Charter Schools can now be refunded through Medicaid
Dear charter school leaders, this has been a long time coming and thanks to the efforts of the DPI Exceptional Children's team and Mr. Machado, charter schools are now considered eligible for certain expenses to be reimbursed through Medicaid.
Please join one of the upcoming webinars to learn more. If you've missed or will be unable to attend the one designated for your region, you are welcome to join in on one of the others. It has been advised that even if you don't think this opportunity will be worth it for your school at this time, to go ahead and request your National Provider ID as it can take some significant time and you may change your mind. You can start that process here: https://nppes.cms.hhs.gov/assets/How_to_apply_for_an_NPI_online.pdf
- Regions 6 & 8 on March 16 @ 3-4:30p
- Regions 1, 2 & 4 on March 17 @ 3-4:30p
Office of Learning and Recovery Regional Charter Leader Meeting
When: Thursday, March 31st
Time: 10:00-12:00 (Lunch provided)
Where: Lincoln Charter School
7834 Galway Lane
Denver, NC
Dr. Michael Maher, Director of NCDPI Office of Learning Recovery will be conducting a regional meeting for Charter School Leaders to discuss the OLR’s report to the State Board of Education and programs available to all PSU’s. Please join this very informative meeting to discuss and network with your colleagues concerning strategies to overcome learning loss in our schools.
Please RSVP by March 21st to dave.machado@dpi.nc.gov if you can attend.
The 2022 NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey closes March 31st!
Dear Charter Leaders:
Superintendent Truitt’s goal for this year is 95% participation. OCS pushed really hard with the team to ensure appropriate representation and input from our charter educators. Let your teacher’s voices be heard.
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The NCTWC Survey is administered to every teacher and licensed school-based educator in our public schools every 2 years. For almost two decades, educators have been using NC Teacher Working Conditions Survey (NCTWC) results to drive decision-making in school and district improvements. In addition, our legislators and State Board of Education use data from the survey to help inform policy. The North Carolina Department of Public Instruction will once again provide this anonymous, online teaching conditions survey from March 1-31, 2022. Results will be accessible on www.nctwcs.org.
If you have any questions regarding the North Carolina Teacher Working Condition Survey email Alessandro Montanari at Alessandro.Montanari@dpi.nc.gov.
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Important MEMOs:
NCDHHS/DPI
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For those who couldn't join our March 1 call, click here to access the recording with integrated chat and transcript.
Additional links and resources referenced in the call:
3.1.22 DHHS Slide Deck
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We have new dates for the Portrait session #2, based on spring break feedback for regions 1-6. Please see the new dates below in bold.
The NC Department of Public Instruction is inviting you to help design a statewide Portrait of a Graduate. The process will include 3 sequential highly interactive, virtual engagement sessions. The Portrait will be used to inform important policy conversations, shape the future of North Carolina's student accountability system and K-12 programming in order to help ensure graduates are prepared to meet our state's growing workforce demands. Please let me know if you and/or a designee can participate. We will likely have more than 1,000 participants across the state, ensuring that every voice is heard and helping to shape a true reflection of our aspirations for every student.
Please let us know if you/ and or a designee can participate by Friday, March 18. Thank you so much for your consideration! Feel free to reach out to me or Kristie.VanAuken@dpi.nc.gov if you have any additional questions/concerns. Thank you so much for your leadership and assistance as we embark on this incredible journey together.
NC Portrait of a Graduate Quick Facts:
- What is the Portrait of a Graduate? A collective vision that articulates our aspirations for every student.
- What will we be doing? The Portrait Design Team will explore the following questions:
- What are the hopes, dreams, and aspirations that our region has for our young people?
- What are the skills and mindsets that our children need for success in this rapidly changing and complex world?
- What are the implications for the design of the learning experiences—and access to those experiences—we provide in our school systems?
- When will the virtual meetings be held? The Portrait Design Team will meet virtually three times. Each meeting builds upon the other so plan on attending them all.
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Meeting 1
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- March 28 - NE and SE Regions
- March 29 - North Central and Sandhills Regions
- March 30 - Piedmont/Triad and SW Regions
- April 5 - Western and NW Regions
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5:30-8:00 pm
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Meeting 2
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- April 25 - NE and SE Regions
- April 27 - North Central and Sandhills Regions
- May 2 - Piedmont/Triad and SW Regions
- April 26 - Western and NW Regions
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6:00-8:00 pm
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Meeting 3
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- May 17 - NE and SE Regions
- May 18 - North Central and Sandhills Regions
- May 19 - Piedmont/Triad and SW Regions
- May 24 - Western and NW Regions
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6:00-8:00 pm
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- Who follows up? After the first meeting, DPI’s eight outstanding regional directors who will be your partner in managing the engagement lists and facilitating the regional meetings identified above.
