MDE Weekly Superintendent Mail - 7-12-18

From the office of the commissioner

Weekly Briefing for Superintendents and School Leaders

July 12, 2018

In this edition

ACTION ITEMS

School Safety Grant Opportunity

The instructions for the school safety grant opportunity will be available on Monday, July 16, 2018, on the Minnesota Department of Education’s (MDE) Grants Page.

Grants may be used to predesign, design, construct, furnish, and equip school facilities for improvements related to violence prevention and facility security for a qualifying school building. This includes renovating and expanding existing buildings and facilities. The grants will be awarded on a first-come, first-served basis as delineated in the grant instructions.

Further information on specific criteria for the grant, an outline of how we will award projects, and how to apply will be available in the instructions.

An informational webinar will be held on July 24, 2018. Login information for that webinar will be located in the grant instructions.

We will accept applications starting on August 29, 2018, through Survey Gizmo. The link will also be available on the MDE Grants Page, but not until the application date.

Please contact Tim Larson at 651-582-8451 for further information.

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Reminder to Update and Certify District, Schools and Contact Information for the FY19 School Year

Each year, information regarding schools and districts is updated in the Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) master database for organizations which validates sites for all major MDE reporting systems such as MARSS, STAR, UFARS, assessments, etc. In previous years we asked you to formally identify a single point person as the site verification coordinator for your district. This person has access to request and certify school configuration changes and update other essential contact information for all sites within the district through a secure website. The list of site verification coordinators by district is available in the MDE Organization Reference Glossary in Contact Lists.

As explained in the site verification memorandum, the District and School Site Verification system is an easy to use review system that remains open all year for any changes. The system is a one-stop shop for contacts in your district such as the Identified Official with Authority, District Assessment Coordinator, superintendent, principals, communications/media contact, etc. Some contacts such as the MARSS or STAR coordinator are brought in directly from security access accounts. For all contacts at the district including superintendent, executive director or business manager, it is critical to have the district/school staff contact list current to make sure the right staff are contacted for a number of MDE initiatives.

We ask that you review your district and school sites, along with the contacts you can update and make changes for the FY19 school year. To ensure data collections, payments, and reports are correct, district and school site information and contacts for the FY19 school year must be reviewed and certified by August 31, 2018.

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ITEM OF INTEREST

Grow Your Own Grants for Fiscal Year 2019

The Minnesota Department of Education (MDE) has funding available under Minnesota Laws 2017, 1st Special Session, Chapter 5, Article 2, Sec. 57, Subd. 23. to:

Pathway I
Provide grants to school districts with more than 30 percent minority students to pay for tuition scholarships or stipends to school district employees or community members affiliated with a school district for nonconventional teacher residency pilot program approved by the Professional Educator Licensing and Standards Board (PELSB) as established under Minnesota Statutes, section 122A.09, subdivision 10, paragraph (a); and

Pathway II
Allow school districts and charter schools grants to develop innovative Grow Your Own programs that encourage secondary school students to pursue teaching, including developing and offering dual-credit post-secondary course options in schools for introduction to teaching or introduction to education courses consistent with Minnesota Statutes, section 124D.09, subdivision 10.

NOTE: Each pathway will be judged and scored independently of one another. Grants will be awarded as a single amount, but each pathway will be tracked separately.

Application information is available on MDE’s Grant Opportunity webpage.

Grant periods will be from August 24, 2018, to June 30, 2019.

Eligible applicants are any public school districts or charter schools with more than 30 percent minority students.

Applications must be submitted, via email, no later than July 20, 2018, 3:30 p.m. CDT to the designated email box at MDE.CompGrants@state.mn.us. Please see the instruction document for further submission information.

Contact Elia Dimayuga-Bruggeman at 651-582-8440 for further information.

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