Wilkes Schools Get Funding From CARES Act
District receives $2.292 million from federal sources
NORTH WILKESBORO-The federal government will help Wilkes County Schools cover the cost of the COVID-19 shutdown. Specifically, the district will get $2.292 million from the CARES Act, the bill passed by Congress in late March. Dr. Joe Bullis, Director of Federal Programs for Wilkes County Schools, explained what exactly the money can and can’t be used for during Monday’s school board meeting.
“We will have these funds until September 2021, at which time they will expire,” Bullis said. “Basically what these funds [can] be used for are losses we incurred at the end of this year as a result of COVID-19.”
Bullis said that could be additional transportation costs, extra spent delivering meals and student packets, stipends for frontline workers or additional cleaning and disinfectant supplies. The money can be spent to cover any of those expenses, but it has to be done within the next 15 months.
“It’s also gonna allow us to prepare for the needs that’s gonna arise as we look towards the next school year,” Bullis said.
While it’s still not clear what schools will look like when students return in the fall, districts will need additional cleaning supplies, as well as facemasks. They’ve also been told by the state to plan for at least some remote learning. The extra funding will help cover the cost of those necessities, Bullis explained.
“It’s really a very flexible fund and we’re very grateful to have it,” he told the board.
Get Brian Carlton’s stories in your inbox
Join Medium for free to get updates from this writer.
School board members asked if the money had to be used on COVID-19 material or could it be spent on other things. This federal money comes with specific requirements, Bullis told the group. The district has to show federal officials a direct connection to the virus when spending the money. That means you could buy facemasks, you could cover the cost of buses running to each of the feeding sites, but you couldn’t spend it on a teacher’s salary or to repair a roof.
“There’s a lot of need out there,” Bullis said. “This will really help us.”
In addition to federal dollars sent directly to Wilkes, North Carolina received $232 million to be distributed to school districts. However, it’s up to state education officials to determine how much goes to each district and so far, that hasn’t happened. North Carolina officials are still working on what the guidelines will look like.
Consolidating Meal Sites
As of Monday, officials had served more than 540,800 meals at 20 sites around Wilkes County. This breakfast and lunch service is open to any children in the school district. However, with the school year officially over, the district reduced those 20 sites to five. As of Monday, there are cooking sites at Central Wilkes Middle School, East Wilkes High, Mulberry Elementary, Traphill Elementary and West Wilkes Middle School.
“We’re complementing those five sites with nine school buses going to 15 community stops, three of which are school buildings themselves,” said Dr. Marty Johnson, Director of Student Nutrition for Wilkes.
Those three school buildings are CC Wright Elementary, Mount Pleasant and Millers Creek elementary schools. Johnson said he and his staff have not finalized plans yet for July.
“We’re waiting to see what our numbers do, to see if we need to consolidate sites,” he told the board.
Brian Carlton is the editor for NWNC. He can be reached at brian.carlton38@gmail.com.
