FAIRMONT– The Fairmont School Board on Tuesday heard from Superintendent Andy Traetow, who said the school has begun to get some feedback on requests for ESSER funds. ESSER funds are given to school districts to help sustain safe operations and help address the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Traetow reminded the community that the ESSER funds are one-time allocations from the government that the district needs to use throughout the next two school years.
Of the funds they’ve received, Traetow said most of it has gone to staffing, instruction, supplies, technology advancements and professional development.
Board member Mike Edman pointed out that ESSER funds are a reimbursement.
“The dollars from the government are not simply given to school districts. The funds are signed for reimbursement so this means we have to complete an application, get approval form the state level, then we have to spend the funds and get reimbursed once the expenditures are confirmed to be in alignment with the approved application,” Traetow said.
He said they’ve appropriately allocated some funds to support students and teachers.
Traetow also shared that there are five active Covid-19 cases in the district. That number is down from two weeks ago, when Traetow said there were 22 active cases in the district.
On the topic of Covid, Traetow said he has recently received an email from the commissioner of education about hosting a Covid vaccine clinic in the coming weeks.
“We are in the process of planning and finalizing details to offer that when the vaccine becomes available to ages 5 through 11,” Traetow said.
He said it’s a collaborate effort between Faribault and Martin Counties public health, Minnesota Department of Health and area schools.
“We encourage you to consult with you primary care provider to discuss the option of vaccination. It’s not something we require as a school, but we encourage you to consider that and hold those conversations,” Traetow said.
He said that it will be held at the elementary school and will be open to children not enrolled in public school as well. It will likely be held sometime in mid-November.
The board also approved two change orders, one planned and one un-planned, to the vocational center expansion project.
Traetow, said that the district has been having weekly construction project review meetings with the designers and construction team to go over progress on the project.
“At our last meeting, the representatives from ISG and Kraus-Anderson made us aware that in the permit process, they were made aware of the need for two additional storm water reservoir basins,” Traetow said.
Edman asked if it was missed in the design process or if it’s a Fairmont-specific code. The district’s director of buildings and grounds, Tyler Garrison said that the code wasn’t in place the last time that ISG worked in Fairmont.
Traetow said the next change order is to purchase a spray booth. He said it was initially budgeted for, but ISG and Kraus-Anderson had some questions and details to work out before the final bidding process.
Garrison pointed out that there have been some change orders that have saved the district money as well.
The board approved the change orders in the amount of $27,425 and $26,000 respectively.
The board also heard building reports from the district’s principals.
High school co-principal Alex Schmidt said they’ve recently had several pep-fests to recognize several of the school’s sport teams that have made it to state.
Elementary school co-principals Michelle Rosen and Brian Grensteiner also provided a building report.
Rosen said that early childhood family education (ECFE) classes start next week.
“We do have openings. They’re Tuesday nights. They’re parent-child classes,” Rosen explained.
She said both parents and children get to have interactions together and then parents and children separate for awhile. Parents have time with a parent-education to ask questions and children get to play. Rosen said it’s a great time to practice parent and child separation.
In other news, Fairmont 3M provided the schools access to the National Association for the Exchange of Industrial Resources which allowed the high school to order supplies valued at $5,400 and the elementary school to order supplies valued at $5,113.
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October 27, 2021 at 12:31PM
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School Board hears update on funds | News, Sports, Jobs - Fairmont Sentinel
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