OCSSR Back to School Newsletter - September 2021



IN THIS ISSUE TOC \o "1-3" \h \z \u WELCOME BACK MESSAGE PAGEREF _Toc82177473 \h 1STAFFING UPDATE PAGEREF _Toc82177474 \h 2UPCOMING OCSSR DEADLINES PAGEREF _Toc82177475 \h 2ACCOUNTABILITY PAGEREF _Toc82177485 \h 2access and equity PAGEREF _Toc82177491 \h 3Boards of Trustees PAGEREF _Toc82177493 \h 3data PAGEREF _Toc82177495 \h 4FinancE PAGEREF _Toc82177498 \h 4charter applications and expansions PAGEREF _Toc82177502 \h 6files and communications PAGEREF _Toc82177504 \h 6COVID Updates PAGEREF _Toc82177505 \h 7WELCOME BACK MESSAGEWe know that you all envisioned a different start to this school year. After the 2020-21 year of remote, hybrid, and finally back in-person schooling, we all longed for some normalcy this year. We know that the beginning of this school year has brought challenges, but also hope and joy in a full return to 5 days a week, in-person school. We know that the Massachusetts charter sector continues to meet pandemic challenges with innovation, excellence, and collaboration. We are so grateful that you continue to serve your communities and provide high-quality, and safe, educational experiences. The 2021-22 school year begins with a total of 78 Massachusetts Charter Schools serving over 50,000 students. (See the updated Charter School Fact Sheet). Our team is here for you! Please ensure you are familiar with our team and ways to contact us by accountability liaison or by topic. This year, the Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign (OCSSR) will conduct our work in a manner aligned with the Core Values of the Center for Educational Options (see below). We will continue to support your charter schools as you navigate directives pertaining to COVID safety; in the spirit of Ujima, we will help problem solve and find answers to your questions related to Department of Elementary and Secondary Education (Department/DESE) publications and guidance. We will uphold our stewardship role in our charter authorizing duties and work. We continue to implement systems to ensure continuous improvement and responsiveness (Kaizen) as well as examine our work with a lens of equity and racial equity. If you have not already done so, please take some time to review the Commissioner’s Back-To-School message. We encourage you to keep abreast of key updates from the Department by reading the Commissioner’s Weekly Message each Monday. If you do not receive the commissioner’s weekly message, please register for it here: DESE Newsletters, Updates, and Livestreams (mass.edu).This newsletter contains a number of important items with multiple links to new or updated information, and though lengthy, we encourage you review it carefully, pass on the information to others as appropriate, and act where requested. Throughout the year, we will also continue to send out periodic email messages and Friday blasts that require timely notice/action for charter schools to our various listservs (leaders, business managers, special education directors, and board chairs; be sure to update Directory Administration). Center for Educational Options (CEO) Mission:We expand, enhance, and ensure equitable access to high quality educational options for learners of all ages, especially those who have been historically underserved.Core Values: Ujima ? Stewardship ? Con Ganas ? Kaizen ? Learner-Centered ? Equity and Racial EquityOCSSR Mission: The Office of Charter Schools and School Redesign supports and oversees the creation and sustainability of a variety of high-quality public school options—including those that innovate in the areas of instructional practice, time, resources, and technology—to ensure that all students in the Commonwealth have equitable access to a pathway to success after high school.STAFFING UPDATENew(ish) OCSSR staff announcement! Join us in fully welcoming Jacqueline Chavez, Accountability and Dissemination Specialist to the Department! Jacqueline joined our team in August 2020 as a Leadership for Educational Equity (LEE) fellow. Many of you have worked with Jacqueline during charter school visits and as she developed a case study on charter school efforts to recruit and retain a diverse staff. Prior to joining our office as a LEE fellow, Jacqueline taught kindergarten in Miami-Dade?County, Florida. We were very lucky to be able to hire Jacqueline full-time as of July 1, 2021. Jacqueline will be working on both virtual and charter school accountability, with a big focus on renewal processes for the two virtual schools this year. UPCOMING OCSSR DEADLINES XE "IMPORTANT DATES" DATEITEM DUEOctober 6, 2021 HYPERLINK "" 2021-22 Charter School Updated Waitlist ReportNovember 1, 2021 HYPERLINK "" FY21 Independent Financial Audit November 1, 2021 HYPERLINK "" Charter Amendments to Maximum Enrollment, Grades Served, or Charter Region Charter Amendments to Maximum Enrollment, Grades Served, or Charter RegionDecember 1, 2021 HYPERLINK "" FY21 charter school end-of-year financial report HYPERLINK "" (CSEOYFR) December 7, 20212022-23 Charter School Pre-Enrollment Estimate ReportSuperintendent’s ChecklistPlease be sure your