Emily Anne 

The Office of Behavioral Health and Student Safety is hosting the Section 504 Best Practices webinar Tuesday, May 27, 2025, 9 to 10 a.m. The presentation will provide information on the legal requirements for Section 504, how to utilize data to make good decisions related to common Section 504 practices, how to write appropriate and data driven accommodations, and how to facilitate a good meeting. 

Those interested in attending can register via the Section 504 Best Practices registration form. A recording will be made available to all registrants.   

The VDOE is sponsoring content teaching academies on June 23-26, 2025, at JMU. The academies are designed to provide professional development to participating Virginia educators to enhance the outcomes of students with disabilities using high-quality instruction and to promote inclusive practices. Detailed information about each academy is included in the VDOE-Sponsored Content Teaching Academies Information Summary. Registration for each academy may be accessed on the JMU Content Teaching Academy 2025 web page.  

Each academy can accommodate a limited number of participants, and the target audience is specific to each academy’s focus. Priority will be given to school divisions and regions that demonstrated limited participation in previous content teaching academies and to educators from schools in divisions that are working with the VDOE Office of Special Education Program Improvement or the VDOE Office of School Quality. For all public school participants, the VDOE will assume the costs of registration, meals, and double occupancy lodging on JMU’s campus. School divisions are encouraged to cover travel expenses for participants as this cost is not assumed by VDOE.  

The History and Social Science department at VDOE is pleased to announce the release of the history and social science instructional guides. Instructional guides are companion documents to the 2023 History and Social Science Standards of Learning – amplifying each standard by defining the core knowledge and skills in practice, supporting teachers and their instruction, and serving to transition classroom instruction from the 2015 History and Social Science Standards of Learning to the newly adopted standards. The local History and Social Science curriculum should include a variety of information sources, readings, learning experiences, and forms of assessment selected to create a rigorous instructional program. 

Instructional guides include five distinct sections, now inclusive of dynamic and interactive components: Changes and Revisions, Understanding the Standard, Supporting Questions, Skills in Practice, and Concepts and Connections aligned to each standard.  

Grade 2 and World History and World History and Geography: 1500 to the Present  were released last week with the dynamic and interactive components. This week, the following instructional guides will be released: 

Educators should continue to monitor the History and Social Science webpage for additional information. Department staff will provide regional professional learning sessions through multiple means to ensure that teachers and those that support them (e.g., principals, central office personnel, directors) will learn about the purpose, intention, structure, content, and context for implementation. Further announcements of such training will be provided in upcoming Virginia Education Update newsletters.  

GoOpenVA, Virginia’s open educational resources (OER) platform, will also continue serving educators and students through 2026. This platform provides free access to quality instructional materials, fostering collaboration among educators statewide. The contract renewal underscores Virginia’s commitment to access educational resources, allowing teachers to share and adapt materials that align with state standards.

Learn more about Virginia’s technology in education initiatives.

VDOE and Just Right Reader will be hosting the final webinar in the three-part series this month. There has been great division representation from across the state for the first two webinars. The first webinar was held in March and focused on Setting Up for Implementation Success. The second webinar was held in April and focused on Adapting Instruction to Reach Every Learner.  

The final webinar will be held on Tuesday, May 13th at 1:00pm. This webinar will focus on Partnering with Families. Attendance is encouraged to learn how to partner with families to support students' literacy success, both during the school year and over the summer. Please register at the link provided. 

Test results for the End-of-Course Reading (2024), Algebra 1 (2023), Algebra 2 (2023), and Geometry (2023) Standards of Learning (SOL) tests administered during the Spring 2025 Non-Writing Test Administration are starting to populate in the On-Demand Reports. Additional student results will continue to populate in On-Demand Reports throughout the day and remainder of the test window.  

These test results will appear in the remaining Pre-ATR Reports, including the Student Data Extract files, posted on Monday, May 12, 2025. Test records with outstanding student test alerts will not appear in any reports or extract files until the next regularly scheduled data re-fresh after the test alerts are resolved.   

As a reminder, On-Demand Reports for Non-Writing test forms that have been equated are available within 24 hours. Student Data Extracts for Non-Writing tests refresh nightly until the test administration is closed. Student Detail by Question Reports and Parent Reports are refreshed weekly by Monday morning until the test administration is closed.  

To satisfy certain requirements of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended, the Virginia Department of Education must identify all Title I, Part A, schools in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The accurate reporting of Title I schools is critical when completing federal reporting requirements.

The Office of ESEA Programs annually requests that school divisions update the Title I status of their schools. The Title I, Part A, coordinator from each division should complete the 2025-2026 Identification of Title I Schools Form and submit it by email to the ESSA mailbox at essa@doe.virginia.gov by Monday, June 9, 2025.   

