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61 Superintendent's Budget Message ..,, - M April 20, 2021 As planning and preparation begins for the 2021/2022 school year, Orange County Schools finds itself facing many challenges, not all of which are unique to our district. Like districts across the state, the focus in 2020- 2021 quickly turned from getting students access to remote learning to getting students and staff, safely,back into our buildings. Orange County Schools has successfully transitioned students and staff back into our buildings with seven elementary schools currently operating in Plan A and the three middle and high schools operating in Plan B. As you know, the infusion of additional funds from; (1) The Coronavirus Aid, Relief&Economic Security Act known as CARES Act, (2) The Coronavirus Response &Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act known as CRSSA Act and(3) The American Rescue Plan known as ARP Act, enabled school districts to better re- spond to the ever-changing environment COVID presented although infused with many restrictions. The FY2022 budget presented for Commissioner consideration incorporates the district plan for the additional funding, to be released later this fiscal year, from the CRSSA and ARP Acts. Thankfully, Legislatures re- laxed restrictions in the CRSSA and ARP Acts to enable school districts the flexibility needed to address learning loss,provide remediation and enrichment opportunities and provide the much needed social and emotional support students and staff are needing after a pandemic. The budget presented for consideration was developed in alignment with the following four priorities that remain the focus of OCS: 1. Equity—Ensuring ALL students have what they need to be successful; eliminating disparities and creating supportive, safe, inclusive &responsive learning environments. 2. Literacy—To ensure that ALL students are proficient in their ability to read, write, listen, speak and think critically across all content areas. 3. Climate & Culture/Social Emotional Learning(SEL)—Creating safe, healthy and inclusive learn- ing and work environments that ensure student and staff success and well-being. 4. Family Engagement—Engaging, empowering and giving voice to all families which is vital to the success and continual achievement of our students. Focus in these areas afforded OCS the ability to make strides during a pandemic and will provide the neces- sary structures and frameworks to close gaps in the upcoming school year. Through the leadership of the School Board and the staff within OCS, we were still able to accomplish great things. • E ui : Partnered with IDRA to provide equity training to school-based staff on topics such as culturally responsive teaching; reviewing district policies through an equity lens;providing train- ing to the Board of Education on a number of equity topics; etc. • Literacy: Successfully stood up a remote learning model of instruction; converted in person cur- riculum for an online platform; implemented a district-based assessment tool in absence of state assessments to monitor student progress; developed and implemented self-paced option for stu- dents;planning for professional development that will build staff's capacity regarding the Science of Reading and the implementation of new curriculum that will provide access to more rigorous curriculum; opened five Supervised Learning Labs to provide families a safe environment for their students to learn while parents continued working; etc. • Climate & Culture/SEL: Developed and implemented in person small group learning opportuni- ties to meet the academic and SEL needs of students;provided supplemental meals to the commu- nity (i.e.food boxes, meals over weekends and during breaks); implemented numerous health and safety protocols; etc.