do it all in one day,” said CMSD superintendent Dr. Earl Joe Nelson.
“As we’re getting these projects approved, which is different, and we’re getting these funds that are available from ESSER, we’re going to have all of that in place that you’re asking for,” Nelson continued. “The urgency was the air conditioner.
“The air conditioner was about a $9 million project and so we don’t have $9 million that we can just spend right now to get the air fixed,” continued Nelson.
Nelson said plexiglass would not keep kids from getting COVID.
“It’s a protection, Sir,” Roland replied. “It’s a protection matter.”
Nelson pointed out CMSD is working very hard to spend dollars on projects that are known to prevent COVID and keep both students and teachers safe.
Business manager Jessica Pulley said every classroom has a humidifier and she would look for extra funding for plexiglass.
Roland stressed the urgency of having plexiglass in the classrooms.
“It’s dangerous,” she added. “It’s a matter of life and death.”
