WED will use rescue act funds to help students who have fallen behind

Supt: District hopes to create summer, after-school programs

WOONSOCKET — The Woonsocket Education Department’s top use of the roughly $31 million it received through the American Rescue Plan Act will be to help students who have fallen behind in academics during the pandemic-driven era of distance learning catch up.

That’s what Schools Supt. Patrick McGee told members of the School Committee Wednesday while outlining a preliminary plan for spending what’s the WED will receive over the next two years in the latest federal stimulus package approved by Congress since COVID-19 wreaked havoc on the economy and shuttered schools.

“The goal, really, is to try to fill in those learning gaps that our students have experienced,” said McGee. “In addition to the academic piece, there is a social-emotional part to this.”

Details of the plan are expected to continue evolving in the weeks and months ahead. But McGee envisions using a variety of methods to reach students who have lost ground in school, such as programs that take place before and after school, during class or over the summer, and using additional staff to run tutorials and small-group help sessions.

“Our students have and are continuing to see learning loss,” McGee said at one point.

While McGee said the school district would have access to ARP Act funds for only two years, he added, “We’re going to do our very best to spend all the money.”

But the rosy forecast came with some caveats from the superintendent. School officials are expecting to face major hurdles in the form of competition for resources from other school districts who will be eyeing the same kinds of programs as the WED. And some of them will have plenty of cash to attract

education professionals, particularly larger urban districts.

“Providence is definitely going to have a bushel of money to spend on these same programs,” agreed School Committee Chairman Paul Bourget.

McGee said the ARP Act money will give the district the flexibility to add personnel, but he cautioned that the extra help will not be sustainable within the framework of an ordinary budget after the federal infusion dries up.

Members of the school committee were particularly interested in knowing if the district would be allowed to

address learning loss by making physical improvements to classrooms. McGee said he was still trying to get clarification on that question from the Rhode Island Department of Education.

So far, McGee said, all of the guidance on the permissible uses of the funds that he was conveying to officials is coming directly from the U.S. Department of Educa

tion.

The district’s share of the ARP Act funds represents less than half of the windfall on its way to the city. The municipal side of government is slated to receive about $40 million, bringing the total for the city and its schools to about $71 million.

The funds are part of $1.8 billion set aside for the state of Rhode Island in the roughly $1.9 trillion ARP Act – the same relief bill that increased the child care tax credit to $250-300 a month, directed stimulus checks of $1,400 a person to most Americans who earn less than $75,000 and boosted unemployment insurance by $300 a week until September.