NCDPI Office of Charter Schools (OCS) Updates

Web Links:

Important Resources for Charter Schools: (Please Read)

Please click on each link.

Charter School Diabetes Memo

Charter School Epinephrine Memo

Professional Development Corner (PD)

Come and check out the happenings on our PD website!

https://www.smore.com/z7vg5

The Scoop with Coop

The Scoop with Coop is a newsletter that focuses on the North Carolina Charter School Renewal process.  In addition, this letter provides insight on a variety of charter school topics to assist our leaders and readers alike!  https://www.smore.com/8hcf9

Epicenter Tip Center

What should you do when an Epicenter user is no longer with your school?

DO NOT replace the user’s account information with a new name. This would replace all old timestamped activity from the former user to the new user and create an incorrect history. In addition, it causes login problems.

Instead, you should do the following:

1. If you already made a change – change the previous person's account back to normal (name, email, and sign-in email).
2. Ask the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools to deactivate/delete the previous user.

Ask the North Carolina Office of Charter Schools for a new account by sending the new user’s name, position, and email address to OCS.

Did You Know?   High school graduation requirements for social studies are undergoing changes due to Session Law 2019-82 (HB 924) that passed this year. Our office recommends reviewing the law here: https://www.ncleg.gov/Sessions/2019/Bills/House/PDF/H924v7.pdf. The K-12 Standards, Curriculum, and Instruction team here at DPI is currently working on revising graduation requirements to meet the standards set in law.   More information will be forthcoming as the work continues. In the meantime, please feel free to contact the Social Studies team her at DPI and monitor the website for updates. http://www.ncpublicschools.org/curriculum/socialstudies/directory/

Performance Framework

One more item in Epicenter = one less place to submit your stuff! The English Learning division at DPI has joined OCS in using Epicenter. Keep an eye out for the A5.EL LIEP item showing up on November 1st. If you have at least 1 EL student in your school based on the October 1 headcount, be sure to follow the guidance provided and upload your LIEP Service Chart in Epicenter by December 13th.

NC ACCESS Program Information and Application Training Sessions Contact: NCACCESS@dpi.nc.gov   The second application cycle of the NC ACCESS Subgrant Program is coming soon! The NC ACCESS team is holding several in-person technical assistance information and application training sessions from October 2019-January 2020 to assist prospective applicants with the subgrant application process.   Please note that each 2-hour session will consists of two parts: hour one is an informational session outlining the NC ACCESS Subgrant Program and its requirements, and hour two is an in-depth application training. Sessions with no registrants will be cancelled 24 hours prior to the training.   Learn more and view the full training schedule on our website or register for a training here.

Celebrating International Education Week (IEW)

Join the NC Department of Public Instruction in celebrating International Education Week (IEW) November 4 - 8, 2019! IEW is an opportunity to celebrate the benefits of international education and exchange worldwide.  IEW is part of the effort to promote Global Education in North Carolina.  

A variety of IEW events are planned, including free workshops, a Twitter chat, State Board of Education recognitions, and more!  See the list of events for more information.

Share the linked flyer with colleagues and celebrate with us!  Be sure to share how you’re celebrating IEW on social media using #NCIEW, #NCisGlobal, and @NCGlobalEd!

Celebrate International Education Week through our #NCisGlobal chat on Nov. 7 from 8-9 PM!  This chat is co-hosted by @NCGlobalEd, @isa_clacs, @unceurope, @uncnavigators, @UNC_CMEIS, @DukeMideast, @UNCAsiaCenter, and @UNCafrica and will follow the Q1/A1 format.

