HOUGHTON — Michigan K-12 schools will be able to apply for state funds to address learning loss among students during the pandemic. 

Superintendent Anders Hill gave a presentation on the funds at Monday’s district board meeting, a requirement of the grant application.

Public Act 144, which became law in June, provides $52.056 million from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) Fund and federal Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) II Fund. 

The amount available to Houghton has not been announced, but could be as much as $50 per pupil, Hill said.

School benchmarks are showing elementary grades are starting at lower levels than they had before the pandemic, Hill said. 

The district is considering adding or expanding small group interventions, especially at the K-5 level.

“If we can intervene early in kids’ lives, we set them up for success later in school,” Hill said.

Because the funding goes away after one year, the best-case scenario is to spend it on personnel, Hill said.

“Sometimes with small-group interventions, if you can hire the right people to work part-time, getting kids extra help helps catch them up,” he said. 

Funds would also be used to increase access to technology and  behavioral interventions for students. Hill is especially looking at how to increase behavioral interventions for younger students, who are coming in with more needs.

The district will measure progress through math and reading benchmark assessments, along with state standardized tests and social-emotional screeners the district is adding this year.

Hill’s presentation will be summarized in a Powerpoint presentation to be posted on the transparency page of the district website. 

In other action, the board:

• Heard a public comment from a parent of a sixth-grade student, who was concerned about harassment, violence and targeted abuse his child had experienced from another student in their grade.

• Hired Helen Gerard and Annemarie Meyer as part-time second-grade teachers and Luke Skewis as elementary school reading and math interventions. The mother and daughter are both past teachers in the district.

• Approved a daily rate of $120 for substitute teachers, up from $110. Districts hire teachers through the WillSub system, in which teachers choose in which districts they would like to work. The $120 rate puts the district in line with three or four other districts in the area, Hill said.

“Not sure that that extra $10 is going to increase our sub pool,” Hill said. “But certainly we want to keep the subs that we have and make sure that we’re competitive with those rates.”

• Heard from Hill the district is holding a strategic plan meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at the high school library to get community input for the district’s strategic plan. 

• Heard from Elementary Principal Cole Klein the school would celebrate the second annual Rock Your School, where local musicians come to the school and play as students come in and against during lunchtime and recess. He also thanked Bob Wheeler for his efforts with the John Wheeler Memorial Fund, which donated $50 per teacher to purchase non-fiction science, nature and outdoor books. 

• Approved hiring winter coaches for the 2022-23 school year. New for this year are Skewis, who will coach freshman boys basketball, and varsity swimming coach Kelly Weiss.