COVID-19 costs Stonington schools more than $1 million
Stonington — It appears the Board of Education may be able to fund most of the additional $1,081,944 needed to pay for costs related to the COVID-19 pandemic and hybrid learning without a large additional appropriation.
Superintendent of Schools Van Riley presented the board Thursday night with a list of pandemic-related items and their costs that will be incurred before the end of the year.
After applying the $465,715 the school system received in state and federal pandemic grants, it is left with an estimated $616,229 bill.
Riley pointed out that the school system returned $572,523 to the town as a surplus from its 2019-20 budget on June 30, and stressed that the school system has been trying to contain the COVID-19 costs to within that amount. If that money were applied to offset the COVID-19 bill, it would leave just $44,000. Riley said the school board now will need to go to the Board of Finance and request that the surplus be used to offset those costs.
The school system has incurred costs for items such as personal protective equipment and cleaning supplies, additional custodians, paraprofessionals and substitute teachers and increased utility costs for items such as ventilation.
A little more than $50,000 now is being proposed to be spent on several programs to help students struggling with remote learning, especially in math.
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