Taking additional precautions for the return of students and staff to school campuses in the age of COVID-19 has been necessary, but it hasn’t been cheap.
School districts across the nation are spending additional money for the coming school year as they try to meet sanitation, social distancing and other protocols that health care experts say will contain the spread of the virus. For example, while every school already takes sanitation measures for its campuses, few were prepared for the constant spraying and wiping that will become a common way of life as long as students are gathered inside structures.
Many school administrators say they don’t have a final tally on those additional expenditures, but Lawton Public Schools Superintendent Kevin Hime estimated his district has spent about $500,000 on COVID-19-related supplies, materials and activities, all geared toward getting the district ready to return to in-person and virtual classes on Monday.
For example, Hime estimated the district has spent about $100,000 on hand sanitizer, under a plan that is providing dispensers in every classroom in the district and in common areas to ensure students clean their hands frequently. It’s one of three primary ways that experts say will reduce the spread of COVID-19.
But, other expenditures were necessary to prepare schools on a broader basis, such as sufficient disinfectant supplies to keep facilities and district vehicles clean, and the equipment and materials to spread disinfectant (for example, sprayers to squirt disinfectant on desks and doorknobs, wipes to rub down those surfaces, foggers for large areas). The district also purchased 100,000 disposable masks, to be distributed among the schools and buses to ensure every child and each staffer in the district has access to the masks that must be worn on buses and in high-traffic areas such as school hallways. While the district’s youngest children won’t have to wear masks in their classrooms, even they will be masked when they are in hallways, Hime has said. Adults will be expected to wear masks no matter where they are.
Other expenditures include the items needed to prepare school cafeterias for the “grab and go” meals that will become the norm for the school year, for students in traditional classrooms and virtual students who indicated they need a meal plan. Working from techniques developed over the summer, the district will have containers so hot meals — rather than just sandwiches — are an option.
Another major expense for Lawton is completion of its plan to ensure a 1-1 ratio of digital equipment for students (iPads for students up to grade three, Chromebooks for everyone else).
“We needed to do it anyway,” Hime said, of district efforts to expand the number of digital devices for its 13,000-plus students.
The district already had a plan in place for that effort, courtesy of three bond issue/capital improvements programs that have allowed Lawton to build new structures, buy new vehicles and add new materials and supplies, including 2,500 new Chromebooks. Hime said COVID-19 sped up that process, so the district can allow students who are attending school from home to remain linked to the district (Lawton Public Schools also is providing wi-fi hot spot boxes for students without internet access).
The district still is in that replacement/update phase, Hime said, explaining virtual students with digital equipment at home were asked to use it for now. If the district uses all of its supply of new Chromebooks, students will be assigned older ones until they can be replaced with new ones.
While the digital expenses had been planned over a period of time, other expenses incurred by Lawton and other school districts was not — at least, not to the extent now required to deal with COVID-19.
State and federal officials are working to offset those expenses, through the CARES Act put into effect earlier this summer.
In late July, Gov. Kevin Stitt announced Oklahoma would allocate $10 million of its CARES Act funding to buy personal protective equipment. Specifically, the funding paid for 1.7 million reusable face masks (enough for two per teacher and two per student), 42,000 clear face shields, 1.2 million pairs of disposal gloves and 1.2 million disposable gowns. The Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management has distributed the supplies to regional warehouses, for distribution to school districts.
Federal funding provided another $16 million to 150 school districts to combat the effects of COVID-19, allocated to connectivity equipment, mental health support, and services for at-risk students, said Joy Hofmeister, state superintendent for public instruction. That funding included allocations to Temple ($33,620), Anadarko ($124,519), Central High ($50,000) and Comanche ($100,000).
