At Monday's Columbia Public School board meeting, an item on the agenda is the consideration of extending and approving the CPS 2021-2022 COVID-19 plan.
According to the agenda, CPS Superintendent Brian Yearwood is in support of extending the mitigation measures, including masking inside CPS buildings.
KOMU 8 News reached out to CPS spokesperson, Michelle Baumstark, to learn more information about any changes or extensions to the plan. In an email, Baumstark provided this statement:
"The extension of the plan is on the agenda and was on the last meeting’s agenda as well. The school district is continually evaluating all of its mitigation measures during this time," Baumstark said.
According to Heather McArthur, The Chief Financial Officer for CPS, the district receives American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds. The last round of ARPA stimulus funding required CPS to have a COVID-19 mitigation plan in effect.
"So, not only does the State require it, or, but, we, the plan, the Federal Government required us to have a plan when we are requesting those funds," McArthur said. "The main thing for this last round of money is really the return to in person instruction and how are you going to keep kids in school to receive that funding," McArthur said.
CPS will also discuss bus driver's contracts and the Mental Health Services Agreement.
Burrell Behavioral Health is a nonprofit provider that has been in Columbia for 15 years, and they have been working with Columbia Public Schools since 2013.
According to Mat Gass, the president of Burrell's Central Region, Burrel has been providing case management services, assessments, and patient therapy services to Mid-Missouri youth since 2007.
Gass said they have one goal:
"Being able to help that one person practice the skills they need to improve their mental health and be successful at school,"
There has been a bus drivers’ shortage since Aug. The shortage has upset some CPS parents.
"When they don't have bus services, there is only, maybe, a 20-minute notice of a text," Courtney Jamison, a CPS parent, said.
Under a process new for the 2021-2022 school year, parents were told to "opt-in" for bus services through Student Transportation of America or STA, which runs the buses for CPS.
At the beginning of the 2021-2022 school year, about 9,500 students have opted in and are routed for transportation, according to an email from Baumstark.
The Board meeting will be Monday at 6:30 p.m.
