South Harrison Board Reviews Plans For ESSER 3 Funding
South Harrison School board members approved their tax rate for the upcoming school year during a meeting held on Monday night.
South Harrison’s tax rate will be $4.18 per hundred dollars of assessed valuation. $3.78 will be in the incidental fund. 40 cents will be in the capital projects fund. Superintendent Dennis Eastin noted the assessed valuation will be a little higher this year. The district has an unrestricted balance of nearly 34%.
Superintendent Eastin also reviewed and detailed how the ESSER 3 funding will be utilized by the district. South Harrison will receive about $1.95 million dollars in ESSER 3 funding. 20 percent of that funding must be spent on dealing with the learning losses realized during COVID-19 and the social and mental health well-being of students. He also stated that the Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education will consider students homebound for any absences of students related to COVID-19. It means that those homebound students will need their instruction delivered within the student’s home.
The board received public comment from Kerry Barclay who is the parent of a special education student within the South Harrison District. She requested that the district provide more oversight within their Individual Education Plan for Special Education in an effort to bring accountability for the methods used to achieve the goals of the Individual Education Plan for students. She made is clear several times that she did not necessarily fault the South Harrison teachers, but did feel that providing periodic audits of progress and methods of instruction could produce more positive results.
In an executive session, South Harrison’s board hired Patrick Friga as an Assistant Boys Basketball Coach, Mackenzie Daniel as Middle School Head Volleyball Coach, Joe Campbell and Danna McIntosh to paraprofessional positions at the elementary school, Christy Clark to concession stand coordinator, and Shyann Tallen as the Colorguard Sponsor.