
American Rescue Plan Act of 2021
The Camden City School District has been awarded American Rescue Plan Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) funds this school year. This is in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the need to address the resulting student learning recovery.
Families, district staff and community stakeholders had an opportunity to provide feedback through the district’s End of Year Survey administered between May and June 2021.
A special public comment session was held during the June 2021 Advisory Board meeting.
The results of the End of Year Survey will be shared at the July 2021 Advisory Board meeting and will be immediately available on the District’s website.
The public is invited and encouraged to sign up for another special public comment session for the August 2021 Advisory Board meeting on August 24, 2021.
Sign up here
Your feedback in this Round 3 session will be an invaluable resource to the district as we move forward with the planning process for how ARP ESSER funds will be used to make the most impact for our students.
Over the next four summers and three full fiscal years, the District will use its share of allocated one-time/short-term federal funds to address student learning recovery and the ongoing impact of the pandemic using three major strategies:
- Teacher support and creating more time for learning
- Social emotional learning and mental health supports and wellness
- Facility Upgrades
The final ARP plan for the Camden City School District will be posted on the district website after incorporating the Round 3 Public Feedback.
How is Camden City School District addressing learning loss and recovery now and through the use of ESSER II funding?
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(Phase 1) June 2021 - Initial plan for academic and student well-being recovery, acceleration, and remediation strategies to be implemented for the summer and early fall of 2021.
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(Phase 2) Fall 2021 - Analyze student data from Phase 1 strategies and interventions. Reflect and build on learning. Adjust and begin longer-term planning of recovery and acceleration strategies and interventions for implementation over the course of school year 21-22. Continue to collect student data.
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(Phase 3) Spring 2022 - Continue evaluation and improvement cycle from Phase 2 by reviewing and analyzing student data to inform next steps and engage in long-term sustained strategies for the next school year and beyond (SY2022 and beyond).
Frequently Asked Questions
Grant allocations are posted on the NJDOE ARP ESSER DISTRICT ALLOCATIONS PAGE (ARP ESSER) Fund Subgrant Allocations (nj.gov)
- Start Period: Funds may be used for allowable costs incurred on or after March 13, 2020;
- Obligated through: September 30, 2024, which includes the Tydings period (General Education Provisions Act §421(b)(1)); and
- Liquidated by: October 13, 2024.
The LEA must engage in meaningful consultation with stakeholders and give the public an opportunity to provide input in the development of its plan for the uses of ARP ESSER funds.
The LEA must provide its plan for the uses of ARP ESSER funds in an understandable and uniform format.
The LEA’s Safe Return to In-Person Instruction plan will be posted to the LEA’s website within 30 days of receiving its ARP ESSER Notice of Grant Award. The final Safe Return to In-Person Instruction plan will be posted on the district website on June 24, 2021.
Yes, LEAs must expend a minimum of 20 percent of their grant funds to:
- Address learning loss activities through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive afterschool programs, or extended school year programs, and
- Ensure that such interventions respond to students’ academic, social, and emotional needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups.
ARP ESSER funds are designated to be used in any or all of 16 buckets, which include addressing learning loss, providing professional development, improving indoor air quality, providing social and emotional supports, updating and providing technology. NJDOE allowable uses include but are not limited to the following:
- Activities authorized under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act, or the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act.
- Coordination of preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies with State, local, Tribal, and territorial public health departments, and other relevant agencies, to improve coordinated responses among such entities to prevent, prepare for, and respond to coronavirus.
- Providing principals and others school leaders with the resources necessary to address the needs of their individual schools.
- Activities to address the unique needs of low-income children or students, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and foster care youth, including how outreach and service delivery will meet the needs of each population.
- Developing and implementing procedures and systems to improve the preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies.
- Training and professional development for staff of the local educational agency on sanitation and minimizing the spread of infectious diseases.
- Purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean the facilities of a local educational agency, including buildings operated by such agency.
- Planning for and coordinating during long-term closures, including for how to provide meals to eligible students, how to provide technology for online learning to all students, how to provide guidance for carrying out requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (20 U.S.C. 1401 et seq.) and how to ensure other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all Federal, State, and local requirements.
- Purchasing educational technology (including hardware, software, and connectivity) for students who are served by the local educational agency that aids in regular and substantive educational interaction between students and their classroom instructors, including low-income students and students with disabilities, which may include assistive technology or adaptive equipment.
- Providing mental health services and supports.
- Planning and implementing activities related to summer learning and supplemental afterschool programs, including providing classroom instruction or online learning during the summer months and addressing the needs of low-income students, students with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.
- Addressing learning loss among students, including low-income students, children with disabilities, English learners, racial and ethnic minorities, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care, of the local educational agency, including by—
- Administering and using high-quality assessments that are valid and reliable, to accurately assess students’ academic progress and assist educators in meeting students’ academic needs, including through differentiating instruction.
- Implementing evidence-based activities to meet the comprehensive needs of students.
- Providing information and assistance to parents and families on how they can effectively support students, including in a distance learning environment.
- Tracking student attendance and improving student engagement in distance education.
- School facility repairs and improvements to enable operation of schools to reduce risk of virus transmission and exposure to environmental health hazards, and to support student health needs.
- Inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, and upgrade projects to improve the indoor air quality in school facilities, including mechanical and non-mechanical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, filtering, purification and other air cleaning, fans, control systems, and window and door repair and replacement.
- Other activities that are necessary to maintain the operation of and continuity of services in local educational agencies and continuing to employ existing staff of the local educational agency.
- Develop strategies and implement public health protocols including, to the greatest extent practicable, policies in line with guidance from the CDC for the reopening and operation of school facilities to effectively maintain the health and safety of students, educators, and other staff.