School Board OKs grant to buy Chromebooks; discusses field marking robot, substitutes

The Warren County School Board accepted a federal grant that will be used to buy new student laptops and gathered information on purchasing a robot to paint lines on the school division’s athletic fields and what it would cost for Warren County Public Schools (WCPS) to have an in-house process for hiring and retaining substitutes.

During their roughly two-hour meeting and work session held on Wednesday, January 18, School Board Chair Kristen Pence and board members Antoinette Funk, Andrea Lo, and Melanie Salins voted 4-0 to accept an almost $165,661 grant award from the Federal Emergency Connectivity Fund (ECF) Program, a grant that will be used to purchase Chromebooks for WCPS students. School Board Vice Chair Ralph Rinaldi was absent this week.

The ECF is overseen by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which says the nearly $7.2 billion program is designed to help schools and libraries provide the tools and services needed by communities to provide remote learning during the COVID-19 public health emergency period.

For eligible schools and libraries, the ECF Program covers “reasonable costs” of laptop and tablet computers; Wi-Fi hotspots; modems; routers; and broadband connectivity purchases for off-campus use by students, school staff, and library patrons, according to the FCC.

The board-accepted award must be used to buy the Chromebooks, according to WCPS Technology Director Timothy Grant, and no local match is required. The School Board also agreed to purchase those laptops from Vernon Hills, Ill.-headquartered CDW Corp., contingent upon action by the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

Athletic directors at Warren County Public Schools told the School Board on Wednesday that they would
like to save time and money lining fields by purchasing a robotic field painter to handle the job.

During the Work Session portion of the meeting, board members received information about WCPS potentially purchasing a robot field painter. Bill Hall, athletic director at Warren County High School (above left), and Bill Cupp, athletic director at Skyline High School (above right), would like to buy a robot painter for the WCPS athletic fields.

During their presentation to the School Board, the athletic directors said using the robot would be a collaborative effort between their high schools and the WCPS Facilities Management Department, which all would share the costs. They addressed key points such as the cost analysis of purchase and pointed out that the robot painter would be a huge time saver for their departments.

Dubbed an accurate and user-friendly robot for easier sports line marking, the TinyLineMarker robot model featured in a video shown to the board allows a user to control the robot via a tablet that reportedly requires minimum training and setup. There are more than 25 sports field templates already saved on the tablet.

Cupp said the TinyLineMarker robot would cost $7,513 a year for six years, totaling $45,080. The total cost would be a three-way split, with the high schools and the WCPS Facilities Management Department each paying $2,504.

Currently, both WCPS high schools spend about $15,000 a year on paint to mark the fields. Using a robot would lower that cost to $6,000 a year, and “the money spent on paint would be diverted to paying for the robot,” explained Hall.

Hall said the TinyLineMarker model was the preferred choice and the lowest of the four quotes they received. Cupp added that all of the nearby localities are using similar technology already because it saves time and labor costs for the athletic directors, coaches, and maintenance/grounds employees, who would be able to multitask while the robot works. The robot works faster said Hill and Cupp, and it can also paint words on the grass once programmed into the tablet.

Cupp added that the robot could also be used as an educational tool for students involved or interested in robotics. WCPS Superintendent Christopher Ballenger said the robot would be used year-round, not just for football fields.

In another Work Session item, the School Board heard more about the WCPS Right Turn Program, receiving information from Kyle Kuzmick, a WCPS school social worker (above left), and Rachel DeArmitt, the counselor in charge (above right).

The School Board, during its November 16, 2022, work session, approved an instructor’s fee for the WCPS drugs and alcohol education program, and the superintendent wanted to provide members with additional information from the staff who run the program.

Kuzmick and DeArmitt presented a brief overview of the Right Turn Program, created over a decade ago as an alternative to mandatory expulsion for students possessing drugs or alcohol on school grounds. The program is an educational model that consists of six modules to be completed with the student and parent, with the primary focus on discussing risk factors related to substance abuse and developing protective factors to prevent further use.

An additional goal of the program, according to Kuzmick and DeArmitt, is to enhance the communication between students and parents to enrich their relationships further.

“It’s for parents and kids, and that’s a hard group to get together in one room,” Kuzmick said.

DeArmitt outlined what’s discussed by participants during meetings, including the stages of addiction, such as experimentation, risky usage, crisis treatment, addiction, and relapse. More groups have been added to the program to accommodate increased participants, Kuzmick said.
Among other Work Session items, the board received a substitute employee update from WCPS Personnel Director Shane Goodwin, who provided a comprehensive presentation on what it would cost WCPS to bring in-house a process for hiring, training, and retaining substitutes.

Currently, WCPS contracts with ESS, also known as Educational Staffing Services, which specializes in placing qualified staff in daily, long-term, and permanent K-12 school district positions, including substitute teachers, paraprofessionals, and other school support staff. ESS, along with numerous school districts across the country, is finding it difficult to hire subs for a multitude of reasons.  “We’re running very high with employee absences in Warren County,” Goodwin told the board.

For instance, on Monday, January 16, which was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, WCPS had 85 employees absent. On the Friday prior to the federal holiday, which was January 13, WCPS had 112 employees out, Goodwin said and counted 104 absent on Thursday, January 12.

ESS recruits an average of 55 subs per day for WCPS from a pool of 178. To grow the pool, ESS provides online training to get subs in the door faster and offers incentives, including money and gift cards. The company is also considering a reduced markup rate for WCPS if the school division would
increase hourly pay for subs, said Goodwin.

He said WCPS currently spends about $20,000 monthly with ESS for its services. In addition, WCPS also pays a block rate to teachers who cover absences that couldn’t be filled, an extra cost totaling another $10,000 a month to cover those positions, Goodwin said.

To let WCPS handle the work instead of ESS, Goodwin said an HR analyst/administrator for a substitute position would need to be created to oversee the process and day-to-day management of the sub-pool, among several other duties, including recruitment, hiring, training, and retention.

He said the estimated cost for such a person with at least 10 years of experience, including benefits, would be$139,225 annually.

WCPS also would need to hire additional support personnel for that administrator. Goodwin suggested that two secretaries would be needed to fill those roles, costing upwards of an estimated $115,898 a year.

Goodwin said it would cost WCPS almost $1 million a year to handle the sub-process once numerous other additional costs are factored in, such as benefits for the newly hired personnel; training, background checks, and other sub-related costs; and the purchase of a software system to handle the
process. In comparison, sticking with ESS is estimated to cost around the $700,000 mark.

Ballenger asked the board members to review the provided information and said that if they wanted to have additional conversations about the item, “we’ll accommodate you.” He said staff needs to know what direction the board is thinking about going so that WCPS can plan its upcoming budget.

Watch the Warren County School Board Work Session of January 18th in this exclusive Royal Examiner video.