FARMINGTON — Superintendent Tina Meserve presented Regional School Unit 9 directors Tuesday evening with a proposed breakdown of how the district will spend the $2.2 million federal coronavirus relief grant.

The proposed budget includes seven categories for funding:

Category A: Additional buses/vans, $452,750

Category B: Facilities rentals, rentals and/or modifications to meet CDC guidelines, $20,727

Category C: Materials and supplies including signs, Plexiglas dividers, communication, cleaning supplies, $633,292

Category D: Equipment related to nutrition services, $86,400

Category E: Contracted services, temporary or substitute pay, additional staff hours, $295,641

Category F: Professional development, $103,500

Category G: Technology-related costs, $617,774

The State Department of Education and the Center for Disease Control and Prevention requires students to maintain 3 feet of space from others during transport and while at school. RSU 9 will have to invest in additional vehicles to accommodate the social distancing guidelines.

The district will also spend federal funding on storage facilities where items such as desks and tables can be stored to make more room in classrooms for social distancing.

The food service department will receive funding due to the high volume of disposable packaging cafeterias will use to minimize contact.

Meserve said Category E was the most difficult to budget because it’s still unknown how often the district will need to call in substitute teachers. The federal funding will be used to increase the entry level substitute teacher day rate from $85 to $140.

Meserve also presented a sample schedule of a remote learning day for kindergarten. The schedule divides students into two virtual cohorts, or groups, that will rotate intervals of 15 minutes to 1 hour of guided instruction with remote teachers. When students are not receiving guided instruction, they will have independent work or will be broken into online subgroups for peer study time.

During public comment, a parent voiced concerns about the late arrival of devices to aid students through remote learning days of RSU 9’s hybrid plan.

Meserve said that based on survey results, the district has sufficient devices and hot spots to offer the 30% of families without devices and the 12% in need of internet.

The district expects to receive devices for students in mid- to late-September due to backlogs in shipping.

In other business, the board approved Dr. Emily Jacobs as the new school physician.