February 14, 2022
By: Dwayne Page
The DeKalb County Board of Education will be spending funds to install HVAC heating and cooling systems in four of the district’s gymnasiums.
During its regular monthly meeting Thursday night, the school board authorized an additional $650,000 from ESSER (Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief) funds to heat and cool the DCHS, DeKalb Middle School, Northside Elementary, and DeKalb West School gymnasiums. The Smithville Elementary School gym is not included because the board still plans to replace SES with a new school.
“We have our bid in to put heating and air in four gyms. When we first started this project, we put over 20 air conditioners through the system on our school buildings and we estimated this would cost us about $1.2 million with the gym renovations but due to inflation we will have to move up to $650,000 to get that completed for the gyms. The bid has been awarded and the state has approved for us to move this ESSER money with approval from the board,” said Director Cripps.
It may be 2023 before all the HVAC systems for the gyms are installed.
Congress set aside approximately $13.2 billion of the $30.75 billion allotted to the Education Stabilization Fund through the Coronavirus Aid Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act for the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund (ESSER Fund). Signed into law on March 27, 2020, the Department awarded these grants to State educational agencies (SEAs) for the purpose of providing local educational agencies (LEAs), including charter schools that are LEAs, with emergency relief funds to address the impact that COVID-19 has had, and continues to have, on elementary and secondary schools across the Nation. ESSER Fund awards to SEAs are in the same proportion as each State received funds under Part A of Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, in fiscal year 2019.