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Prince William County schools are getting some extra help from the federal pandemic relief bills to bolster its learning recovery plans.
Last week, the division budgeted and appropriated grant money for two new programs, one to help recruit new bus drivers to help with getting students to tutoring appointments and the other to help provide a suite of services for the division鈥檚 homeless students.
The latter will total more than $278,000 in new funding for the division鈥檚 existing homeless education program that will come from the American Rescue Plan Act Congress passed in March of 2021. According to application documents the school system submitted, money will be used for everything from additional tutoring support, store cards for an emergency supply of food, clothes and other essential needs, transportation services, prepaid cell phones, school supplies for homeless high school seniors and more. The tutoring provided through the grant will be in addition to what students in homeless shelters can already access through Project HOPE.
鈥淪tudents who are struggling with academics and need additional support beyond the scope of Project Hope tutoring will be offered additional tutoring supports in person or virtually through contracted services,鈥� the division鈥檚 grant application reads. 鈥淧rogress will be tracked, and the tutoring will cater to individual needs for the students. This will help close the achievement gap created by the pandemic.鈥�
Money will also go to funding summer academic and enrichment programs for seniors, visits to prospective colleges and 250 鈥渃omfort kits鈥� for students who become ill and can鈥檛 come to school temporarily.
The application doesn鈥檛 specify how many PWCS students are considered homeless, but it includes funding for 100 phones for seniors over the next two school years.
Padreus Pratter, a member of the county鈥檚 human rights commission, came to the school board鈥檚 March 2 meeting to support the funding for homeless students.
鈥淭here is funding that鈥檚 there to make sure [homeless students] maintain some type of semblance of home. There鈥檚 additional funding that鈥檚 there to make sure they have hot meals at night. There鈥檚 additional funding that鈥檚 there to make sure they have 鈥ny type of supportive educational needs,鈥� Pratter, who works for the U.S. Department of Education and volunteers at the Hilda Barg homeless shelter in Woodridge, told the school board.
The school system is also set to receive more than $59,000 in new funding to help recruit new bus drivers. The money will be awarded through the Virginia Department of Education but comes as part of the second pandemic relief bill passed in 2020.
Like school districts and transit agencies around the country, PWCS has continued to struggle to fill bus driver positions since the pandemic took hold, forcing drivers to make double or triple runs and delaying drop-offs and pickups for students. According to the division鈥檚 application to VDOE, PWCS currently has 610 bus drivers on staff and 916 yellow buses in its fleet, with 121 job openings for drivers. The grant money will go to offering $500 monthly stipends (to supplement hourly wages) for new or existing drivers who take on bus runs bringing students to their tutoring sessions.
The increased high-dosage tutoring is a key component of Superintendent LaTanya McDade鈥檚 unfinished learning plan, but right now the division says it needs more drivers to take on tutorial activity bus runs to 24 different schools.
鈥淭hese runs allow students to participate in tutorial sessions to address areas of learning need as a result of the learning loss experienced during the pandemic,鈥� the division鈥檚 request to VDOE reads. 鈥淪tudents and schools have been impacted by the overall shortage of drivers which has required drivers to double and sometimes triple runs during the day. They cannot provide dedicated tutorial bus service removing the option of remediation and tutoring to all students because of the need to transport students for the normal daily runs which is outside their contractual time.鈥�
At the upcoming Wednesday meeting, the school board is also expected to approve funding from the 2021 relief bill for supplemental virtual tutoring, purchasing 90,000 new K-12 student licenses for online tutoring services through Paper Education Company Inc.
