NCDPI Office of Charter Schools (OCS) Updates

2016 Charter School Leadership Institute 

The OCS will host its 2016 Charter School Leadership Institute October 10 - 11, 2016 at The Expedition School in Hillsborough, NC. The two-day event will feature relevant charter school topics and several guest speakers.

Attached is the finalized institute booklet detailing session offerings and the registration link.  Don’t miss this exciting charter school professional development event! Please contact Brian Smith @ brian.smith@dpi.nc.gov with questions or concerns. 

Attachment:     Leadership Institute Booklet

  2016 Leadership Institute Registration Link

38 New Charter Applications Received; Approved Schools Will Open for Students in Fall 2018   Thirty-eight nonprofit boards submitted applications to open public charter schools in August 2018. A spreadsheet of applicants as well as their applications are available on the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Office of Charter Schools’ website.   Sept. 19 was the deadline to submit a charter application through the Office of Charter Schools’ automated application system. Each charter school applicant was required to pay a $1,000 application fee and perform criminal background checks on its proposed board members along with providing a detailed description of its proposed school’s mission and plan to meet that mission for students.   The Office of Charter Schools will now review the applications for completeness before forwarding them to the NC Charter Schools Advisory Board (CSAB). The CSAB will use an established structure, including external evaluators and applicant interviews, to review the applications. At the conclusion of this process, the CSAB will recommend applicants to the State Board of Education for approval.   “The charter applicant who successfully makes it through the state’s rigorous application process has been vetted by a variety of professionals who are part of the charter school community and know what it takes for a school to be successful,” said State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson.   Currently, 167 public charter schools are open for students in North Carolina. An additional eight schools received a favorable report in August from the State Board of Education to begin their planning year for preparation to open in August 2017. NCDPI staff will provide training for these applicant groups over the next year as they complete the ready to open process. These eight – once they’ve successfully completed their planning year – when added to the five charters that were scheduled to open in August but asked for a one-year delay, will bring the state’s total number of charter schools to 180.   Charter schools are public schools operated by nonprofit boards. The schools have open enrollment; and no tuition is charged to attend. Public tax dollars are the primary funding source for charter schools.   Visit the NC Office of Charter Schools’ website for more information.

List of Required Reports and Submission Dates

Each year charter school directors request a list detailing annaul required reports. While not all reports are required for your charter school, please review the document to determine which reports will need to be submitted. We are working to develop a charter specific list for release at a later time. 

Please call the contacts within the attached document or contact OCS directly with questions or concerns at 919-807-3491.

Attachment:     http://www.ncpublicschools.org/docs/data/calendar/2016-17/requiredsub.pdf

NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Updates

NC Governor's School Nominations

The Office of the North Carolina Governor's School warmly invites charter schools to nominate bright and talented high school students for the 2017 Governor's School session. This program, started in 1963, was the first of its kind in the country and offers students a unique and insightful educational experience each summer. 

Nominations must be submitted no later than November 15, 2016. To learn more, consider attending one of the official Informational Meetings being held across the state in September and October. Meeting details, the Nomination Packet and other helpful resources are available at www.ncgovschool.org.

Lic-Sal Subscription Application Please see the attached document regarding the new process for accessing the Lic-Sal database.  Please contact the support links in the document for questions or concerns.     Attachment:     New Subscription App for the LicSal System.docx

Coordinator Contact Information for the Federal Government

Wednesday, September 21, 2016 was the deadline for districts and charters to verify and update/add an Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Coordinator and a Student Information Coordinator contact in the EDDIE system.  Several districts and charter schools have not yet made updates or additions.

Attached is a workbook with three tabs:

• The first tab contains a list of districts and charters that have not identified OCR or Student Information contacts.

• The second tab contains a list of staff identified as the Student Information Coordinator.  Included in this tab is the Staff Change Date.  Some records have not been updated since school year 2013.

• The third tab contains a list of staff identified as the Office of Civil Rights Coordinator, including the Staff Change Date.

A contact list will be provided to the Federal Government on Monday, September 26, 2016. 

If contacts have not been identified or updated in the EDDIE system by Friday, September 23, 2016, districts and charters will need to contact Partner Support at the federal level for accounts to the Federal Submission Portal which delays the data collection.  Partner Support can be reached at (855) 255-6901. 

Please contact Terra Domingues at 919-807-3272 or terra.domingues@dpi.nc.gov with questions or concerns. 

