ARP-ESSER III Plan

The School Board of Marion County, Florida
2021-24 American Rescue Plan (ARP) Elementary and
Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) Fund Plan
(ARP-ESSER III Plan)

Purpose

ARP ESSER III funds must help meet a wide range of needs arising from the coronavirus pandemic, including reopening schools safety, sustaining their safe operation, and addressing students‘ social, emotional, and mental health, as well as students’ academic needs resulting from- or exacerbated by- the pandemic.

The Florida Department of Education has provided an outline for districts to describe how they will support the development of high-quality plans for the use of ARP-ESSER funds to achieve these objectives for the following underrepresented student subgroups: each major racial and ethnic group, children from low-income families, children with disabilities, English learners, gender, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care.

Part I: Implementation Plan

Activity 1: Addressing Learning Loss (at least 20% of total allocation).

The School Board of Marion County, Florida must reserve at least 20 percent of the total funds to address learning loss through the implementation of evidence-based interventions, such as summer learning or summer enrichment, extended day, comprehensive afterschool programs, or extended school year programs. In addition, those interventions must respond to students’ social, emotional, and academic needs and address the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on underrepresented student subgroups (each major racial and ethnic group, children from low-income families, children with disabilities, English learners, gender, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care).

Activity 2 (A):

Any activity authorized by the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965.

Activity 2(B):

Any activity authorized by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act.

Activity 2 (C):

Any activity authorized by the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act.

Activity 2 (D):

Any activity authorized by the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006.

Activity 2 (E):

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 COVID-19.

Activity 2 (F):

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.

Activity 2 (G):

Developing and implementing procedures and systems to improve the preparedness and response efforts of local educational agencies.

Activity 2 (H):

Training and professional development for staff of the local educational agency on sanitation and minimizing the spread of infectious diseases.

Activity 2 (I):

Purchasing supplies to sanitize and clean the facilities of a local educational agency, including buildings operated by such agency.

Activity 2 (J):

Planning for, coordinating, and implementing activities during long-term closures, including providing meals to eligible students, providing technology for online learning to all students, providing guidance for carrying out requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and ensuring other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all Federal, State, and local requirements.

Activity 2 (K):

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 children with disabilities, which may include assistive technology or adaptive equipment.

Activity 2 (J):

Planning for, coordinating, and implementing activities during long-term closures, including providing meals to eligible students, providing technology for online learning to all students, providing guidance for carrying out requirements under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and ensuring other educational services can continue to be provided consistent with all Federal, State, and local requirements.

Activity 2 (L):

Providing mental health services and supports, including through the implementation of evidence-based full-service community schools.

Activity 2 (M):

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, children with disabilities, English learners, migrant students, students experiencing homelessness, and children in foster care.

Activity 2 (N)

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—

1. 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;
2. implementing evidence-based activities to meet the comprehensive needs of students;
3. providing information and assistance to parents and families on how they can effectively support students, including in a distance learning environment; and
4. tracking student attendance and improving student engagement in distance education.

Activity 2 (O):

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.

Activity 2 (P):

Inspection, testing, maintenance, repair, replacement, and upgrade projects to improve the indoor air quality in school facilities, including mechanical and nonmechanical heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems, filtering, purification and other air cleaning, fans, control systems, and window and door repair and replacement.

Activity 2 (Q):

Developing strategies and implementing public health protocols including, to the greatest extent possible and not inconsistent with state law, policies in line with guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention for the reopening and operation of school facilities to effectively maintain the health and safety of students, educators, and other staff.

Activity 2 (R):

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.

Activity 2 (S):

Administration. LEAs may take reasonable and necessary administrative costs, to include direct and indirect costs. Indirect costs may be taken up to the negotiated, unrestricted indirect cost rate. However, to ensure that the total administrative costs are reasonable, the total direct and indirect costs may not exceed five percent (5%) of the LEA’s total award.

Part II: Ensuring Effectiveness of Interventions

Please describe how the LEA will ensure that the interventions it implements, including but not limited to the interventions under section 2001(e)(1) of the ARP Act to address the academic impact of lost instructional time, will respond to the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students, and particularly those students disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, including students from low-income families, students of color, English learners, children with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, children and youth in foster care, and migratory students. In your response, please include a description of interventions and strategies that are aligned to the LEA’s data (disaggregated by subgroup), and describe how the LEA will measure the effectiveness of the selected interventions.

Marion County Public Schools plans to address the academic impact of lost instructional time, will respond to the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students by implementing a strategic data collection process. This includes the collection and use of screening, diagnostic assessments, progress monitoring, formative, and summative data as coordinated by The Student Pathways and Assessment Department.

The data collected is critical to all school teams as it is used to determine student learning loss and areas of need and to identify appropriate interventions for the purpose of addressing student deficits. The data then allows school teams to make appropriate decisions regarding in-class supports and intervention, after-school and Saturday tutoring support, and summer learning opportunities to help close the achievement gap with all students. Students with academic achievement gaps, including students from low-income families, students of color, English learners, children with disabilities, students experiencing homelessness, children and youth in foster care, and migratory students will be invited to participate in the school’s tutoring programs. During the ELA/Reading and math instructional blocks, teachers and paraprofessionals utilize small group opportunities to re-teach students who did not demonstrate proficiency on specific standards. Utilizing current data, schools assign mentors to targeted students to help make progress towards a year’s growth of instruction as appropriate. 

Elementary schools administer diagnostic assessments to determine necessary intervention placement for reading and mathematics deficiencies. Secondary school Tier II and Tier III teachers also administer the diagnostic assessment to determine appropriate interventions for reading and mathematics. Students who need reading interventions are enrolled in options outlined in the state-approved K-12 Reading Plan. Students who need mathematics interventions are enrolled in district approved programs. At the secondary level, Math 180 has been expanded to address students below grade level or not on target for making one year’s growth. 