See the questions linked below. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1CjxPH-bD779CxfHGamlNaQPrItihUeND/view?usp=sharing

Required Planning Year Sessions Opportunities

Board members from charter schools that are opening in 2020 are required to attend 5 face-to-face Planning Year Sessions from September to January.  The school leader and some of the board members are also required to attend the New Charter School Leaders Institute in June.  As a customer service, the Office of Charter Schools continues to open up these sessions to all charter schools.  If you have a new school leader and/or a new board member interested in attending any of the sessions, he or she must register to attend.  Please note the schedule below:

Registration is now open for the November session.  Registration ends on Sunday, November 10.  Please use this link to register: https://forms.gle/kVCAuaYcj7jYDy638

For questions, please contact Dr. Kebbler Williams at kebbler.williams@dpi.nc.gov or 919-807-3920.

Cash Management and MSA Training (Charter Schools)   We will have a Cash Management and MSA training class for Charter Schools on Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at the Department of Public Instruction in Raleigh, NC, Room #564 from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm.  There is no registration fee for the class, but you must register to attend.  The class is designed for those who work in the charter school’s finance office.  The class consists of "Hands-on" training with the emphasis on understanding the monthly financial reports, a brief lecture on Compliance & Monitoring, and a brief overview of the Cash Management System.  Instruction is geared to the beginner or new user and as a refresher for others.  There are only a certain number of seats in the training room, so limited space is available on a first come, first serve basis.   If you would like to attend this class, please provide your name, email address, charter school name, charter school number and email Roxane Bernard at roxane.bernard@dpi.nc.gov.  If you have questions, please call Roxane Bernard at 919-807-3725.  You will be notified by email when you have been successfully registered for the training class.

2020 NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey

We want the leaders of our Charter Schools in North Carolina to connect the latest research-based strategies for improving student success and for keeping our best teachers. 

That is why we are so excited about participating in the 2020 NC TWC survey!  The latest research from more than 16 states, including North Carolina, shows the STRONG connection to leadership questions and student achievement. 

By participating in the 2020 survey, our Charter school educators can share their voices on what they need to do their jobs well. Once the results are in, our charter schools will have access to a new toolkit designed to help individual schools analyze their own data, unique to their own charter school, as a school improvement strategy.

Help keep NC Charter Schools a leader in innovation by taking 20 minutes to complete the anonymous survey March 2-31! 

If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Charter Schools at ocs@dpi.nc.gov

NC Department of Public Instruction (NCDPI) Updates

Financial and Business Services Newsletter

Please click on the link below for important financial information

http://www.ncpublicschools.org/fbs/

Helpful resources to answer questions about MTSS   Please extend a “thank you” to your MTSS contacts for prioritizing the Regional MTSS Networking Meetings offered by NC DPI. The October meetings were well attended across the state and the opportunity to hear from others engaged in the work of school improvement is so important to maintaining an appropriate focus and momentum around the work. As a director, you will be interested in some questions that are being discussed by MTSS teams across North Carolina: How effective are the core curriculum materials and instructional practices for producing good outcomes for the majority of students? How effective are supplemental and intensive curriculum materials and instructional practices for student’s intervention groups for improving academic performance? How much training and coaching have the teacher(s)/interventionist(s)had in using the core and intervention system programs/practices?  These questions are critical to school improvement and clearly cannot be answered by a single coordinator or teacher in a building. Support and resources for responding to these questions are provided by the IABS Division.  Questions about the meeting logistics can be directed to your school contact. If you need additional supports,  please contact your NC DPI MTSS Consultant or email integratedsystems@dpi.nc.gov.

Important: Distribution of Engagements In order to move along in the distribution process, we want to make sure the following engagements have made it to your warehouse. If you are a Charter School please distribute the engagements to the respective grade levels.   Please ensure that the following fliers have made it to your warehouse: Panthers Engagement and Educator Letter (K-3)

Social Studies Course Sequencing - Input requested

Dear AP/IB/CIE Coordinators,

Please see the request for input regarding high school social studies sequencing. The request has a quick turnaround, so please provide input soon. Thank you, as always, for all you do for NC students!

