NCDPI Office of Charter Schools (OCS) Updates
State Employees Credit Union Foundation (SECU) High School Scholarship Opportunity - Reminder
Since the SECU Foundation was established in August 2004, it has awarded annual $10,000 “People Helping People” four-year scholarships – increasing from two to three in 2014 – to graduating seniors attending North Carolina Charter Schools. These scholarships will be awarded to students attending one of the 16 constituent campuses of the University of North Carolina. These funds are made possible through the contributions to the Foundation by members of State Employees' Credit Union.
Below are the steps for applying for this scholarship opportunity:
- Review the ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA and share scholarship information with eligible students and their parents. New for 2018: The SECU People Helping People Scholarship is only available to graduating public high school seniors who are either members of SECU or the child of a parent/guardian who is a member of SECU.
- Develop a school-level scholarship selection committee comprised of three or more members who will make the final decision on the school-level nominee. The scholarship selection committee must also identify an alternate (runner up) for each school-level nominee in the event the named nominee becomes ineligible (i.e., receives a full scholarship, declines the scholarship, chooses to attend a private or out of state university, etc.).
- Submit the following information for the school-level nominee:
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Completed Student Application and Essay. Note: This document must be sent as a Word Document only. The document is enabled to allow SECU Foundation to import student data into our database directly. Please do not send this document as a PDF or Google Doc.
- Copy of University Acceptance Letter
- Photo of Nominee (head shot only)
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A Brief Bio Written by Nominee with Accomplishments and Awards Noted. A guide for writing them bio is provided HERE.
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Written Scholarship Selection Committee Statement (signed by all committee members verifying the selection of the nominee). In this letter, include the name of the selected school-level alternate nominee.
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Signed Consent Form. Each recipient of the scholarship and their parent/guardian must sign the Consent Form to release their names and images for press releases to the local news media as well as within State Employee’s Credit Union and the SECU Foundation. In addition, the nominee and their parents are asked to complete all the information on the Consent Form which will be used to verify their eligibility as an SECU member.
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Scholarship recipient information from each school must be received by the NCDPI Office of Charter Schools by 5:00 pm EST on March 9, 2018. Application information must be sent via email to Dr. Deanna Townsend-Smith at ocs@dpi.nc.gov. Schools should only submit application information for the school-level nominee. Application information should be collected for the alternate nominee, but the information should not be submitted until requested.
- Schools should notify the Office of Charter Schools if the school-level nominee or alternate are no longer eligible for the scholarship.
The Office of Charter Schools appreciates the dedication and hard work by the members of each school’s Scholarship Selection Committee. Please contact Dr. Deanna Townsend-Smith @ ocs@dpi.nc.gov if you have any questions or concerns about the scholarship opportunity.
Note:
SECU Foundation also provides each North Carolina Community College two (2) $5,000 scholarships. Recipients are selected by the Scholarship Selection Committee at the community college. If you have a student who will be attending a community college and exemplifies the membership philosophy of credit unions, “People Helping People”, please direct them to the Financial Aid office at the community college.
Final Week: Curriculum Leaders Collaborative (CLC) Charter School Application Window Closes February 9th! - Final Reminder
If you would like to benefit from learning how implementation
science and evidence-based problem solving techniques can improve your
school initiatives, then join the second charter school cohort of the CLC taking
place this school year (2017-18SY)! Below are some quick facts about this coming
cohort:
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What: The purpose of this optional 3-day Curriculum Leaders Collaborative will be to provide those responsible for the
school level implementation of content standards (NC Standard Course
of Study) with a process for discussing how professional development,
technical assistance/coaching, communication/visibility and
research/evaluation support quality implementation that can be sustained
and monitored for fidelity. Each day of training will run from 9am -
5pm with 90 minutes for lunch, which will be “on your own.”
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Who: 3-4 Charter School leadership staff responsible for the
implementation of content standards (Principal, Assistant Principal,
etc.).
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When: February 23rd,
March 28th, and April 27th 2018.
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Additional Information: Please checkout the CLC website or follow #NCDPI_CLC on Twitter for
additional information and updates.
If you are interested in
participating in the second cohort of the charter school CLC taking
place this school year (2017-18SY), then please click on the link below and
complete the application by close of business on Friday, February 9th.
Please note that applications will not be accepted until a signed Partnership
Agreement has been emailed to hunter.huffman@dpi.nc.gov.
<APPLICATION LINK>
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Teacher Licensure
Requirements – Reminder
Per NC General Statute 115C-218.90(a1) and State Board of Education (SBE) Policy CHTR-006 (linked below), a charter school is required to maintain
certification of at least fifty percent
(50%) of its teachers.
As a reminder, per SBE Policy CHTR-006, charter schools
shall maintain compliance with the law regarding licensure percentage
requirements from December 31 of each year through the end of the school
calendar year. Failure to do so is noncompliance with the statutory
requirement, which shall result in a school’s placement on Governance Cautionary Status for the remainder of the 2017-2018
school year.
The Office of Charter Schools receives a monthly licensure
report on each school’s current licensure percentage utilizing data from the
PowerSchool schedule and the NC Online State Licensure System. Correspondence
regarding governance noncompliance for failure to meet at least fifty percent
(50%) licensure ratio has been delivered to the applicable schools in the month
of January.