North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey Interactive Workshops What do 101,800 educators who participated in the 2016 North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey (NCTWCS) have to say about education in their schools, districts, and the collective state?  The Department of Public Instruction and the New Teacher Center (NTC) will be hosting two, three-hour, regional, interactive workshops to assist school administrators with understanding their school/district results, facilitating dialogue on teaching and learning conditions, and utilizing resources for school improvement planning. Time will also be dedicated to discuss how beginning teachers’ experiences in the state may impact decisions made about retention.  We ask that each administrator attending bring an electronic device to access data at www.ncteachingconditions.org  and a colleague/teacher leader. If you are interested in attending these fall sessions, please click HERE to register for your preferred location and date or use this link: http://bit.ly/2016NCTWCTraining.   Note:  Each region’s three-hour session is repeated in the afternoon to provide flexibility for attendees. The content for each morning session is identical to the afternoon session.

Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Accountability Feedback Final Reminder

Please see the attached memo dated August 2, 2016 requesting written feedback on the Proposed Accountability Indicators by September 30, 2016. 

If you have any questions prior to the deadline, please contact Dr. Lou Fabrizio, Director, Division of Data, Research & Federal Policy (Lou.Fabrizio@dpi.nc.gov; 919.807.3770) or Dr. Tammy Howard, Director, Division of Accountability Services (Tammy.Howard@dpi.nc.gov; 919.807.3787).

Attachment:     ESSA Memo & Supporting Documents

Summer School 2016-17   Please see the attached memo, Summer School 2016-17, from Dr. Rebecca Garland and Dr. Tammy Howard to all Charter School Directors. Attachment:     MEMO - Summer School 2016-17

NC Educator Evaluation System (NCEES) Training Opportunity for Charter Schools

Please see the information below outlining a NCEES training for new administrators or those that seek a deeper understanding of the North Carolina Educator Evaluation System.

Date: October 31, 2016

Time: 9:00 a.m. - 3:30 p.m. with an hour and 15 minutes for lunch on your own

Target Audience: Charter School Administrators

Location: Queen City STEM School, 8701 Mallard Creek Rd., Charlotte, NC 28262

Register for this session here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdrrmeFKVl90kts4ShpO5OYN4c9m5Ag7mull5-Jg-FnJ6ZKQ/viewform

NCDPI Newsletters   Finance Officers' Newsletter September 23, 2016   September 2016 From the Board Room   Superintendents' Weekly Message   State Education Leaders Congratulate Halifax for Academic Progress  Public Invited to Comment on NC’s K-12 Education Plan for Every Student Succeeds Act; Second Round of Sessions Begins Oct. 6  Statement from State Superintendent June Atkinson Regarding the Death of NCAE Past President Rodney Ellis  Give Five – Read Five Puts Books in Hands of Thousands of Students

Other News

PCG Education

The Educational Partnerships unit of PCG Education has more than 20 years of experience providing K-12 schools and districts with solutions designed to improve student performance and save administrators and teachers valuable time.  The proven record of success is in the areas of Daytime Interventions, Afterschool and Extended Day Programming, as well as Summer Learning Camps and Staffing Services complete with Professional Development and Payroll capabilities. 

For more information, please visit the website at www.educationalpartnerships.net and review the attached documents.

Contact Kara Lewis at 919-608-9983 or klewis@pcgus.com with questions or concerns.

Attachment:     PCG Educational Partnerships

2016-2017 Regional Compliance Forums for All Homeless Liaisons

All appointed homeless liaisons in a district or a charter school is required to attend scheduled compliance forums per U.S.C. § 11432(g)(1)(F)(ii) of the McKinney-Vento Act.

This year's Compliance Forums are being conducted September 23rd through October 20th. If you have not already done so, there is still time to register for Forums in Regions 1, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. Register today for the Compliance Forum in your region.

NCHEP conducts compliance forums in each region to assist school districts in understanding how to ensure: school personnel are identifying and enrolling students immediately, services are being provided, and barriers to education are eliminated. With the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) McKinney-Vento amendments becoming effective October 1st, 2016, the implications for implementing McKinney-Vento in your districts will be reviewed. Additionally, these forums provide learning opportunities to discuss the challenges and requirements in the delivery of services and to share best practices. Liaisons should plan to attend the Compliance Forum in their region. 

Note: new homeless liaisons who attended the New Homeless Liaison Compliance Orientation (NHLCO) are still required to attend the compliance forum scheduled for their region. These regional forums contain information that supplements information received during the NHLCO.

For more information (e.g., check dates, or access a draft agenda), visit the NCHEP Regional Compliance Forums web page.  

IMPORTANT REMINDER – EDDIE is the authoritative source for NC public school numbers and demographic information, is used by multiple NCDPI technology systems including; Accountability, PowerSchool, NC School Report Cards, and is used to meet federal reporting requirements.  LEAs and charter schools are responsible for ensuring their data in EDDIE are complete, accurate, and current.  EDDIE is located at: http://apps.schools.nc.gov/eddie