NCDPI Office of Charter Schools (OCS) Update
To Our Valued Charter School Teachers,
Teacher Appreciation Week shines the spotlight on the true heroes of our schools – our teachers! The Office of Charter Schools is grateful for the work you do each day. Your dedication, patience, and kindness are the foundations for a successful charter school. Our respect and admiration for you cannot be fully expressed in words. You make an impact on the lives of students and help ensure bright futures for the children of North Carolina. As a teacher, you give the best of yourself to help others. We hope you were treated to special appreciation and honor this week!
With gratitude, The Office of Charter Schools
Did You Know??
Charters are required to complete the Charter School Health Annual Report each year. Responses will be used to inform future training topics and to report on compliance with required legislation and policies such as Care of Students with Diabetes (§ 115C-375.3.), School Supply of Epinephrine Auto-Injectors (§ 115C-375.2A ) and State Board of Education Policy SHLT-001 Return-to-Learn After Concussion. This is where compliance data for the Performance Framework A17 measure originates. Schools self-report this data. Please see the information below from Annette Darden Richardson, Charter School Health Nurse Consultant and contact her if you have questions about charter school health compliance.
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Annual Charter School Health Report-Open
Annual Charter School Health Report Is Open
The Annual Charter School Health Report link is now open. Reporting must be completed no later than June 1st, 2019. The report is designed to assist in identifying resource needs for healthcare of students in charter schools. Responses will be used to inform future training topics and to report on compliance with required legislation and policies such as Care of Students with Diabetes (§ 115C-375.3.) and School Supply of Epinephrine Auto-Injectors (§ 115C-375.2A ). You may click here to access the report link or copy and pasted the link below into your browser.
A preparation worksheet is provided with the report questions. All schools are encouraged to download the worksheet and mark the appropriate responses before beginning the online report survey. You may click here to access the worksheet or copy and paste the link provided below into your browser. Once you have prepared your responses, save the document to your local computer. This worksheet cannot be accepted as your report. You will use it as a reference tool to enter your information into the online survey system.
Annual Charter School Health Services Report – https://www.surveygizmo.com/s3/4681610/2018-2019-Charter-School-Health-Annual-Report
Report Worksheet – http://surveygizmolibrary.s3.amazonaws.com/library/12181/20182019_Charter_EOYReport_Worksheet.docx
Please contact Ms. Annette Richardson at annette.richardson@dhhs.nc.gov with questions or concerns.
Annette Darden Richardson, MSN, RN, NCSN
Charter School Health Nurse Consultant
Division of Public Health - Children and Youth Branch
NC Department of Health and Human Services
Office: 252-339-3009
New Charter School Leaders Institute
Registration is now open for the New Charter School Leaders Institute. This 2-day event will be held June 11-12 at the DPI Building in downtown Raleigh (301 N. Wilmington St.) from 8:00 to 5:00.
Participants will have an opportunity to hear from experts from DPI, DHHS, and local charter schools on various topics. Some of the topics will include the Multi-Tiered System of Support, School Safety, State Health Requirements, Legal Updates, and more!
Please use this link to register:
https://forms.gle/DNYHeBYRLm4aD5Dm6
The registration deadline is Sunday, May 19. Please contact Dr. Kebbler Williams at kebbler.williams@dpi.nc.gov or 919-807-3920 if you have any questions about the Institute.
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Charter Applicant Training
Training for new applicants will be held on the following dates: Thursday, June 6, 2019 9am – 1pm
Wednesday, June 26, 2019 9am – 1pm
Monday, July 15, 2019 10am – 2pm
Trainings will take place in Room 150 of the NC Department of Public Instruction. 301 N. Wilmington Street, Raleigh, NC 27601
Please email ocs@dpi.nc.gov for assistance with any questions or concerns.
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2019 Performance Framework: Submissions Reminder
OCS collects evidence of operational, financial, and academic compliance through the Charter School Performance Framework (PF). The 2019 PF collection occurred through a series of staggered due dates starting in January and running through April. If your school has not submitted the required submission tasks in Epicenter, please do this immediately as your school’s evidence documents are now past due. For a list of the required evidence documents, click here.
Please submit information through the web-based tool Epicenter. To view the webinar training recording click here. Be sure to read the instructions provided in Epicenter for each submission task carefully.
If your designated staff still requires access to Epicenter, the lead administrator must send an email to ocs@dpi.nc.gov with the following information of the requested user: 1) first and last name, 2) school email address, 3) position at the school, and 4) the name of the school.
Web-based Resources:
2019 Performance Framework Resources
Frequently Asked Questions
For questions regarding the 2019 Charter School Performance Framework, please send an email to performanceframework@dpi.nc.gov.
For technical support, please contact the Epicenter Support Center at (855) 899-1624 or support@epicenternow.org.
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OCS Summer Huddle
Contact: ocs@dpi.nc.gov
July 18, 2019 | Register Here
Mark your calendars for the OCS Summer Huddle! Please join us at Gray Stone Day School in Misenheimer, NC on July 18th for a full day of development and support. You can register here and stay tuned for more details. We will not host a huddle at this year’s Financial Business Services (FBS) Conference, though there will be some charter-specific programming for those attending.
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Follow the Office of Charter Schools on Twitter
The Office of Charter Schools is officially tweeting! Follow us @NCCharterOffice for news, updates, and to see the great things happening at charter schools around the state.
NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Update
Greetings HR Directors (**New Instructions**) Human Capital/Licensure Webinars
In an effort to keep you all better informed about changes to state policy, NCDPI will begin offering monthly webinars closely following State Board of Education meetings. The purpose of the webinars is to provide you with the opportunity to hear about proposed and approved changes to state policy that have an impact on Human Resources departments.