Please note that this report is checked monthly and that
charter schools are required to comply with the state law regarding licensure
through the end of the school year. It is important that schools continue to
monitor and address licensure compliance for the months of February through
June to avoid the designation of noncompliance for the 2017-2018 school year.
For specific questions regarding licensure, including how to
obtain or renew a license, please contact the DPI Licensure Section at (919)
807-3310 or asklicensure@dpi.nc.gov
. For assistance with any data issues, please contact the Home Base Help Desk
at (919) 807-4357.
Please direct any additional questions to Ms. Stephenie Clark,
Office of Charter Schools Consultant, at stephenie.clark@dpi.nc.gov .
Attachments:
 2018 Charter School Performance Framework
Submission Update
OCS collects evidence of
operational, financial, and academic compliance through the Charter School
Performance Framework (PF). February 2018 begins the collection process for
the 2018 Charter School Performance Framework .
The submissions for the 2018 PF will continue to remain staggered to allow extended periods of
collection and review. The 2018 Charter School
Performance Framework document library will soon be open for submissions. Please adhere to those submission dates once released.
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NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Updates
NC Virtual
Public School Advisory Council to Meet Feb. 13
The North Carolina Virtual Public School Advisory
Council will hold its quarterly meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 13, from 10 a.m. to
noon in the Spring Board Conference Room 205, Poulton Innovation Center on the
NCSU Centennial Campus, 1021 Main Campus Drive, Raleigh, N.C.
Agenda items include updates on NCVPS programs and ad-hoc
committees. Additional topics of discussion are a blended
learning/franchise model, communication strategies, and implementation science.
The draft agenda is here. Questions regarding
this meeting should be directed to NCVPS at 919-513-8550.
 Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS) Updates
As you engage in the
work around installation of a Multi-Tiered System of Support (MTSS), it will be
important to measure the beliefs of the faculty and staff. The North Carolina
MTSS Beliefs Survey is a tool that can be used to collect this information. The tool is meant to examine educator beliefs about key components
within a Multi-Tiered System of Support. This data will allow school leadership
to guarantee that professional development and coaching is targeted for each
staff’s unique needs. The NC MTSS Beliefs Survey is intended for completion by
an entire school staff that is implementing or beginning to implement MTSS. It
should be completed and collected anonymously for aggregate belief data. The
Belief Survey is available in the School Based Module 1.1 as well as in the
LiveBinder. If you have questions about MTSS please contact us at integratedsystems@dpi.nc.gov.
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February Regional EC Directors/Coordinators
Meetings
The February Regional EC Directors/Coordinators Meetings are
cancelled. However, topics submitted through representatives of the
Directors Advisory Council (DAC) will be addresseed through breakout sessions
on Tuesday of March Institute (March 6).
Additional March Institute information may be found at: https://ec.ncpublicschools.gov/conferences-profdev/march-institute.
If you have any March Institute questions, please contact Sherry
Thomas at sherry.thomas@dpi.nc.gov
or 919 807-3992.
 Interpreter / Transliterator Guidelines
Please see the attached new
interpreter / transliterator guidelines.
If you have any questions, please
contact Antwan Campbell at antwan.campbell@dpi.nc.gov
/ 919 807-3855.
Attachments:
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School Resource Officer Matching Grant - Request for Proposals
LEAs, regional schools, and
charter schools are eligible to apply for funding for School Resources Officers
in elementary or middle school settings.
Awards will be matched on the basis of two dollars ($2.00) in state
funds for every ($1.00 in local funds).
Local funds must supplement and not supplant, state, local, and federal
funds for School Resources Officers.
LEAs, regional schools, and
charter schools may use these funds to employ School Resource Officers in
elementary and middle schools and to train them. Any such training must include
instruction on research into the social and cognitive development of elementary
and middle school children. The NC Center for Safer Schools can provide
information about available training.
Please see the attached information for specifics about this grant process. Contact Mr. Mike Anderson at mike.anderson@dpi.nc.gov with questions or concerns.
Attachment: New
School Resource Officer Grant Application for 2018
 IMPORTANT: 2017-2018 State Resource Officer (SRO) Census
The NC Center for Safer Schools seeks to enhance an
understanding of our state's School Resource Officers and their work
environment. Providing a clear picture of who our SROs are can help us work for
funding to provide additional training and new SRO positions. Their input into
what could be done to improve both school safety and their working environment are
necessary to accomplish this goal.
This survey seeks to obtain a clear understanding of SROs
from a demographic perspective and gain some insight into what is or is not
working and to solicit your suggestions for what can be done both within the
school and within law enforcement to improve your working environment and
foster safer learning environments for our state's children.
The Center for Safer Schools understands the vital role SROs
play in keeping schools a safe learning environment. Only aggregate data will
be published. Thank you for assisting in this effort to help make the job
they do more clearly understood. Please note that SRO’s will have to complete
this survey themselves. Contact Mr. Mike Anderson at mike.anderson@dpi.nc.gov with questions or concerns.
Survey: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/SPLV9S8
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Charter Schools in the News
New report
praises NC charter schools, marking a shift from previous years
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