Oak Lawn Schools Get Coronavirus Relief Funding

OAK LAWN, IL — Oak Lawn public schools are in line to receive a cut of $2.2 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds that the U.S. Department of Education has allocated to the state’s public elementary and high school districts.

The second round of COVID-19 relief funding for schools through the Elementary and Secondary Emergency Relief Fund — $2,250,804,891 — is four times more than the amount the state received last year under the first round of ESSER. The funds are being distributed by the Illinois State Board of Education.

Funds will be distributed as “urgent needs” for "mitigating learning loss through supplemental learning opportunities, closing the digital divide and addressing the mental health needs of our students," ISBE Superintendent of Education Dr. Carmen Ayala said in a letter to district superintendents.

The state board of education is also encouraging districts to consider extending the school year to make up for months of remote learning, by adding before and after-school programs, and summer learning opportunities. Oak Lawn school districts receiving funding, including estimated amounts:

Oak Lawn Community College Dist. 229 - $1.5 million
CHSD 218 - $5 million
Oak Lawn-Hometown Dist. 123 - $3 million
Ridgeland Dist. 122 - $3 million
Alsip-Hazelgreen-Oak Lawn Dist. - $1.2 million
Atwood Heights Dist. 125 - $523,300

Supt. Dr. Michael Riordan, of Oak Lawn Community High School Dist. 229, said he’s only had brief discussions on how to use the funding with the school board.

“We are anticipating a greater need in our summer school program as well as our after-school credit recovery programs, so I believe we will put a good amount toward those programs to help ‘catch kids up.’” Riordan said in an email. “I believe we will also use the funding to upgrade and enhance our technology infrastructure and to replace aging technology devices for students and staff. But like I said, this is all very preliminary.”

CHSD 218 Supt. Ty Harting said a meeting was scheduled to discuss ways in which to spend the funding.

“We are both appreciative and excited to have these additional funds to help move forward with educating our students during this pandemic,” Harting said. “This has been an extremely challenging year, and we will take all the help we can get to help our kids be successful in our classrooms.”

Supt. Dr. Paul Enderle, of Oak Lawn-Hometown Dist. 123 said they were aware of the allocation, but were still in the process of determining how to best use the funds to D123 students.
Other school districts can be found online as well. Not all Illinois school districts received the funding. The allocation for districts that did not receive funding will eventually get it from a "set-aside," at approximately $63 per student, according to a letter from the ISBE.