Some non-public schools part of CARES Act windfall
While the Lincoln Parish public school system will receive the lion’s share of the $2.3 million CARES Act funding from the federal government in response to the novel coronavirus pandemic, five other schools in the parish will also see a cut of the money to help improve student technology and distance learning access.
A. E. Phillips Laboratory School will receive $136,918 from the federal aid package, according to figures provided by the Lincoln Parish School Board office. Howard School, the alternative school on the campus of the Louisiana Methodist Children’s Home in Ruston, will get $31,389.
Finally, three participating private schools — Montessori School of Ruston, New Living Word School and Bethel Christian School — will split $50,491.
Kim Shackelford, federal programs director for the public school district, said the state Department of Education determined the payout amounts for each school using a federal formula based on total enrollment from October of 2019.
Montessori Head of School Amanda Walker said the school will spend much of the roughly $18,000 coming its way on ensuring distance learning is readily available in the fall.
“We have some families who have already expressed some concerns (about returning to the classroom)... because they have people in their family who are immunocompromised, or they have a newborn at home,” she said. “So we’re planning to purchase some technology that will be used in the classroom so that our teachers can easily have access to those students via things like a Zoom call.”
Walker said some of the money will also go toward PPE supplies such as thermometers, as well as check-out libraries of learning materials.
“We will have a set that families can check out to take home, and then their teacher will work with them through Zoom or another platform to present lessons, clarify things that are confusing, and that sort of thing,” Walker said. “And then they’ll bring the materials back, we’ll sanitize them, and another family can check them out.”
Montessori’s first venture back into face-to-face instruction will begin with summer camp for select families on July 8. The school will follow Lincoln Parish’s schedule and format for returning in the fall, which officials say is still to be determined.
A.E. Phillips Director Jenny Blalock said the school’s priorities for this funding are the equipment and training needed for all teachers and students to conduct classes online, as well as sanitation materials for the facility.
“Technology purchasing has been a priority at AEP before the current health crisis,” she said. “We are fortunate that, with the help of the funding we receive, we should be able to purchase the remaining devices to ensure that no student goes without proper access to virtual learning.”
Blalock said AEP teachers kept track of every student’s progress during the spring’s school closure, and she believes the staff and student body will be ready for learning in the fall in whatever format that may take.
“This summer, teachers are completing virtual trainings, and our administration team is preparing for a variety of scenarios,” she said.
“So I feel that we will be ready for school in the fall, no matter the challenges.”
As previously reported, the public school system is waiting to see how the remaining phases in Louisiana’s economic reopening following the spring’s stay-at-home order will play out before determining how and when the next school year will begin.
Options on the table include students coming to school in shifts of different days or throughout the same day, as well as allowing parents the option to keep their children home and continue using distance learning.
