By Betsy Finklea
COVID-19 and its impact on our local school districts was discussed at the Dillon County Board of Education meeting.
County Board Chairman Richard Schafer said they would continue with their 2019-2020 budgets until they got the necessary information from the legislature to move forward with the 2020-2021 budgets.
Dr. John Kirby said Dillon District Three’s (Latta) problem is cash flow. He said their reserve is low. He said the federal government is sending $500,000 to the district, but that he has spent $1 million to get school open. He said this money has to be spent and then is reimbursed.
Dr. Kirby said they have to carry summer school and the LEAP days until they receive some of the funds for those. They had to pay the vendors for PPE (Personal Protective Equipment). They spent almost $1 million on technology. He said they are also having to carry the federal programs until the money comes in. He said cash flow is going to “get really tight” in Latta.
Dr. Kirby said only one-third of their students wanted all virtual learning while two-thirds wanted hybrid or face-to-face.
Dr. Kirby said they are having to spend the money up front and then have to claim reimbursement which is two-month or more process.
Dr. Kirby emphasized they are not broke, but they will have a cash flow issue.
Schafer said the county board had funds to assist if needed until they can get their reimbursement funds.
Dr. Kirby projects that food service will lose about $2,000 per day. This will amount to about a $360,000 loss in a 180-day school year.
Dr. Kirby also expressed concerns about paying coaches and having no athletics, and revenues that will be lost if they are not allowed to have a home ballgame, if they do have it and have low attendance, or if they are not allowed to have football at all. They already lost money on money spent on baseball and softball games that were not held.
Dr. Kirby said he is not saying the sky is falling, but he is being honest about the current situation.
Jackie Hayes, who was representing Dillon District Four at the meeting, said they will also take a large loss at the gates and said when they travel to games they will have to take four buses instead of two due to social distancing requirements.
Kirby noted that the insurance companies had dropped their liability coverage for COVID-19.
Jerry Strickland, Director of the Dillon County ATEC, said that they are ready to go either way whether it is virtual or hybrid. He said he will also be doing temperature checks when students enter the building.
The board also approved letting Dillon District Three and Dillon District Four move forward with the plans that they have submitted and that have been approved by the State Department of Education.
In other business, the board reappointed Kwame Hennegan to the Latta School Board. Dr. Kirby said he was an outstanding board member with three children in the system. He is a music teacher in Marion County, and Dr. Kirby said he brings a different perspective to the board.
Dr. Kirby also reported that they got a significant donation to build some teacher houses on school property and about some safety remodeling they are doing to the middle school entrance from some money they previously received.