Because we anticipate many participants, the webinar will not offer a "Q & A" session. We will, however, have a chat feature enabled and will try to answer the most common questions raised from the field. Additionally, we will record these webinars and place those recordings online so you will be able to hear the information even if you are unable to attend. Attendance is, of course, optional, but we hope you all will join us for the webinars.
Charter School directors can designate a staff member to attend these webinars. To do so, the Charter School director/head of school should email Kimberly Evans <Kimberly.Evans@dpi.nc.gov> and request access to the webinar. Please include the designee’s name, position, and email address.
Here is a list of the dates we are planning to schedule the webinars:
June 7
July 15
August 12
September 6
October 4
November 8
December 6
Specific times and the login for the webinar will be provided in the invitation. Please let me know if you have any questions or comments.
Thomas Tomberlin
Director, Educator Recruitment and Support
Office of the Deputy State Superintendent of District Support
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction
(O) 919-807-3440
End of Year Contact Updates
Home Base systems will be taken offline on June 28, 2019, at 5 p.m. for End of Year processing. District and charter PowerSchool coordinators may begin reviewing and updating their EOY contact information for the 2018-19 End of Year Process through Friday, May 17.
Please ensure a telephone number and email address where you can be reached during the date and time EOY processing begins and ends. Instructions on how to update this information are included in the EOY Contacts Page quick reference document located on the NC SIS website. If you have questions concerning this process, please contact the NCDPI Support Center by submitting a ticket through the ServiceNow portal.
End of Year Preparation
What can you do at this time in preparation for EOY? Schools may begin performing their school enrollment audits (Start > System Reports > System > School Enrollment Audit) and section enrollment audits (Start> Reports > Run Reports > Section Enrollment Audit) for accuracy in PowerSchool. Links to section and school enrollment documentation on PowerSource are below. If you are unable to access PowerSource, please click on the pdf document.
This may also be a good time to begin reviewing the EOY quick reference documents available on the NC SIS website’s EOY page. Please visit this page frequently for updates.
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Final Day to Secure Tier 1 Funding for Learning.com
Today at 5 p.m. is the deadline for school districts and charter schools within Tier 1 economically distressed counties (as determined by the NC Department of Commerce) to submit an intent-to-contract form if they intend to sign a local contract with Learning.com. This form was sent directly to Tier 1 superintendents, finance officers, and charter school directors in early April 2019. Only those districts and charter schools that complete this form by the deadline will be eligible to receive funding from NCDPI. All other districts and charter schools may still leverage the state convenience contract in order to realize cost savings and ensure contract terms are in alignment with state law and regulations.
More information about this opportunity may be found at: https://homebase.ncpublicschools.gov/applications/learningcom.
Want a Successful Closeout -Run Your 9th Month PMR!
http://www.nc-sis.org/documents/recent_emails/PMR_EOY_Announcment_for_Bulletins_2019.pdf
Significant Disproportionality
Please see the attached information regarding a recent federal ruling disallowing the US Dept. of Education's delay in states' implementation of Significant Disproportionality. Therefore, the 2016 regulations immediately go into effect.
Questions regarding this information should be addressed to Dr. Nancy Johnson (ntjohnso@uncc.edu).
Memo-Significant Disproportionality 2019.pdf
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DPI Transportation Services offers charter schools courtesy inspections of their school buses, just like they do at the county school bus garages. Please send an email to Teresa.West@dpi.nc.gov in Transportation Services to request a courtesy inspection. Please include your location and how many school buses are in operation. Requests should be made by June 14th 2019 so that inspections can be scheduled over the summer.
Questions can be directed to transportation section chief Kevin Harrison (919) 807-3579 or kevin.harrison@dpi.nc.gov.
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Other News
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May 15, 2019
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LEA Dispute Policy Due
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Submit dispute policies to your Program Specialist.
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May 15, 2019
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LEA McKinney-Vento Needs Assessment Due
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Submit your McKinney-Vento needs assessments to your Program Specialist.
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June 15, 2019
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McKinney-Vento Data Collection Submission Due
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Do not submit data until after the last school day in this academic year.
Questions on data collection should be directed to your Program Specialist.
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Program Specialist
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Regions
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Paullett Wall – pwall@serve.org
336-315-7407
Patricia Lentz – plentz@serve.org
336-315-7402
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Northeast, Southeast, North Central, Sandhills
Piedmont-Triad, Southwest, Northwest, Western
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Input Needed: Attendance in Early Grades
As North Carolina ramps up focus on chronic absenteeism in early grades, the NC Early Childhood Foundation and EdNC are partnering to learn more about how preschools, Head Start classrooms, elementary schools, and their surrounding communities encourage and support regular school attendance.
When young children are chronically absent – missing a couple days of school every month – they are less likely to read on grade level and more likely to be held back a grade. If we learn more about how these groups handle chronic absenteeism, we can determine what supports all classrooms and schools may need to improve regular attendance.
Please help distribute this short survey to your networks to learn from preschool and Head Start classrooms, and elementary school teachers, principals, staff, parents, and supportive local community groups, about the underlying causes of chronic absence and what schools and local communities are doing to address this issue. Respondents qualify for a chance to win one of four $50 Visa gift cards! Results are anonymous, and respondents do not need to share their schools’ names unless they would like to. Survey link: ednc.org/attendance
The survey closes on May 31st. We've heard from 700 people already and are aiming for over 2,000 responses from across the state.
Thanks for your support!
Mary Mathew
Collaborative Action Manager
NC Early Childhood Foundation
(919) 895-3290 x 705
www.buildthefoundation.org
Job Vacancy
Socrates Academy
https://www.socratesacademy.us/careers
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