- Who is leading the process for DPI? Dr. David Stegall, Deputy Superintendent and CAO, and Kristie VanAuken, Special Advisor to the Superintendent, Workforce Engagement. Battelle for Kids will lead the design team sessions.
- Who can answer questions? Contact Kristie.vanauken@dpi.nc.gov for detailed questions
Social Studies Leaders' Institute
We are excited to invite you to attend the Social Studies Leaders’ Institute. This year’s institute will consist of two half-day virtual sessions. The theme of the institute is Supporting the Implementation of the Social Studies Standards. It will take place from 9 AM - 1:30 PM on Tuesday, March 29, and 9:00 AM - 1:00 PM on Wednesday, March 30.
The NCDPI Social Studies Leaders' Institute is a meaningful way to increase the capacity of social studies leaders to build strong curricula support. It is also an excellent opportunity for district leaders to network and interact with other leaders across the state.
The tentative program includes sessions focused on standards implementation, elementary social studies, civic literacy, and financial literacy. Please use the link below to register for the Institute. Once you get to the WebEx site, click on the link by Session Status (circled in the screenshot below) to register for the institute.
Registration Link: https://ncgov.webex.com/ncgov/k2/j.php?MTID=t338b539ab449fdea76b490b55e770af2
Best,
The NCDPI K-12 Social Studies Team
Tom Daugherty
K-12 Social Studies Education Consultant
Division of Academic Standards
NC Department of Public Instruction
(W) (984) 236-2824
Thomas.Daugherty@dpi.nc.gov
Compliance Forums for McKinney-Vento Homeless Liaisons in Charter Schools
Registration is now open for the annual NCHEP Compliance Forums for Charter Schools, which will take place during March 2022. All charter school homeless liaisons are required by the State Coordinator to attend one Compliance Forum annually. This year’s Compliance Forums have been structured by topic rather than by region. Charter school liaisons may choose the forum which best suits their program’s needs. All Compliance Forums will be held virtually and will run from 9:00 AM – 12:00 PM on each designated date.
Please click here for dates and registration links. Questions about the Compliance Forums should be directed to your Program Specialist, Tricia Lentz (336-681-7561).
EC Division
Please see the attached newsletters.
Office of Charter Schools (OCS) Updates
Dear charter school leaders, several of you have reached out for reassurance that a bulletin sent by DPI titled 2022-2023 Instructional School Start and End Dates - Districts Only does not apply to Charter Schools, and indeed, it does not. Charter schools retain flexibility with instructional calendar start and end dates. Please reach out to dave.machado@dpi.nc.gov if you have any questions about this.
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March Teammate in the Spotlight
Winding his way south from his hometown of Reading, PA, Jay Whalen came to North Carolina in 2011, then moved to Tennessee and back again. Serving in various roles in traditional public schools, charter networks, and state agencies, Jay most recently served as Deputy Director of Charter Schools for the Tennessee State Board of Education before joining the NC Office of Charter Schools in 2018. Currently, Jay serves as Program Administrator for the NC ACCESS Program where he works with the best team in the game to ensure educationally disadvantaged students are supported by our amazing schools. Jay graduated from the University of Rhode Island, where he captained the Men’s Track and Field team and was the inaugural Atlantic 10 Heptathlon champion, setting a conference record that has since been absolutely destroyed. An avid runner and cyclist, Jay has completed a half-ironman, but now spends most of his time running after his daughter.
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Sharing News About Our Charter Schools:
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Quality Education Academy News to Share with the OCS Community
1.) QEA Scholars participated in our inaugural B.I.G. (Black Innovation Gurus) Conference in which they were able to interact with C.L.Ai.R.A, an Afro-Latina woman created with Artificial Intelligence. Fox8 WGHP came and provided news coverage of the event.
2.) Quality Education Academy Women's Varsity Team won the State Championship for the CAA4SC
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Wake Preparatory Academy Welcomes Families – March 4, 2022
On Friday, March 4, 2022, the North Carolina Coalition for Charter Schools attended a Wake Preparatory Academy welcome event and celebrated the new charter schools’ opening with WPA families. There were over 1,700 guests in attendance and the crowd enjoyed plenty of food, fun, and friends. We couldn’t be more excited for Wake Preparatory Academy’s opening this fall, bringing more school choice to Wake Forest and the Franklin County Area. Click to see a video compilation of the event.
