Jackson County School Board Planning For Leftover ESSER Funds

The Jackson County School Board discussed future plans for how to best spend leftover ESSER funds.

The conversation came about after the system completed its renovation projects under budget. While discussing what to do with the rest of the budget, Board Chairman Mark Brown said that they also have to take into account the upcoming deadline.

“We need to know where we’re going with this grant money, what we’re doin’, we got a limited time, I’m just bringin’ all this up ‘cause times tickin’,” Brown said. “We’ve talked about this a long time, and it’s tickin’, and so you’ve got choices here and we’ve gotta do somethin’.”

While discussing projects the grant money has completed, the board discussed Jackson County Middle School’s new working intercoms. Dodson Branch Elementary Principal Brian Lee suggested directing some grant money to improve the other county schools’ intercoms.

“I know you were talking about money there and projects and I think, I know the middle school, their intercom system has been a big plus for them,” Lee said. “Unfortunately the other three buildings have the same phone system, and so we’ve kind of experienced the same thing.”

He said that much of the time the intercoms are largely unintelligible to staff and students alike. Lee said that this lack of communication can raise safety concerns for schools in emergency situation such as an intruder on campus.

Director of Jackson County Schools Jason Hardy said the board should set a meeting to set an agenda for the money. He said the board doesn’t have too much time, but enough to set an agenda and make sure everyone involved is on the same page. Hardy said the main reason it is important to make sure there’s no confusion is because of heavy recent transitioning within the administration.