St. Michael's School was just given more than $1.5 million in ARPA funding. Here's why.

Audrey Cooney, The Herald News
·2 min read

FALL RIVER — St. Michael’s School recently won a massive grant that school leadership said will help the school move forward coming out of the COVID pandemic.

“Now we’re going through the list of actual vendors who are available to start purchasing technology for the school, other instructional improvements,” said the Rev. Jay Mello, the school’s president and pastor of St. Michael's Church.

Earlier this month, the school learned it had been awarded $1,593,505 in state ARPA funds through the ARP Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS-II) program.

The grant is meant to help non-public elementary and secondary schools that were affected by the pandemic and that have a student body that is at least 25.9% low-income.

Of the 31 schools that were awarded grant money, St. Michael’s received the second-highest amount.

“It’s more than a year’s budget for us,” said Mello. “We’re clearly very excited.”

The Catholic parochial school on Essex Street serves about 220 students in preschool through 8th grade.

St. Michael's School, in Fall River, has been awarded $1,593,505 in state ARPA funds through the ARP Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS-II) program.
St. Michael's School, in Fall River, has been awarded $1,593,505 in state ARPA funds through the ARP Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS-II) program.

Holy Trinity School in Fall River also was awarded money through the grant, $555,347. On the South Coast, three schools in New Bedford also received awards: Our Sisters' School, St. James-St. John School and All Saints Catholic School.

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Mello said the school is still in the process of figuring out exactly how to spend the money in a way that aligns with state guidelines on how it can be spent. Along with new technology and other learning tools, they could also spend it on capital improvements like a new HVAC system and new windows for the school building.

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“We want to use it wisely so whatever we choose to spend it on, it benefits the school for years to come,” Mello said.

Audrey Cooney can be reached at acooney@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.

This article originally appeared on The Herald News: St. Michael's School in Fall River wins more than $1.5 million