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OPEN NOW: 2022 NC Charter Applications
The 2022 North Carolina Charter School Application is now open, as of Friday, January 28th at 5 pm. The 2022 charter application window will close on April 29, 2022 at 5pm. Applicants who are interested in opening a charter school in 2023 under the accelerated timeline, or in 2024 under the standard timeline must submit their charter applications on or before the April 29, 2022 application close date.
Both the online application and $1,000 application fee must be submitted on or before April 29, 2022 at 5pm.
The link to the 2022 NC Charter School application is posted on the NCDPI Charter Schools Application page found here.
For questions about the charter application process, please reach out to Melanie.Rackley@dpi.nc.gov.
New Charter Leaders Institute
Registration link for the New Charter Leaders Institute, June 8th & 9th, 2022.
This is an institute for school leaders in the Ready to Open year but is also open to schools who have new leadership.
Please direct questions to Claire Porter at claire.porter@dpi.nc.gov.
OCS Consultant Sites:
Increase Your Reach Webinar Series
In partnership with ImplementEd, the NC ACCESS Program is excited to facilitate a webinar series entitled Increase Your Reach. Each one-hour webinar in the series is designed to provide an opportunity for school leaders to share and discuss best practices on a variety of relevant topics. The current list of webinar offerings and registration links are included below.
During each webinar, we will highlight the NC ACCESS website Best Practices page targeting two featured strategies. School leaders representing the featured strategies will share details of its implementation and outcomes followed by a period of Q&A and an opportunity to hear additional ideas from all participants. Feel free to share these opportunities with others in your professional community.
Pre-register for any or all of these sessions to learn from and share with your colleagues.
Webinar 2: The Families We Serve – Recruitment and Support
March 30, 2022 | 1:00 – 2:00pm
How can schools better connect with educationally disadvantaged families during and beyond the recruitment process? Hear from two school leaders who used very different approaches for providing support to the entire family resulting in improved student outcomes. Engage in an interactive dialogue to learn from each other during this webinar.
REGISTER HERE for The Families We Serve- Recruitment and Support webinar.
Webinar 3: In-School Student Support Communities
April 6, 2022 | 10:00 – 11:00am
How can schools address the ever increasing social, emotional needs of students during the traditional school day? Hear how two schools were able to add dedicated programming to meet the social, emotional needs of students. Then share your questions and ideas in an interactive dialogue with participants.
REGISTER HERE for the In-School Student Support Communities webinar.
Webinar 4: Educator Professional Learning About Equity
April 26, 2022 | 1:00 – 2:00pm
Learn different ways to support your staff to ensure they are equipped to successfully connect with all students, especially those from marginalized communities, opening their eyes to the many possibilities in their futures.
REGISTER HERE for the Educator Professional Learning About Equity webinar.
Upcoming Webinar: New EDS Self-Reporting Process
Tuesday, March 15, 2022 | 1:00 – 2:00pm | REGISTER
Ensure your school’s economically disadvantaged student population is accurately reported to DPI. There is a new way for charter schools to self-report which students at your school qualify for Free and Reduced Lunch. This will ensure every student is correctly recorded, and DPI can accurately report those numbers publicly.
Join us for a 1-hour informational webinar to hear from school leaders and experts at DPI about how to accurately identify, document, and report your true EDS population. You can view this introductory webinar (use passcode: .!r1P.2D) from the NC Coalition for Charter Schools as a primer, then join us on March 15th at 1pm for additional guidance and to get all your questions answered.
Other Resources from DPI:
Leadership Opportunities:
Whom Should I Contact at the Office of Charter Schools?
Please note that response times to voicemails left on our phones will be much slower than usual due to the COVID-19 response efforts. Sending us an email is ideal. Clicking the link on our names will bring up an automatic email prompt. Thank you!
OCS Main Number: (984) 236-2700 / Email: ocs@dpi.nc.gov
Dave Machado 984 236 2702
Director of the Office of Charter Schools
Claire Porter 984 236 2709
Consultant, Renewals, Planning Year & Ready to Open Process
Ashley Baquero 984 236 2708
Consultant, Amendments & Compliance
Joseph Letterio 984 236 2703
Consultant, Epicenter Tech Support & Performance Framework
Darian Jones 984 236 2705
Consultant, Stakeholder Support & Professional Develoment
Melanie Rackley 984 236 2712
Consultant, Charter Applications
Jay Whalen 984 236 2711
Program Administrator, NC ACCESS Program
Barbara O'Neal 984 236 2706
Program Coordinator, NC ACCESS Program
Davida Robinson 984 236 2878
NC ACCESS Subgrant Program Manager
Lakisha Robbins 984 236 2704
NC ACCESS Finance Administrator
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