What is ARPA

The American Rescue Plan (ARP)Act was signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, to speed up the United States recovery from the economic and health effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing recession. 
   
ARP ESSER funds will allow SEAs to take additional steps to safely reopen schools for in-person instruction and keep them open, and to address the disruptions to teaching and learning resulting from the pandemic. This includes using funds to enact appropriate measures to help schools to invest in mitigation strategies consistent with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Operational Strategy for K-12 Schools to the greatest extent practicable; address the many impacts of COVID-19 on students, including from interrupted instruction; implement strategies to meet students’ social, emotional, mental health, and academic needs; offer crucial summer, afterschool, and other extended learning and enrichment programs; support early childhood education; invest in staff capacity; and avoid devastating layoffs at this critical moment, ensuring that all students have access to teachers, counselors, and other school personnel to support their needs.

ARP ESSER provides significant federal resources to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic that, for some LEAs, comprise millions of dollars of emergency funding. The interim final rule requirement states that each LEA will develop a plan for the use of those funds. The developed plans ensure the ARP ESSER funds are being used consistent with statutory requirements and meet the needs of schools, students, and educators, in particular those students most impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. 

ESSER III Grant period ends September 30, 2023; Carryover ends September 30, 2024

Click Here to link to Georgia Insights GA Department of Education

CDC: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ESSER: Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Funds ESSER I (CARES Act): Coronavirus Aid, Relief, And Economic Security Act ESSER II (CRRSA Act): Coronavirus Response & Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act ESSER III (ARP Act): American Rescue Plan Act GaDOE: Georgia Department of Education              LEA: Local Education Agency SEA: State Education Agency SEL: Social Emotional Learning

Return to School Plan

The DCSS Start of School Committee began meeting in June to plan for the upcoming school year. The committee revised the Learning by Design document to reflect new guidance and procedures utilizing 4 classifications. The committee reconvened in August to update the guidance on The Learning by Design document to reflect three levels of classifications of COVID spread and was last updated January 1, 2022. Below is the infographic that depicts the classifications and the recommendations for face coverings.