school adheres to all relevant reporting deadlines and requirements that will be outlined in the 2021-22 Superintendent Checklist that will be posted on the Commissioner’s page soon: Office of the Commissioner - Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education.ACCOUNTABILITY XE "ACCOUNTABILITY" Document Updates Since the spring, a number of accountability documents have been revised. All can be found here.Accountability Plan Guidelines Annual Report GuidelinesApplication for Renewal of a Public School CharterRenewal Inspection ProtocolThe Site Visit Protocol and other documents related to the site visit process are currently being revised, and updated versions and will be posted to the website later this fall.Renewal 2022This year, 14 charter schools applied for renewal of their public school charters. Information regarding renewal, including a memo explaining the Department’s approach to the renewal process, can be found here. Renewal decisions are typically publicized during the January, February, and March Board of Elementary and Secondary Education meetings. Volunteer Site Visitors The Department seeks volunteers with expertise in classroom instruction, school leadership, and/or school governance to serve as external site visitors on charter school accountability visits. This FAQ includes information about participating as a site visitor. If you are interested in applying to be a site visitor, please fill out a brief online survey. access and equity XE "access and equity" Access and Equity WebpagePlease visit the Access and Equity webpage of the OCSSR website. Some of the resources include Special Education Primers, a technical advisory related to educator qualifications in charter schools, translated Notice of Rights to Educational Services, and guidance and exemplars for required self-evaluations for special education and ESL programs. Please contact Melissa Gordon, 781-338-3209, if you have any questions. Boards of Trustees Board Member Management SystemIt is important to ensure that the membership of your board of trustees is always updated with the Department. When a charter school’s board of trustees votes to accept new members, this is considered a charter amendment and must be approved by the commissioner prior to any action by the new member, including a determination of quorum or voting. Please find information regarding the use of the system to request the approval of new board members, including the content of the request letter uploaded via the system at: Board Member Management System. Please be prompt in submitting all requests for trustee appointment by the commissioner after, not before, a board vote takes place. Please note that schools are also required to notify the Department when members leave the school’s board of trustees, whether it is through a resignation, the expiration of a term, or a removal from the board. Schools are also required to update term end dates when members are renewed for additional terms. Please remember to update the board membership and term dates within the system. If you have any questions regarding the Board Member Management system, please contact Alyssa Hopkins, 781-605-4476 or; James DiMaio, at 781-338-3228.REMINDER: Charter School Board of Trustees TrainingThe Department has an online governance training designed as a supplemental tool to support and reinforce trustee success. This governance training will help define the roles and responsibilities of charter school boards of trustees and explain the standards by which the Department assesses charter school governance in order to better promote effective charter school governance. We encourage boards to use this tool as part of their orientation for new trustees as well as a refresher for current trustees. dataFY22 Updated Waitlist Data Collection Each school’s FY22 updated waitlist collection template was posted to their Dropbox within the MassEdu Gateway|Security Portal on Friday, September 10, 2021. All schools should update these waitlists for the October 6, 2021, collection. Please be sure to follow the directions found on the instructions tab of the collection template when completing your updated waitlist report. If you have any questions, please contact Brenton Stewart, 781-338-3214. Additional Sibling Related Elements in SIF Data CollectionDo you enroll students from districts that are approaching or at their net school spending caps? Have you previously participated in the Department’s sibling collection process in October and March? This school year, the Department will introduce two new SIF elements to assist in the collection of sibling information and to limit the time spent on these types of submissions. Previously, the Department collected sibling information from targeted schools through the security portal via comprehensive Excel spreadsheets. With the use of SIF elements, these prior submissions can be eliminated. All charter schools are required to maintain accurate records regarding student enrollment information, including residency and sibling preference. The two new SIF elements will be used to identify (1) individual