Monthly i-Ready growth monitoring assessments are administered to select elementary students and middle school students who are receiving Tier II and Tier III interventions on a monthly basis. Teachers also regularly use the embedded assessment tools from the intervention programs to monitor progress and adjust to student needs. Additionally, historical academic and assessment data will be used help identify student learning gaps. District QSMA is administered three times a year in all Florida Standards Assessment and End of Course tested subjects and results are used for progress monitoring.  

Marion County Public Schools will employ these evidence-based interventions to meet the comprehensive needs of students by using in classroom instruction, both during and outside the regular day and year. These include:   

Elementary 
Building Vocabulary 
Corrective Reading 
Do the Math  
Focused Reading Intervention 
Early Interventions in Reading 
Go Math Intervention Resources   
Hand2Mind 
Hands on Standards  
iReady Toolbox 
Leveled Literacy Intervention 
Phonics for Reading 
Reading Mastery 
Read Naturally 
Reading Plus 
Savvas myFocus Literacy   

Middle School 
Math 180 
Read180 Universal 
StudySync 
System44   

High School 
Math 180 
Read180 Universal 
Reading Plus 
REWARDS Secondary 

StudySync 
Marion County Public Schools will ensure that classroom teachers will receive or have received professional development on the use of a multi-tiered system of supports by ensuring professional learning includes multiple opportunities to implement new learning with ongoing support and actionable feedback to continually improve educator practice and student outcomes.   

Part III: LEA Plan for Safe Return of In-Person Instruction

Each LEA developed and made publicly available on the LEA’s website a plan for the safe return of in-person learning in the Fall of 2020. This was before the enactment of the ARP Act. This plan must be updated to address the requirements of the U.S. Department of Education’s Interim Final Rule, 88 FR 21195. The Interim Final Rule “does not mandate that an LEA adopt the CDC guidance, but only requires that the LEA describe in its plan the extent to which it has adopted the key prevention and mitigation strategies identified in the guidance.” 88 FR at 21200. Any updated LEA plan must be consistent with state law, including any applicable executive order, any agency emergency order, or any agency regulation or rule. Note specifically that LEA policies must comply with section 381.00316, Florida Statutes, and that any policies implemented after August 9, 2021 must comply with Florida Department of Health Rule 64DER21 -12, F.A.C., and any policies implemented after September 22, 2021 must comply with Florida Department of Health Rule 64DER21-15, F.A.C.

Each LEA must seek public comment on the plan and take such comments into account prior to submission of the final plan to the Department within 60 days of the award. Upon the Department’s approval, the LEA shall post this updated plan on the LEA’s website within 90 days of the award.

Each LEA acknowledges the requirement that each LEA shall update its Plan for Safe Return of In-Person Instruction to reflect the requirements stated above, shall seek public comment on the updated plan and take such comments into account prior to the submission of the final plan to the Department within 60 days of the award. Upon the Department’s approval, the LEA shall post this updated plan on the LEA’s website within 90 days of the award.

Part IV: Assurances

Assurance 1: LEA Periodic Plan Update with Public Comment. As required in the U.S. Department of Education’s Interim Final Rule, 88 FR 21195, the LEA must regularly, but no less frequently than every six months, review and as appropriate, revise its plan for the safe return to in-person instruction and continuity of services. In determining whether revisions are necessary, and in making any revisions, the LEA must seek public input and take such input into account. If at the time the LEA revises its plan the CDC has updated its guidance on reopening schools, the revised plan must address the extent to which the LEA has adopted policies, and describe any policies, for each of the updated safety

recommendations. Significantly, the Interim Final Rule “does not mandate that an LEA adopt the CDC guidance, but only requires that the LEA describe in its plan the extent to which it has adopted the key prevention and mitigation strategies identified in the guidance.” 88 FR at 21200. Any updated LEA plan must be consistent with state law, including any applicable executive order, any agency emergency order, or any agency regulation or rule. Specifically, LEA policies must comply with section 381.00316, Florida Statutes, and any policies implemented after August 9, 2021 must comply with Florida Department of Health Rule 64DER21 -12, F.A.C., and any policies implemented after September 22, 2021 must comply with Florida Department of Health Rule 64DER21-15, F.A.C.

Assurance 2: Continue progress monitoring and interventions. The district agrees to provide robust progress monitoring and requisite interventions must be extended to all students with tiered support for students who are performing below grade level and are not making adequate progress. Students who are receiving instruction through innovative teaching methods must transition to another teaching method if they fail to make adequate progress. The district agrees to provide monthly progress monitoring reports to parent/guardians for students identified as performing below grade level and/or demonstrating decline on the district’s progress monitoring system.

Assurance 3: Allowable Uses of Funds. The LEA will use funds for activities allowable under section 2001(e) of the CRRSA Act.

Assurance 4: Maintenance of Equity. The LEA will comply with all requirements relating to Maintenance of Equity, in accordance with section 2004(c) of the ARP Act.

Assurance 5: Reporting. The LEA will comply with all reporting requirements, and submit required reports to the Florida Department of Education at such time and in such manner and containing such information as the department may subsequently require.

Assurance 6: Audits, Inspections or Examinations. The LEA will cooperate with any examination of records with respect to such funds by making records available for inspection, production, and examination, and authorized individuals available for interview and examination, upon the request of (i) the Florida Department of Education, the Florida Auditor General; (ii) the Department and/or its Inspector General; or (iii) any other federal or state agency, commission, or department in the lawful exercise of its jurisdiction and authority.