The Sunflower County Consolidated School District received $2.3 million in CARES Act funding, and nearly all of those monies have been spent on technology and academic programs as the district prepares for a virtual start to the 2020-21 school year.
Even before the district made the decision this week to begin the school year without in-person instruction, it had already spent $1.8 million on Chrome Books and laptops for students and teachers.
SCCSD Superintendent Miskia Davis told The E-T this week that every student and teacher within the district will have a computer, provided by the district, by late August.
Students did not have district-provided devices at the end of the last school term when COVID-19 forced education to go virtual nationwide after spring break.
Davis said the computers are scheduled to arrive the third week in August, and students will begin the first nine weeks on Aug. 31.
Other expenditures related to the CARES Act funds are as follows:
Wireless Access Points for each school: $37,500
Hotspots: $3,500
Internet service for hotspots: $56,000
CANVAS Learning Management System: $12,000
Syllabus Creation: $64,147.70
CANVAS Training: $12,000
Safety Supplies: $12,000
The school district also spent nearly $200,000 that did not come from the CARES Act funding on sanitation supplies, leading up to what the district thought was going to be a return to classroom instruction. This money was spent from the district maintenance fund.