Beth Cross, State Consultant for Advanced Programming

Beth.cross@dpi.nc.gov

Social Studies High School Course Sequencing Survey - Input Needed

On July 8, 2019, House Bill 924, “an act to clarify eligibility for extended teacher contracts, to require completion of an economics and personal finance (EPF) course as a high school graduation requirement in public schools, to clarify requirements for high school civic literacy, and to require professional development for economics and personal finance teachers” was signed into law. 

The purpose of this form is to collect data from Academic Leaders re: the sequencing of high school courses in this legislation so that the State Board of Education can provide guidance toward the grade levels during which the EPF course and the Founding Principles of America and North Carolina: Civic Literacy may be completed. Please complete and submit this form by 5pm Tuesday, November 5, 2019.

https://forms.gle/xWmBYec2bkscengV9

Informational Meetings for the 2020 Governor's School

Dear Governor's School Contacts,

The series of Informational Meetings for the 2020 Governor's School concluded last night with meetings in Windsor and Elizabeth City. In all, 23 meetings were held across the state and more than 1,700 people attended. Many thanks to many of you for hosting, attending, and/or getting students, families and staff to attend. The meeting handout is attached, so feel free to share it with interested parties.

Earlier this fall our Office promised to send out a recorded webinar that reviews program and nomination processes. Here is the link for that webinar: 

https://register.gotowebinar.com/recording/6501454438882283533

Officially, registering with a name/email address is required for viewing, but no fee or other notification is involved. The video is structured in three segments, so navigate to your interest:

• 01:50 - Part One: Program (an overview of the Governor's School program)
• 11:00 - Part Two: Student Nomination (eligibility, Student Application, Student Eligibility Form and transcript, Recommendation Form) 
• 21:08 - Part Three: Submitting Nominations (determining nomination numbers, Nomination Form, preparing packets)

As always, you may contact the Office of the North Carolina Governor's School with any questions, but hopefully you can also turn to this guide often to review necessary steps. We look forward to a very successful submission of nominations in the coming weeks.

. ECATS: Monday Message  - 10 - 28- 19   20191028Monday Message .pdf   ECATS: Monday Message  - 10 -21-19   There are important items included in this week’s Monday Message regarding December 1 Child Count.  We would ask that you review this information carefully, develop a plan for how your district will implement this optional process, and communicate this information to your daily users.    20191021Monday Message.pdf

2020 Matthew C. Graziadei Achievement Scholarship Award

For the 21st year, the Exceptional Children’s Assistance Center (ECAC) is pleased to announce the opening for nominations, for the Matthew C. Graziadei Achievement Scholarship, to an Outstanding North Carolina High School Senior with a Disability.

https://www.ecac-parentcenter.org/applications-now-being-accepted-for-the-2020-matthew-c-graziadei-achievement-scholarship-award/

Local Allocation of Medicaid Fee-for-Service Funds

Please review the attached memo regarding changes to the NC Division of Health Benefits (DHB) for Fee-for-Service for Medicaid-enrolled students. 

• Allocation Change memo for FFS Reimbursement.pdf

NC State Improvement Project (NC SIP) Infographic

Please see the attached infographic related to the NC State Improvement Project (NC SIP).

Over the past 19 years through the work of the Exceptional Children Division, high quality statewide professional development has been provided for educators in the research and science of teaching reading that explicitly addresses how to teach reading to students with persistent reading difficulties including the specific learning disability of dyslexia. Please see the attached information related to the NC State Improvement Project Reading Research to Classroom Practice coursework and the additional resources provided for the purpose of helping parents support their student’s reading development.

• NCSIP Literacy Infographic 2019 10-29-19.pdf

Emergency Maintenance Weekend   NCDPI has planned an emergency maintenance for the PowerSchool application beginning Friday, November 1, 2019. Maintenance will be performed to release the following State Reporting updates: SAR Hiding all SAR data except the Personnel Summary Report Removing display of SAR Errors and Warnings that are no longer applicable AIG Including "Approval" on Submission Start Date Discipline Minor update for Incident Detail Report This maintenance only pertains to the PowerSchool application. All other applications, including the PowerSchool Unified Talent/NCEES system, will remain available during the PowerSchool SIS emergency maintenance weekend.   PowerSchool will be brought down at 5 p.m. on Friday, Nov. 1 and returned to service no later than 6 a.m. Monday, Nov. 4. A message will be sent to PowerSchool administrators once DPI receives word that the maintenance page has been removed. Please be sure to notify your entire staff once you receive the completion message.

