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Weekly Newsletter- August 31, 2021

Teammate in the Spotlight  With the new school year we are adding a new feature to our newsletter. Each month we will put a face to the name of one of the amazing staff at the Office of Charter Schools. First up is one of our newer consultants, Ms. Melanie Rackley!   Melanie joined OCS in October 2020. Prior to joining, she worked within the agency as an Education Licensure Specialist for five years. Melanie has held various roles at the Division of Child Development and Early Education including the NC Pre-K program. Melanie also brings Human Resources experience from private industry and UNC systems. In her spare time she enjoys travel, history and visiting museums. She is the reigning Jeopardy champion in her family. Melanie is a graduate of UNC-Chapel Hill’s School of Journalism and the Executive Master of Public Administration program at North Carolina Central University. In her current role, she serves as Applications Team Lead for the Office of Charter Schools.

Upcoming Events and Reminders!

Save the Date!

ACTION ITEM: School Mental Health Policy Report

Due September 15^th (Many Schools Remaining)

Dear Charter School Leaders, 

As you may know, all charter schools are required to report their progress on meeting the guidelines set forth by the NC State Board of Education's SHLT-003:School-Based Mental Health (SBMH) Policy.  This is a new reporting requirement, and we have included the required reporting questions in the Healthy Active Children's (HAC) policy report.  You will be able to complete your report online. In the online reporting portal, you will indicate that you are a charter school, and you will be directed to the SBMH policy questions.  To make it easier for you to assemble your report information prior to going online, a Word version of the online survey is attached to this email. Please complete the online survey to submit your report.  

The information needed to complete the SBMH progress report will come from your School Mental Health Improvement Plan, which is required to upload and must include the mental health training program and suicide risk referral protocol.  

Please note the deadline to complete the HAC Progress Report / School Mental Health Policy Report is September 15, 2021. 

You can access the reporting portal through the link below.   

2021 Healthy Active Children Policy Report Survey

If you have questions or challenges in completing this online survey, please contact Les Spell at Les.Spell@dpi.nc.gov.  

We appreciate the time and energy spent in completing this report and look forward to reading each submission. The Healthy Active Children Report / School Mental Health Policy Report is a valuable tool in efforts to provide quality school health systems that will raise academic achievement and promote physical and mental health among North Carolina’s schoolchildren.  

Thanks for all you do.

Les Spell

Data and Policy Consultant

NC Healthy Schools

North Carolina Department of Public Instruction

984-236-2815

Les.Spell@dpi.nc.gov

School Mental Health Policy Report pdf

School Mental Health Policy Report doc

NCEES webinar on Understanding the Teacher Rubric

New Homeless Liaison Training for Charter Schools

NCHEP will be providing the New Homeless Liaison Compliance Training for liaisons in charter schools (including Charter, Lab, ISD and Virtual Schools) virtually on Thursday, September 16, 2021. Participation in the training is required for homeless liaisons who are new to their position.  Please contact your Program Specialist, Tricia Lentz, to obtain the training session access link.

For session times and additional details, visit the NHLCT web page.

2021 OCS Office Hours Are Back 9/20 at 11:30a.m.

EL Stakeholders From: ESL/Title III Team - EL Program Quality

Inviting NC Public School EL Stakeholders including EL Coordinators, designees, and school leaders to join one session this fall.

Schedule and registration links

Bradford Preparatory Academy will be hosting an active shooter situation training November 22nd-23rd. If you are interested, please find details linked.

Important Resources for Charter Schools:(Please Read) Charter School Epinephrine Memo Charter School Diabetes Memo

Follow-Up for Monthly NCDHHS Joint COVID Call

Additional resources referenced in the call:

8.3.21 DPI Slide Deck

8.3.21 DHHS Slide Deck

At Home Testing Guidance

CDC COVID Symptoms List

CDC Antigen Testing Algorithm

OCR/CRDC - Office of Civil Rights Coordinator Contacts in EDDIE - Due Friday, September 24, 2021

Dear Coordinators,

Please inform other staff as appropriate.

The Office of Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC) submission window for the 2020-2021 school year opens in December 2021. Note:  PSUs that were not open in the school year 2020-2021 are not required to participate in this collection.

