By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
The Mesquite City Council approved all of the funding that was requested by the Virgin Valley Community Education Advisory Board (VVCEAB) last week. At a meeting held Wednesday, Sept. 23, City Council members were united in approving the local education funding after a presentation by VVCEAB member Steven Lisk.
Lisk’s requests came after a series of presentations by the four local principals. Each principal talked about how City education funding had been put to use in recent years. All four expressed appreciation for the city funding and emphasized the difference it had made in the lives of local kids
Lisk then began his presentation by acknowledging it was a difficult year to come to the Council asking for funding. But there are definite needs in the local schools this year, he said.
“Unfortunately, this is not a year that we get to ask for money to do some of the extra programs we have gotten to do in the past,” Lisk said. “This is the year that our schools are really struggling. We are having to figure out the best way to educate our children and to support our teachers.”
The VVCEAB had narrowed down its funding request to only two main items.
The first was to provide the schools with specialized cleaning equipment. The four schools had asked for a total of 17 electro-static handheld sprayers which can be used to quickly disinfect all surfaces in classrooms. With a cost of $1,500 per sprayer, the total funding need for this item would be $25,500, Lisk said.
This equipment could be instrumental in getting schools reopened sooner, Lisk said. “Our community, our schools, are fighting to get back in school,” Lisk explained. “Our principals are working tirelessly trying to get plans approved by the district. That process is still ongoing. But part of it is that the CCSD wants to know how we are going to create the cleanest, most sanitized, learning areas.”
Lisk said that principals had submitted plans to bring kids back to the schools in two live cohorts: an a.m. cohort and a p.m. cohort. In order to do that, the classrooms would have to be thoroughly disinfected in between cohorts each day. The machines would make that process faster. This could better convince the district officials to allow the plans to move forward, Lisk said.
“We need to be able to show the district that we have things taken care of so that we can open up the doors and get our kids back to school,” Lisk added. “I know that disinfecting machines isn’t flashy or fun. But this may be necessary for children to be able to come back.”
Council member Brian Wursten asked if it was certain that acquiring the sprayers would satisfy the district. “Is this something that they are specifically requiring of us?” he asked.
Lisk explained that he wished it were that simple. Lisk said that he could not completely guarantee CCSD approval, even with the sprayers.
“There are cleaning procedures in place that you have to do any time a student comes in and sits at a desk,” Lisk said. “We are trying to fully follow the state directives in every way so that we can get approval to go ahead with the AM/PM cohort plan. This equipment would just be an extra layer we could show the district that we are doing everything we can to mitigate and limit the risk.”
“My feeling is that buying the sprayers might be the cart before the horse,” said Councilman George Rapson. “Spending the money on them is not a guarantee that we are going to have kids back in the classroom.”
“But to be clear, I would approve that $25,000 expenditure if I was sure it was going to be the difference to bring the kids back,” Rapson added.
City Manager Aaron Baker explained that the Council could approve the funding, contingent upon the district’s approval of the principals’ plans. That way the sprayers could be incorporated into the planning documents. But if plans are not approved, the funding would come back to the city.
The other item requested by VVCEAB was funding to reimburse teachers for times when they have to purchase classroom supplies for their kids.
Lisk explained that the state had a plan in place to reimburse teachers up to $400 per school year for supplies. But given the current State budget woes, the program had been cut.
Lisk said that the total cost for reimbursing the community’s 143 teachers at $400 per year would be $57,200 from the City.
There was no objection from Councilmembers on this idea.
Rapson made a motion to approve the $400 reimbursements for each teacher and the $25,500 for disinfecting sprayers. The latter was contingent upon approval of the school plans by CCSD.
The motion was approved with a unanimous vote.
