To improve education and service to students from Sampson County Schools during the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, district leaders are planning to use state assistance on nutrition, technology and cleaning machines to help protect everyone from an invisible enemy.
Funding is coming from lawmakers, who allocated a total of $50 million for school districts throughout North Carolina. Sampson County Schools was awarded a total of $325,517 for COVID-19.
Board chair Kim Schmidlin said it was great news for the local system. Since the announcement, Finance Officer Stephen Britt and Superintendent Dr. Eric Bracy have spent time trying to find the best way to use the money.
“This was a quickly put together change of funds at the state level,” Britt said. “Previously, we were scheduled to receive summer reading camp funds and the state rediverted that money into a COVID-19 supplemental fund. They also added some additional funds to it and some remaining funds from other sources.”
Spending is allowed for tasks related to school nutrition, sanitation, protective equipment, and remote learning.
During a recent special meeting, the Sampson County Board of Education approved to spend more than $220,000 of the $325,517 on 530 laptops and 17 charging carts. After schools were closed, concerns were presented by board members about students who don’t have a computer at home.
Belva Lovitt, director of technology, said the plan is to give middle and high school students priority because they are the most tested.
“I think this COVID issue has exposed the need for us to invest in technology,” Schmidlin said. “I’m happy that the state put these funds forward and made it possible for us to allocate the money in this way. For our students, there is no question that we need to make some investment in technology to improve giving devises to students.”
It’s estimated that it could take four to six weeks for Sampson Schools to receive the computers. Lovitt said a Dell plant was struck by a tornado in Tennessee, which could impact timing. But Lovitt said the companies is doing a good job with getting equipment out.
In addition to paying for the computers, the board also approved additional funding for cafeteria employees preparing food for the district’s drive-thru service, which allows parents to pick up meals for their students.
During the presentation, Britt said the largest need was to continue to feed students. More than 190,000 meals have been served in Sampson County, since feeding sites were established across the district.
“It’s hard for me to even wrap my mind around how many meals are going out to our students every day,” Britt said. “That’s truly impressive. They have come in when the rest of have been able to work remotely. You can’t fix meals and feed kids remotely, so they’re really our frontline staff and our frontline workers now. So, we tried to work out a plan to incentivize them to continue.”
While describing how the child nutrition program operates, Britt said it’s critical to continue feeding children and revenue purposes, which is reimbursed by the federal government. If the the Child Nutrition program did not deliver meals over a two-month period, it would lose close to a $1 million in revenue.
“That would be extremely detrimental to the Child Nutrition program and the health of that program in general,” Britt said.
With the funding, child nutrition employees are expected to receive an additional $4 per hour for work from April 1 through May 15, which is additional $720 per person over a six-week period for the Child Nutrition staff. Along with the hourly increase, payroll taxes and matching retirement funds, the total is more than $95,000.
Schmidlin said the drive-thru and meal service has been a great coordination effort between cafeteria employees and the community. Several churches and individuals also volunteered to provide sites for meal deliveries. Board member Tim Register also recognized teachers and staff members who are assisting as well.
“This also makes me really happy that we’re able to reward these folks who are going the extra mile to make sure that we can continue to serve meals to our students,” she said.
Sampson County Schools is also planning to spend $8,549 for two Clorox Total 360 System machines, which is known to kill COVID-19. The district currently owns four, which are being used to clean and disinfect schools.
In addition to receiving two more from COVID-19 funding, Mark Hammond, executive director of auxiliary services, ordered an additional four, which are on back order. This would give the district 10 total machines for 18 buildings. Bracy feels that it’s good ratio considering the locations of the schools throughout the district.