PSUs  must verify and update the EDDIE system with two Staff who have been identified as the 'Office of Civil Rights Coordinator'.  Delete any records in EDDIE for OCR contacts that are no longer valid for your PSU.  These staff are the technical contacts for the CRDC and will be responsible for running the PowerSchool CRDC Preview Report, verifying data, correcting and adding data to the Federal CRDC tool, and certifying in the Federal CRDC tool when the collection is complete.

PSUs are also strongly advised to verify or update the Student Information Coordinator contact as well. 

Updates to the EDDIE system for the OCR Collection must be completed by the end of business, Friday, September 24, 2021. 

If you are unsure who your EDDIE administrator is please visit the Subscribed User List located at https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/district-operations/financial-and-business-services/demographics-and-finances/eddie#help-using-eddie

More information about the CRDC is located at https://crdc.grads360.org/#program.  Notice on the homepage that there is a timeline of the CRDC phases. 

It is important to keep in mind that the NCDPI assists all PSUs with the CRDC by facilitating the transfer of data to the federal submission tool.  No action other than to update your contacts in EDDIE is required at this time.

Please contact Terra Dominguez at terra.dominguez@dpi.nc.gov with any questions you may have.

8/12/21 DPI Charter Leader's Call Recording

Adherence to the 10/20 Day Rule

Superintendents and Charter School leaders, 

Please find the attached memo on adherence to the 10/20 Day Rule. 

• 10-20 Day Memo_CE_TH_082321.pdf

School Business Division Zero-out Processing At the beginning of every school year, there is no zero-out processing for the month of July.  The zero out process will be starting with the August 2021 data files through June 2022. If you have any questions, please contact Roxane Bernard at roxane.bernard@dpi.nc.gov.   Confirmation of Funds for Annual Financial Statement Audits by CPA firms DPI is providing the appropriate reports to your independent auditors via the internet. These reports for FY21 are now posted in a public application at: http://apps.schools.nc.gov/auditorconfirmationreports  (Annual Reports). Please direct your independent auditor to the site provided. Please contact Roxane Bernard at roxane.bernard@dpi.nc.gov with any questions.

MEMO: Science of Reading Professional Learning and K-3 Formative/Diagnostic Assessment

ESSER Reminder

Dear Charter Directors,
This is a reminder that the 2021-2022 Eligible Schools Summary Report (ESSR) must be submitted in PowerSchool for all local education agencies (LEAs) and charter schools in North Carolina. All charter schools are required to report these data regardless of whether they accept any federal funds and the report is used to meet several requirements, such as School Report Card, CEDARS and Teacher Loan Forgiveness.  Thank you in advance for your support.

Information regarding the data collection can be found at  https://www.dpi.nc.gov/districts-schools/federal-program-monitoring/federal-program-data-collection

Resources Galore

School Business Website

School Business – August 27, 2021

NC SIS Weekly Email Bulletin

DTL Insider - August 20, 2021

Aug. 19, 2021 - Home Base Bulletin

August 2021: Social Studies Update

Character Education News & Updates: August 2021

North Carolina Public Schools - School Social Work August Update

STEMtastic News - August 2021

NCDPI School Counseling Newsletter

Monthly ELD Standards Update -- Issue #1

Monthly Update: NC Healthy Schools

August 2021 K-12 Monthly Mathematics Update

Special Edition August 2021: Social Studies Update

NCDPI School Counseling Updates

Opportunity: Announcing the 2021 Injury-Free NC Academy on Comprehensive Suicide Prevention

Let’s Get Ready! A Family’s Guide to Support Kindergarten Readiness

Digital Learning Standards Course for 2021

TD Bank grant opportunity - TD 2021 Ready Challenge

NC Lions KidSight Screening program

United States Senate Student Applications Available Until October 3rd

EXPERIMENTORS - An Exciting NEW Science Program!

Please be sure to keep EDDIE up to date!

• OCS Guidance on Title IX-New Compliance Requirements
• OCS Guidance SB199 Sex Trafficking Prevention Training and SB476 Mental Health Plans
• OCS Guidance for Charter Schools SB681/Session Law 2020-78 Enrollment Priorities, Assessments Memo, and CARES Act additional funds available 7/17/2020 
• OCS Website Guidance for Charter Schools