Physical Distancing: The district will strive to maintain three feet social distancing in classrooms. Floor decals and other signage will be purchased and installed to remind students of appropriate social distancing. Staggered scheduling will continue to be implemented in order to reduce contact. Whenever possible, doors will be designated for entrance or exit to separate traffic going into and out of the schools. Classroom layouts will be designed to maximize physical space. Lunchroom seating may be expanded to other areas if needed in order to ensure social distance while students eat.

Handwashing and Respiratory Etiquette: Students and staff will be encouraged to wash and sanitize their hands frequently. Additional hand sanitizing stations will be installed throughout the school facilities to increase access. Hand sanitizer will be provided for every classroom and bus. Masks will be available and required for all students and staff. Students will be taught to cough or sneeze into their elbow or cover their mouth and nose with a tissue. They will also be instructed to put their used tissues into the trash, wash their hands with soap and water, or clean them with an alcohol-based hand sanitizer. Sick students or staff will stay in an isolate quarantined area while waiting to be picked up from school.

Cleaning and Maintaining Health Facilities: In addition to the typical cleaning supplies provided for the custodial staff, the district will purchase cleaning and disinfecting supplies for each classroom, athletic facility, and buses. Desks, door knobs, tables, and other frequently touched surfaces will be cleaned more frequently. Cleaning equipment such as additional sprayers, a floor scrubber, and a carpet scrubber will be purchased so that surfaces will be cleaned and disinfected more efficiently and effectively. Gloves will be provided to custodial staff, nurses, educational aides, cafeteria staff, and athletics/physical education staff. Gloves will be required when cleaning and disinfecting the area around a person who is sick. Gloves will also be worn by the cafeteria staff when serving food. The district will make facility upgrades to provide a more sanitary and hygienic environment. The district will upgrade faucets to allow for hands-free operation. Manual paper towel dispensers will be replaced with hands-free, automatic hand dryers in school settings. The district will replace traditional water fountains with bottle filling stations so students and staff will have safe access to clean drinking water. The main HVAC system for academic and office complex will be upgraded These upgrades will ensure optimal functioning of the HVAC system for years to come. The district will use ARP ESSER funds to employ a maintenance project manager to ensure that the school facilities remain clean and in working order. The maintenance project manager will assist in promoting the safety, health, and comfort of students and employees in school buildings and grounds. He/She will perform preventive maintenance, repair, and installation in connection with: electrical, plumbing, and HVAC systems; exterior and interior of buildings; and school grounds. Contact tracing in combination with isolation and quarantine: The district employs school nurses who remain in constant communication with the Jefferson County Health Department. If there is a suspected COVID case at school, the person with symptoms will immediately be isolated from others. The person will be referred for testing. When there is a confirmed COVID case, the school nurses will conduct contact tracing, notify close contacts that are required to quarantine. Isolated or quarantined people will not be permitted to return until they are released by the Jefferson County Health Department or their health care provider. Regarding COVID testing, students and staff suspected of having COVID will have the choice to use Cahaba Medical Center- School Based Health Center or a provider of their choice to be tested.

Vaccinations: Cahaba Medical School Based Health Center will continue to provide the COVID vaccine to students and staff upon permission of parents for individuals 12 years and older. The vaccinations will be scheduled at an appropriate time to allow the recipient to recover from any side effects.

Appropriate Accommodations: The school district will collaborate with parents to ensure the health and safety concerns of students’ with disabilities are appropriately addressed. The district can offer smaller cohort sizes, increased social distancing in the classroom environment and alternate delivery methods to minimize risk of contracting COVID.

Fairfield City Schools will ensure that the academic, social, emotional, and mental health needs of all students are met through providing evidence-based interventions to address the impact of lost instructional time. Fairfield City Schools is using ARP ESSER funds to implement targeted interventions to address all needs of students that support the whole-child approach.

Fairfield City Schools will provide effective, research-based professional development to all teachers, staff, and administrators to ensure that staff are adequately prepared to handle the upcoming challenges related to lost instructional time for students impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Through the provision of top educational consultants that are experts in a variety of fields and through the attendance of high-quality conferences, teachers, staff, and administrators will be given learning opportunities to support student achievement in unprecedented times. These professional development opportunities will also provide interventions targeted to underrepresented students, including but not limited to children with disabilities, migrant students, English learners, students experiencing homelessness, and children and youth in foster care. Fairfield City Schools will also implement tutoring, after-school programs, and summer programs to provide academic interventions and academic enrichment for students who need additional academic support.

Fairfield City Schools will also provide programs and services to ensure that social emotional learning is at the forefront of the students’ educational experience. Peer Helpers is a comprehensive, evidence-based prevention and support program that promotes the mental health of youth and teaches students to advocate for each other. Through the continued use of Peer Helpers, all Fairfield City Schools counselors will utilize the P.A.T.H. (Prevention and Awareness for Total Health) curriculum provided by Peer Helpers to ensure students receive social emotional learning targeting bullying, abuse, suicide, drugs and alcohol, and other relevant issues. Fairfield City Schools will also continue to partner with Alaquest Collaborate for Education to provide social emotional learning curricula in each of its schools. Through both of these partnerships, along with programming from school counselors at each FCS school, Fairfield City Schools will ensure that the individual social and emotional needs of each student are met.