students who were admitted to your school through sibling preference and (2) the date of the enrollment offer to the sibling student. These two pieces of information inform the Department’s process to determining when appropriated state funds can be used to pay sibling tuition for sending districts that are above their tuition cap for charter school enrollment. In future years, accurate record-keeping through SIF can ensure that when enrollment trends and financial conditions fluctuate, we have the information needed to allocate funding as appropriate. Later this month, our office will reach out to your SIMS contacts and school leaders to review expectations for this inaugural SIF element year and to answer your questions in support of this revised approach. If you have any immediate concerns or questions about the collection of this additional student information via SIF, please contact Alyssa Hopkins or Brenton Stewart.2022-23 Charter School Pre-Enrollment EstimateThe 2022-23 Charter School Pre-Enrollment Estimate report will be due via the Security Portal on December 7, 2021. More information will be sent about this report in November.FinancE XE "Finance and data" FY21 Audit and Audit GuideFY21 independent financial audits are due to the Department by Monday, November 1, 2021, and must be accepted by your Board of Trustees on or before this date. Please plan accordingly. You can find the FY21 Audit Guide on the Accounting and Audit page of our website as well as the FY21 Audit Reference Guide that outlines and changes to the guide as well as some important notes. Please ensure your auditor understands that the guide outlines Department requirements and expectations for each school’s audit submission. Additionally: most charter schools received USED’s Charter School Program grant in FY21, which requires the submission of an Agreed Upon Procedure outlined in the Audit Guide.FY21 Charter School End of Year Financial Report (CSEOYFR) and Finance WebinarFY21 CSEOYFR includes several substantial changes from last year. We will be offering three trainings this fall via ZOOM. The webinars will primarily focus on the CSEOYFR revisions and instructions but will also review the FY21 Audit expectations and any other relevant updates. The intended audience is Business Managers, Auditors, and other finance staff. Please let Joanna Laghetto know of other topics or questions on finance, grants, or data that you would like addressed during the webinars.Though this training is not mandated, we highly recommend at least one member from each school’s finance staff attend. The dates and times, and links to the registration are below:Wednesday, September 29, 2021 12:00-1:00 PMRegister in advance for this meeting: Thursday, September 30, 2021 02:00-3:00 PMRegister in advance for this meeting: Tuesday, October 5, 2021 10:30-11:30 AMRegister in advance for this meeting: FY22 TransportationLikely the biggest transportation obstacle facing schools and districts this year is the driver shortage. Given the circumstances, if your charter school or sending district is experiencing a driver shortage, the Department is encouraging charter schools to consider reimbursing parents for transporting their children. If doing so, the charter school should implement a separate "drop off" area for parent provided transportation to try to limit bottlenecks at the start and end of the school day. Parents should be reimbursed the "state rate" (at a minimum), which is $0.45/mile. Schools can choose a higher mileage rate, but should be aware that anything above the approved IRS rate ($0.56/mile for calendar year 2021) could result in "taxable income" for the parents. Parents are reimbursed for four trips daily (morning to & from school and afternoon to & from school).If you have any questions regarding transportation, please contact Joanna Laghetto, 781-338-3221. It is often very helpful to review the Charter School Transportation Technical missioner Approval of Loans beyond the Charter TermIf your school will be seeking a loan that will extend beyond the charter term, regardless of amount or reason, permission must be granted by the commissioner. Though there are several steps and details to gain this permission, it is most often, a fairly simple process. Please review the Department’s Technical Advisory related to loans and feel free to contact Joanna Laghetto to review the steps and timeline.Changing Bank Account for Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) If you are planning to change bank accounts, please make sure a new Electronic Funds Transfer form is completed and a hard copy is mailed to: Jennifer Ahern, Grants Management Office, Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, 75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148. You must complete this step in order to ensure that tuition and grant funds are deposited in a timely manner. If you have questions, you can contact Jennifer Ahern at 781-338-3215 or HYPERLINK "mailto:Joanna.C.Laghetto@" Joanna Laghetto, Finance and Data Coordinator, 781-338-3221.charter applications and expansionsNew Charter School Applications