The South Butler County School District superintendent is compiling a list of potential uses for the latest Elementary and Secondary Schools Emergency Relief grant received by the district.

Superintendent David Foley said at Wednesday's meeting that the $1.9 million grant includes a mandate that school districts get community input on how the grant should be spent.

Foley said he will e-mail surveys to families in the district to ask about their areas of concerns in the district.

He said Roger Myers, the district's director of technology, has $985,000 in technology upgrades on his list.

The maintenance director is asking for $100,000 in new cleaning equipment.

Ionization machines for classrooms and air purifiers for the nurses' offices, mental health programming, air and water quality testing, textbooks, Leader & Me summer school in the next school year, and after-school academic programming are current considerations for the funding, Foley said.

The district has been the recipient of previous rounds of ESSER funding, which has been spent on various projects.

Foley said a special meeting will be held later in July to approve the expenditures, which will give him time to observe the survey results before making recommendations to the board on spending the funds.

Also at Wednesday's meeting, the school board surprised Foley by approving a $10,000 bonus for his work during the pandemic.

“He goes above and beyond and truly cares for the entire staff, the children and this community, even though he doesn't live here,” said Donna Eakin, board president. “He shows the district a lot of love and it's appreciated.”

The board voted unanimously to pay Foley the bonus.