Earlier this month, New Hampshire school districts learned that federal money they were previously thought they could rely on would no longer be available to cover costs associated with their response to Covid-19.

On Sept. 11, the state was informed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency that they will not be covering reimbursements for face masks and other supplies to be used by teachers, staff and students. Additional supplies not covered include any extra desks or chairs, cleaning supplies and the purchase and installments of physical barriers, such as Plexiglas.

Many school districts in the state had intentions of seeking reimbursement from FEMA for these additional costs, including the Salem School District, which was seeking to have a large amount of money reimbursed.

Salem’s assistant superintendent for business operations, Deborah Payne, said that the district was looking for a FEMA reimbursement of about $500,000.

She explained that in early summer the district had begun acquiring all types of PPE as well as acrylic shields for desks – all equipment the district would not have needed if not for Covid-19.

For Manchester Mayor Joyce Craig, the new notification from FEMA was extremely disappointing.

“It means that right now the school district is left with over $2.2 million in expenses that they expected FEMA to reimburse, so now the district is in a place where they need to cover those expenses,” Craig said.

The FEMA notification on reimbursements came as a disappointment to Franklin Schools Superintendent Daniel LeGallo as well, who was actively working to seek the reimbursement.

LeGallo said the district would have been looking to go after $50,000 in FEMA reimbursements. Now that this potential stream of funding is not available to the district, LeGallo said he’ll have to leverage district funds as well. – ADAM URQUHART/GRANITE STATE NEWS COLLABORATIVE