This article is a summary of information from SCNP Director’s Memo #2024-2025-79. Review the SCNP Director’s Memo for all the details.  

The VDOE, Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs, is using the State Emergency Notification System (SENS) as a new way of providing up-to-date communication and guidance to SFAs and community sponsors during a disaster. 

SENS is a free service provided by USDA through the Send Word Now emergency notification platform. This text-based feature will only be used in extreme emergencies when schools and sites may be closed for emergencies, such as a tornado, snowstorm, hurricane, or natural disaster. 

Action Required for SFAs and Community Sponsors 

• SNP director and community sponsor points-of-contact must sign up to receive Send Word Now texts by May 29, 2025. 
• Each SFA and community sponsor may sign up two emergency contacts to receive Send Word Now texts; however, the director must be one of the contacts. 
• Recipients of Send Word Now must enter a number that can receive texts, for example, a cell phone number. 
• Recipients should expect a test Send Word Now text shortly after the sign-up period ends. 

Community Eligibility Provision (CEP) is a non-pricing meal claiming option that allows schools, groups of schools, or the entire school division to serve breakfast and lunch at no cost to all enrolled students without collecting household meal applications. Schools that are eligible and apply for CEP receive meal reimbursement based on a calculated identified student percentage, which uses the enrollment and the number of identified students determined by the LEA through one of the following methods: 

• Directly certified free eligible by participation in the 
  • Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, 
  • Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, or 
  • Medicaid income data and household size.  
• Categorically free eligible because of their status as homeless, runaway, migrant, or foster care placement, or enrollment in certain eligible Head Start programs. 

Schools participating in CEP have been shown to increase meal participation, eliminate student meal debt, remove hunger as a distraction, and foster good will with students and families. 

LEAs must submit a complete CEP application packet, if required, to the Virginia Department of Education, Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs, no later than June 30, 2025, to participate in CEP for school year 2025-2026. 

Refer to SCNP Memo No. 2024-2025-81, along with attachments A, B, and C, for details and instructions. 

The school year 2025-2026 school nutrition programs (NSLP, SBP, Special Milk Program, Afterschool Snack Program) application opens in SNPWeb on May 12, 2025, and is due by July 1, 2025, at 5 p.m.  

The VDOE-SCNP encourages school nutrition directors to attend the optional training webinar on Thursday, May 22, 2025, at 2 p.m., to assist SFAs, RCCIs, and private schools with completing the SY 2025-26 application. Attendees must register in advance for the webinar. After the training, the webinar recording and slides will be available in the SCNP Training Hub in Virtual Virginia. 

School nutrition directors must review SCNP Director’s Memo #2024-2025-80 for more information on the required components of the application packet, required addendums to the permanent agreement, and guidance on adult meal prices. 

Please note that SY 2025-26 claims for reimbursement cannot be paid until the application is approved by VDOE-SCNP. 

In 2021, the Virginia General Assembly passed HB1902, which bans the use of Expanded Polystyrene (EPS) by food vendors (Code of Virginia § 10.1-1424.3). The Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs has received confirmation from the Office of the Attorney General that the ban applies to school divisions and community sponsors operating the National School Lunch Program, School Breakfast Program, Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Program, Seamless Summer Option, Summer Food Service Program, and At-Risk Child and Adult Care Food Program. The ban has an effective implementation date of July 1, 2025. 

The “Virginia Styrofoam Ban” applies to food vendors that provide food for public consumption on or off its premises. For the purposes of this legislation, NSLP, SBP, FFVP, SSO, CACFP, and SFSP operators meet the definition of a food vendor. Beginning July 1, 2025, no food vendor shall dispense prepared food to a customer in an EPS food service container.  

An EPS food service container is a rigid single-use container made primarily of EPS and used in the food service industry for serving or transporting prepared, ready-to-consume food or beverages. EPS food service containers include plates, cups, bowls, trays, and hinged containers.  

SFA and community sponsors may request an exemption through their locality if they can demonstrate that compliance would impose undue economic hardship. If approved, exemptions are valid for one year. Any person who violates the new regulation shall be assessed a penalty of $50 each day. Please review SCNP Director’s Memo 2024-2025-83 for more information. 

The 2025 state fiscal year ends on June 30, 2025. The VDOE, Office of School and Community Nutrition Programs must follow the Virginia Department of Accounts’ deadlines as they must fulfill federal reporting requirements. This means the last day SFAs and community sponsors can submit NSLP, SBP, CACFP, SFSP, SSO, and FFVP claims for reimbursement is May 27, 2025, at 1 p.m.  

SFAs and community sponsors are encouraged to continue to submit claims past May 27; however, the claims will not be processed until the 2026 state fiscal year begins on July 1, 2025.  

This information may also be found in SCNP Director’s Memo #2024-2025-82.