D46 Plans To Buy Chromebooks With COVID Relief Funds

GRAYSLAKE, IL — Community Consolidated School District 46 administrators are planning to use federal funds doled out to schools during the COVID-19 pandemic to pay for Chromebooks and after school and summer school programs.

In total, District 46 has received $3.17 million in Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief funds. The federal funds are meant to be used to help school districts safely reopen and address any "learning loss" students may have due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Community Consolidated School District 46 plans to spend the federal funds on:

• Additional teacher positions or teacher on special assignment: $150,000
• Ventilation audits: $40,000
• Desks and chairs needed for social distancing: $400,000
• Literacy curriculum materials for the 2022-23 school years: $1.1 million
• Chromebooks for grades 3 to 8: $730,000
• Summer school and summer enrichment: $170,000

District 46 is also looking at using $407,000 to pay for additional educational services and materials as needed and another $107,000 for after-school programs.

Here is a look at how District 46 has spent federal funds doled out since the start of the pandemic.

• $123,000 in Federal Emergency Management Agency Aid was used to pay for PPE, masks and cleaning supplies.
• $240,730 in ESSER -Care Acts funds was used to buy Chromebooks and Google Enterprise
• $239,945 in Digital Equity Care Act funds paid for more Chromebooks, HotSpots, wireless microphones for physical education teachers and sparker for music teacher to support remote learning.
• $199,620 in Lake County - CARES Act funds were used for PPE, masks and cleaning supplies.
• $953,958 in Esser funds paid for summer school, air purifiers, air quality assessment, music PPE, and other items not reimbursed through FEMA.
• $24,000 in JumpStart Kindergarten GEER II dollars were used to fund a summer school program for pre-kindergarten. Addressing needs of individual schools resulting from