Manteca Unified is developing an unprecedented multiple-year effort not just to tackle learning loss during the pandemic now nearing its two-year milestone but also a myriad of social and emotional issues the response to slowing down the spread of COVID has created.

“The goal is to remove barriers to allow each student to succeed,” said Manteca Unified Superintendent Clark Burke said.

The undertaking also is being designed to catch learning deficiencies that went undetected before the pandemic.

The supplemental endeavor to the classroom effort is aimed at bringing students up to grade levels standards. It involves repeated assessments of individual students so the learning programs are tailored to what is working for each individual student’s needs.

“Through the programs (being developed) the goal is to help kids one kid and one lesson at a time,” Burke added.

The effort is being financed by $54 million in unspent COVID relief funds from both the state and federal governments. The district has already spent $38 million which includes $3 million in general fund reserves that will be reimbursed as relief payments arrive.

The remaining $54 million is earmarked to be distributed over the next several years.

Much of the initial funding has been spent on efforts to create a safe learning environment in the COVID era. Besides personal protection equipment such as face masks, hand sanitizers, see thru barriers on desks, and such it included buying multiple types of supplies such as scissors to eliminate the need to share in the classroom.

It also went for additional computer equipment for teachers to allow for more effective remote learning as well as classes to help increase the proficiency of educators that were forced to teach from a distance via the Internet.

There were also sizable expenditures that will have impacts on ensuring a healthier learning environment long after COVID finally sheds its pandemic status.

That included the placement in every classroom and learning location portable hospital grade air scrubbers and upgraded filter systems for heating/air conditioning units.

Both are effective at reducing the transmission of the flu and cold viruses that were responsible for the lion’s share of school absences due to illness before the pandemic. They also scrub pollution and smoke from wildfires from the air.

The school district also switched out drinking fountains with water bottle filling stations.

The endeavor is likely to include a significant number of new teachers being hired to allow more concentrated efforts.

Based on the strategy the district was employing before the pandemic additional teachers hired to assist with the helping bring those impacted by distance learning up to targeted standards will likely be transitioned into classrooms over for course of several years for vacancies caused by retirement and other reasons.

To contact Dennis Wyatt, email dwyatt@mantecabulletin.com