Fairfield City Schools will also continue working to support all mental health needs of its students. FCS’s Mental Health Service Coordinator works closely with all teachers, counselors, and administrators to identify and engage students who may need mental health support. After referrals are made from school faculty and staff to the Mental Health Service Coordinator, the MHSC works to provide evidence-based services and referrals targeted to the individual needs of each student. Through FCS’s ongoing partnership with Cahaba Medical Care, the MHSC refers students to receive individual school-based counseling, provided by Cahaba Medical Care on school grounds during the school day. As mental health needs have drastically increased due to the pandemic, Fairfield City Schools is expanding the reach of school-based therapy through the addition of another full-time therapist contracted through Cahaba Medical Care. Fairfield City Schools will also continue expanding the Peer Helpers program to allow students to identify the mental health needs of other students and refer them to school counselors or the MHSC to provide ongoing support and appropriate resource referrals. Fairfield City Schools will also implement Rhithm as an evidence-based early warning system to monitor the mental health of students and identify students who are at-risk. Fairfield City Schools will also implement EmpowerU as an evidence-based Tier II intervention with virtual programming and individual coaching for students who are at-risk.

Fairfield City Schools will ensure that students who are identified in underrepresented student subgroups and students disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic will have additional access to all services, resources, and programs beneficial to their unique needs. Counselors, administrators, the Mental Health Service Coordinator, and identified school-level teams will provide support to engage these students effectively.

Our district will use ESSER III funds to supplement costs of needed personnel such as technology and academic coaches. We will ensure that no student or teacher will be denied participation based on gender, race, national origin, disability or age.

Our LEA is a CEP district and all students in the school system receives free breakfast and lunch.  We plan to use grant funds to integrate technology in all classrooms and on teacher professional development. Students who participate in supplemental programs and all other students in the district will have equal access to these resources. In addition, all teachers will have access to professional development, including those who serve at-risk students.

Our district will use ESSER III grant funds to purchase devices and other related items to support the upgrade to our technology and internet needs. Due to our number of low-income students/families, many students do not have the ability to use digital devices on their own. The district is committed to offering a technology rich educational experience for all of our students. These funds will also be used to provide professional development opportunities to our teachers, which they would not otherwise have. We will ensure that no student or teacher will be denied participation based on gender, race, national origin, disability or age.

Our district will use ESSER III funds to send staff to trainings to improve K-3 Early Literacy. The training is to ensure students are reading at grade level by the end of third grade. Staff will come back from the training and help other staff use techniques to ensure all students no matter gender, race, national origin, disability or age are denied help to ensure proper grade level reading. Staff will also be training to ensure all students feel safe and work on proper protocol for improvement of behavior and not disciplinary actions.

Our district will use ESSER III funds for professional development. Because a significant portion of our students are at or below the poverty level, we will provide funds for teacher training that will assist staff in understanding poverty and how to adapt teaching strategies so that poverty students and their parents will be more engaged in their learning. The goal is that through this strategy, students will learn more and perform better on assessments. We will ensure that no student or teacher will be denied participation based on gender, race, national origin, disability or age.

Our district will use the ESSER III funds to increase safety and enhance the social emotional well-being of our students. Our district will focus on non-discrimination awareness programs for all sub-groups including gender, race, ethnicity, gender orientation and socio-economic status, through outreach to families and community members. Additionally, our district will initiate professional development in this area for all staff.

Fairfield City Schools will monitor its allocation by reviewing data elements, protocols and procedures during scheduled district-level PLCs where all administrators (school and district-level) are present. An ESSER financial processing team will be employed to ensure the appropriate application of funds. These individuals will ensure orders for materials and supplies, technology, and safety equipment are ordered in a timely manner and in alignment to ESSER guidelines. School-level administrators will monitor timesheets for summer and extended day activities. These administrators will also monitor and ensure the use of resources and equipment purchased with ESSER funds.  

The Superintendent, along with the Federal Programs and Teaching and Learning Directors will monitor and conduct interim audits to ensure the appropriate application of funds. Audits will consist of monitoring the use of technology instructionally and operationally. Audit activity will ensure equipment inventory management is conducted consistently for all sites and all technology purchased with ESSER funds. 

To ensure the community of Fairfield City is informed, Fairfield City Schools will have an annual Town Hall meeting to provide instructional, safety and facilities updates.  

Family engagement will be enhanced by partnering with local, state and nationwide initiatives to conduct parent workshops and informational meetings; communicate with parents by mailing, LEA/school websites and other social media outlets, as well as copied/bound materials.  Additionally, parents will be provided with materials and supplies that will support parents assisting their child at home with homework. Families will be provided (on an as need basis) with information across multiple agencies, participate with in-home assessments, and be provided with individualized plans and case management support to meet specific needs across a wide range of domains. Additionally, surveys will be administered to parents, students and teachers to determine perspectives on school climate as well as determine other perceived needs of schools.

District and school level activities such as parent workshops, trainings, Recognition Programs etc., will be supported and conducted with our Community partners throughout the duration of the ARP ESSER and other relief funds.

In order to build a stronger, more solid engagement from families and communities, school level "parent organizers" will identify and recruit parent/family/community volunteers who would serve to support academics, social emotional learning, etc. We will conduct family and community workshops that will address current issues and topics families desire to receive more information addressing the "whole" child.  Family and community presentations, and activities will be conducted quarterly and at convenient times for families.