Vernon school board approve summer hirings

The Vernon Township School District Board of Education on Thursday approved teachers and staff to administer programs in all five of the district’s schools over the summer as the district transitions out of the COVID-19 pandemic.

They will be paid out of a federal ESSER grant that was signed on Dec. 27, 2020, by President Trump. The district is scheduled to receive the money on June 1.

The grant is broken down into $45,000 for mental health, $41,000 for accelerated learning and $649,000 for the entire program for 18 months.

Assistant Superintendent Charles McKay said the district used the mental health money to hire two clinicians for 405 hours. He also said the summer program did not cost $649,000 and came in at around $160,000. He said COVID-19 supplies, such as desk shields were purchased with the grant money.

“It is a summer like no other,” McKay said. “It will be an exciting summer for Vernon. We’ve never had this many things going on over the summer.”

The program at Cedar Mountain will run from July 1 until July 31 and students will attend a literacy program for incoming first graders only. The program will focus on phonics, reading, writing and math skills.

McKay said the district has been doing that program for 10 years.

There also will be an emphasis on social and emotional learning, and students will engage in hands-on activities.

The program will run from 8:30 a.m. until noon.

Rolling Hills’ program will run from July 12 until July 23 for first and second graders. There will be eight teachers with an emphasis on math and language arts. The program will run 5 days per week for 2 weeks.

McKay said parents also requested the district make sure there will be art and music as part of the program.

About 150 students are expected to participate in this program.

Lounsberry Hollow’s program will run the same dates as Rolling Hills with 100 students already expected. McKay said as of last Thursday, 45 had already signed up.

This program will have 8-10 teachers and its mission is to equip students with the necessary skills to succeed as they transition into a new building.

“We think this will help any students having anxiety about entering a new building after a tough year,” McKay said.

He said the language arts picks up at Lounsberry Hollow and math also will be a focus.

“Things are starting to become quite academic at Lounsberry, but we will also have social awareness,” McKay said.

Glen Meadow’s program will be about overcoming a challenging year by preserving through tough times with a positive mindset and fifth graders that are advancing to Glen Meadow in 2021-22 are welcome to attend.

About 90 students have signed up as of Thursday.

“This was the first one to be released to the public,” McKay said. “It’s very popular. We were concerned about evening sessions, but some parents have signed up for evening sessions.”

The key piece is the students’ socio-emotional growth, and this program will feature 12 teachers five days per week. It also ties in English and Language Arts.

Vernon Township High School’s program will be a bit different as it is a credit retrieval program.

About five teachers will guide students through the process and the courses are free. It will be offered to sophomores, juniors and seniors and parents of the students who could benefit from the program will be contacted.

The program will be overseen by the high school administration.

McKay said there is additional money coming in.

“We have work to do to get that grant in by the end of May,” he said.