Two initial charter applications (previously called prospectuses) were submitted on August 16, 2021. Proposed Charter School NameProposed LocationProposed GradesProposed Max EnrollmentProposed?RegionProposed Opening YearInnovators Charter SchoolNew Bedford6-12735New Bedford and Fall River2022-23Ubuntu Excellence for All STEAM (Charter) SchoolWorcesterPK-12518Worcester, Milford, Sutton, Mendon-Upton, Millbury, Grafton, Hopedale, West Boylston, and Leicester2022-23We appreciate everyone who participated as application reviewers this year in support of the Department’s thorough review of each charter application. Your participation is invaluable to the process. We look forward to providing an update in early October on the status of both applications. Final applications are due on November 15, 2021. New charters are awarded at the February meeting of the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.Charter School Expansion RequestsThe Board of Elementary and Secondary Education must approve all major changes in the material terms of a school's charter, such as changes in grade span, maximum enrollment, or districts served based on the commissioner’s recommendation. This year, the Department delayed the deadline for expansion requests to November 1, 2021. For complete instructions on all requests to change grades, enrollment or charter region and important information on seat availability by sending district, please see Charter Amendments. We anticipate expansion requests may be brought to the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education for consideration at its January or February meetings in 2022.If you have any questions about charter application or charter expansions, please contact Alyssa Hopkins (applications or expansions) or Brenton Stewart (expansions).files and communications Electronic FilesWe collect many of our files through Security Portal drop boxes so please be sure to follow electronic file naming instructions included with each submission. In general, please be sure that your electronic files are named in a uniquely identifiable way, either including the school’s name, acronym, or LEA code along with identifying the date/year and report type. Distribution ListsThe Department routinely use distribution lists to send important messages and reminders to the field. The distribution lists are populated by the Department’s School and District Profiles, which is accessed by schools through Directory Administration in the Security Portal. Each school has at least one staff member designated as the school’s Directory Administrator who can add, remove, and update all permissions, roles, and functions for staff members. Each charter school appears as both a District and School with corresponding functions and security roles for each profile.The OCSSR sends charter school update emails and important notices to the following distribution lists: Charter Leader, School Business Official and Board of Trustee Chairperson. Charter school update emails are also sent to a list maintained by the OCSSR that consists of charter school staff who assist in deadline submissions and school operations. The commissioner Zoom call invitations are sent to the Charter Leader distribution list. Charter leaders may forward the commissioner Zoom call invitations or information to co-leaders and assistant charter school leaders. Note: The OCSSR maintained email copy list will not be used for commissioner Zoom call invitations. Please reach out to Lee DeLorenzo, 781-338-3227, to be added to the OCSSR email copy list or if you need assistance updating your School and District Profile.If you have any questions or need any assistance, please reach out to your liaison or another member of the OCSSR staff by topic. (See also contact us).COVID UpdatesCOVID-19 Information and Resources Recent Updates09/13/2021 3:37pmCOVID-19 Testing Program: SY22 COVID-19 Testing Program and Positive Case Reporting Webinar Recording, September 9, 202109/10/2021 6:40pmCOVID-19 Testing Program: SY22 COVID-19 Testing Program Webinar Slides, September 9, 202109/09/2021 2:27pmFAQ: August 20, 2021 Installment of FAQs (about the 2021-22 school year) — Revised August 25 and September 9, 202109/09/2021 11:28amCOVID-19 Testing Program: Documents for Schools Participating09/03/2021 1:31pmCOVID-19 Testing Program: SY22 COVID-19 Testing Program Webinar Recording, September 1, 2021COVID-19 Guidance/On the Desktop MessagesDESE/DPH COVID-19 Guidance for Districts and Schools: Fall 2021 — July 30, 2021; Updated August 27, 2021Implementation of DESE Mask Requirement — August 25, 2021Message about Protocols for Responding to COVID-19 Scenarios — SY 2021-22DESE/DPH Protocols for Responding to COVID-19 Scenarios — SY 2021-22SY22 COVID-19 Protocols Webinar Recording, August 17, 2021COVID-19 Protocols Flowcharts, August 30, 2021Frequently Asked QuestionsAugust 20, 2021 Installment of FAQs (about the 2021-22 school year) — Revised August 25 and September 9, 2021 ................
................

In order to avoid copyright disputes, this page is only a partial summary.

Google Online Preview   Download