Students in the FTE School

NCDPI has discovered that some schools have students in their DPI FTE school. NCDPI would like to inform all public school units (PSUs) that the DPI FTE school should not be used as a holding school during the school year and there should not be any student records in this school within your instance. This school may be used as a temporary holding school during the EOY process, but students must be moved back to their previous school and transferred out as a no-show within your instance after EOY. Failure to remove these students causes double enrollment in ECATS, resulting in record transfer issues.  

What is a No-Show student? When a student is enrolled in a school but did not show up the first day of school, they are referred to as a " No-Show".  

For the No-Show students to report correctly, the Entry Date must be equal to the Exit Date. Summer No-Show students should have summer entry/withdrawal dates after July 1 and before the first day of school. NCDPI prefers summer dates of 7/6 – 7/6 to avoid enrollment, reporting, and transfer student record issues.

2020-21 Course Code Request

The window for requesting new 2020-21 Course Codes is open and will remain open until November 13, 2019. If you have any specific course code requests for the 2020-21 school year or have general ideas for how we can improve the statewide course code system, please be sure to submit a response by the deadline. If you have any questions or concerns related to the survey, please contact Brandon Young at 919-807-3655 or brandon.young@dpi.nc.gov.

Request Link

SY 2019-20 Mandatory Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) 60-Day OMB Package Now Available

The SY 2019-20 CRDC 60-Day OMB Package was posted on September 19, 2019, on regulations.gov and is now available for public comment. The CRDC requires all local educational agencies (LEAs) in the nation that are recipients of federal funds to respond to the CRDC for the 2019-20 school year.  This includes every public school district, charter schools, juvenile justice facilities, alternative schools, and schools serving only students with disabilities.  

The announcement is available in the Federal Register and copies of the documents may be accessed on regulations.gov. Select “Open Docket Folder” and scroll down to “Supporting Documents” and choose “Forms and Instructions (60D FRN)” and “Supporting Statements (60D FRN)” for the documents posted on September 19, 2019. Comments in response to this notice must be submitted electronically through www.regulations.gov or by postal mail addressed to the Director of the Information Collection Clearance Division, U.S. Department of Education, 550 12th Street SW, PCP, Room 9089, Washington, DC 20202-0023.  The 60-day public comment period closes on November 18, 2019 at 11:59 p.m. ET. 

Other News

Immunization and Health Assessment Compliance Reporting Reports are due no later than November 1, 2019   Each year, all schools are required to report the immunization status of their kindergarten and 7th grade students, according to G.S. 130A-155(c) and G.S. 130A-440. The purpose of these reports is to ensure that all children enrolled in North Carolina schools are protected against vaccine-preventable diseases and to determine the number of children who meet state immunization requirements.  Additionally, all North Carolina public and public charter schools are required annually to report on the status of Health Assessments for those students who are enrolling for the first time in a North Carolina public or public charter school (G.S. 130A-441(c)).   Report submission can take place after the 30th calendar day from the school’s official first day.  A combined compliance report is available this year, by school name, and must be completed on-line at this link: Annual Health Assessment and Immunization Report. You may use the link to access instructions as well as worksheets to gather your responses prior to entering the online report.  Compliance reports are due no later than November 1, 2019 but may be completed at any time prior to that date.    Communication From The Consultant The Technical Assistance Summary provides valuable school health information.  School Health Coordinators and/or School Nurses are encouraged to review this quarterly circular so you can stay up-to-date with news and announcements from the Charter School Health Nurse Consultant.   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

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT – 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