Press Releases

09/20/2021

CSDE Announces Approval of All Local Education Agency (LEA) ESSER II Plans

(Hartford) – The Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) today announced that all 199 of Connecticut’s local education agencies (LEAs) have had their plans for the investment of Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief II Funding allocations approved by the CSDE.

“CSDE is so proud of the thoughtful, innovative efforts districts are pursuing as they invest these funds,” said State Education Commissioner Charlene M. Russell Tucker. “We will continue to ensure the proper supports and guidance are in place to aid districts in their work to accelerate learning, engage families and communities, ensure the well-being of students and school staff, and employ the strategic use of technology.”

Earlier this year, the Connecticut State Department of Education (CSDE) received an additional $492,426,458 in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER II) funds. 90 percent of these funds, approximately $443 million, was allocated directly to LEAs. A sample of initiatives aligned with the state-level priorities outlined for ESSER II funding that are already underway in districts includes

Academic Supports, Learning Loss, Learning Acceleration and Recovery

• Providing university interns with stipends to serve as tutors (Bridgeport)
• Coordinating with their Regional Educational Service Center (RESC) to establish priority standards and curricular goals in English and math and provide staff with professional learning (Union)
• Providing flexible course offerings and additional academic support for middle school and high school (Hartford)

Family and Community Connections

• Procuring a secure platform for two-way school-to-home communication (Danbury)
• Instituting a Parent Academy that will focus on the role of parental involvement in education and how families can support their children’s academic success at home (Salem)
• Hiring a Family Liaison who will support and coordinate increased parental engagement in individual schools and at the district-level (Area Cooperative Educational Services)

School Safety and Social-Emotional Well-being of the “Whole Student” and of our School Staff

• Partnering with a local non-profit to provide all staff with Mental Health First Aid training (Wolcott)
• Offering extended day opportunities for students to access mental health and social-emotional supports, digital or in-person (Ridgefield)
• Partnering with their RESC’s Psychological and Behavioral Consultation Services to develop a three-year roadmap focused on mitigating achievement and opportunity gaps and supporting student social-emotional learning and wellness (Griswold)

Remote Learning, Staff Development, and the Digital Divide

• Installing and training staff on the use of interactive display panels to increase collaborative learning and student engagement (Region 16)
• Purchasing laptops for students to facilitate learning (Litchfield)
• Providing targeted professional development for staff on use of technology in the classroom (Kent)

Ensuring Accountability

The CSDE is committed to ensuring the federal relief funds are properly used to serve our school community and has set up a thorough accountability process. Every district has been assigned a CSDE program manager who is responsible for monitoring the grant and ensuring that expenditures align with the activities in their approved application. If an LEA wants to change their application, they must go through a formal revision process, and the change must be approved prior to their being given access to the funds for the new purpose. Currently, 56 districts are undergoing the revision process based on internal evaluation that concluded in changing needs.

The initiatives outlined above do not encompass all of the innovative work underway across Connecticut. Anyone can access individual LEA ESSER II applications and the amount each district was allocated by following the directions entitled “Instructions for Public Access to eGMS” on the CSDE Electronic Grants Management System (eGMS) homepage.  Questions about individual LEA plans should be directed to local district officials.

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Contact: Eric Scoville

Connecticut State Department of Education

Eric.Scoville@ct.gov

860-424-1988 (cell)

 

 

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