The Office of Teacher Education is thrilled to call for proposals for the Competitive Clinical Faculty Program. The grant is to provide training and mentoring during the 2023-2024 school year for teachers designated as clinical faculty and/or new teacher mentors. Clinical Faculty Programs should assist pre-service teachers and beginning teachers to make a successful transition into full-time teaching. This training and mentoring are a means to support teacher effectiveness and promote teacher retention.  

Virginia public school divisions or consortia of public-school divisions in partnership with regionally accredited institutions of higher education that have Board of Education approved educator preparation programs to support Clinical Faculty Programs are invited to apply by 4 p.m on Friday, August 25, 2023.  

Full details about this year’s application process can be found online. 

On April 11, 2022, the General Assembly of Virginia added section § 22.1-26.2 as follows related to regional, academic year Governor’s Schools. 

§ 22.1-26.2. Academic year Governor's Schools; certain practices prohibited and required. 

A. No academic year Governor's School or governing board member, director, administrator, or employee thereof shall discriminate against any individual or group on the basis of race, sex, color, ethnicity, or national origin in the process of admitting students to such school. 

B. Each local school board that jointly manages and controls a regional academic year Governor's school pursuant to § 22.1-26 shall collaborate to ensure that each public middle school that is eligible to send students to attend such Governor's school offers coursework, curriculum, and instruction that is comparable in content and in rigor in order to provide each student in each such middle school with the opportunity to gain admission to and excel academically at such Governor's school. 

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Bullying Prevention Model Policy Revision

Audience: Superintendents, Directors, School Principals, Teachers
Contact: Joseph A. Wharff, Director, Office of Student Services

The 2023 General Assembly approved Senate Bill 1043, which incorporates consistent statewide definitions and expectations for licensed professional school counselors for the provision of “direct counseling services” and “program planning and school support.” This legislation further defines the role of the school counselor that was established through legislation from House Bill 1729 in the 2019 General Assembly, which amended requirements for the allocation of school counselor staff time. The effective date of this legislation is July 1, 2023. Although the transition of non-counseling duties is expected to begin immediately, it is reasonable to expect that a period in which school counselors may continue to cover previously assigned responsibilities may be required as duties are reallocated. 

The VDOE has developed an overview document, Direct Counseling Services and Program Planning Overview, and video presentation, Legislative Update: School Counselor’s Staff Time, that reviews the changes to the Code of Virginia and relevant background information. Additional information on school counseling in Virginia is available on the VDOE School Counseling webpage. 

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The Virginia Department of Education (VDOE) is sponsoring a professional development event that will allow Virginia educators to build a data literacy community using Virginia Visualization and Analytics Solution (VVAAS). The event is called VVAAS University and will be held on the SAS Corporation headquarters campus in Cary, North Carolina.  

This opportunity is ideal for division or school leadership positions involved in instructional decisions. Participants are expected to share information gleaned from the university experience back in their division. The VDOE suggests sending a participant who focuses on division data and another that focuses on instructional strategies. Divisions are allowed to register up to three participants. Limited spots are available, view the flyer for registration and additional details. This article first ran in edition #2023-02.

Enrollment requirements for the 2023-2024 school year are provided on the Enrollment in Virginia Public Schools webpage. Please ensure that all appropriate school division employees are aware of this webpage and the enrollment requirements. 

New for 2023-2024: HB1929 (2023) provides flexibilities for school enrollment of school-age children who are dependents of federal employees serving under orders pursuant to Title 22 or 50 of the United States Code. Please see the Enrollment webpage for additional information. This article first ran in edition #2023-02.

VQB5 Data Verification for Practice Year 2 (2022-2023) 

Audience: Superintendents, Early Childhood Leaders
Contact: Ayasha N. Sledge, Strategic Communications Specialist

VQB5 is a quality measurement and improvement system for birth-to-five programs, including Virginia Preschool Initiative and Early Childhood Special Education, that seeks to improve quality, support families, and ensure all Virginia children start kindergarten ready. 

All schools that participated in VQB5 Practice Year 2 will participate in a data verification process between July 17-July 28. Data Verification provides the final opportunity to verify information, review results, or request corrections. The VDOE will make changes to practice year quality profiles before finalizing.  

Site administrators who participated in VQB5 Practice Year 2, should log into their LinkB5 accounts to complete Practice Year 2 Data Verification by July 28^th.  Details are provided below:  

Ready Regions are funded by the VDOE to support the coordination of VQB5 statewide, including support for completing data verification in LinkB5. To learn more about VQB5, visit the Quality Measurement and Improvement webpage.

The 2022-2023 Annual School Report (ASR) must be submitted to VDOE by September 14, 2023, as required by Section 22.1-81, Code of Virginia.  

School divisions and regional programs that wish to request a 15-day extension (until September 29, 2023) for their 2022-2023 ASR submission must, per Section 22.1-81, Code of Virginia, submit a written request signed by the division superintendent, or designee, to Dr. Lisa Coons, Superintendent of Public Instruction, to the email address: DOEBUDGETOFFICE@doe.virginia.gov, prior to the September 14, 2023, deadline. The submitted extension request letter must cite a good cause reason/need for the extension of time. Please note that the signed extension letter must be attached as a PDF file to the email, with “2022-2023 ASR EXTENSION REQUEST” in the subject line of the email. 

Each school division and regional program will use the Web-based Single Sign-on for Web Systems (SSWS) portal to access, download, and submit the 2022-2023 ASR Excel template to the Department.  Instructional and resource documents are located within the SSWS application. Once a division has successfully completed the 2022-2023 ASR using the ASR application in SSWS, the division superintendent or designee will approve and certify the Superintendent’s Verification Report through the Superintendent’s Data Collection Approvals (SDCA) application. 

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HEPA Filter Reimbursements

Audience: Superintendents
Contact: Karen Mask, School Health Special Projects Coordinator

We wanted to make you aware of this free funding opportunity from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC). The CDC has a grant administered by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) that provides participating school divisions reimbursement for portable HEPA air filtration units and filters. School divisions with remaining grant funds must complete any qualifying purchases by July 31, 2023, and submit any remaining reimbursement requests to VDH no later than August 30, 2023.

School divisions must invoice VDH for remaining reimbursements no later than August 30, 2023, to guarantee reimbursement by the mandatory grant end date. The grant does not allow ANY exceptions to these mandatory deadlines. Divisions wishing to move forward with remaining purchases should immediately email VDH at testinginfo@vdh.virginia.gov for additional guidance.

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2023-2024 IDEA Part B Flow-Through and Subgrant Awards for Special Education

Audience: Superintendents, Division Finance and Special Education Staff
Contact: Tracie Coleman, Director of Special Education Finance and Budget 

Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023: Impact on Pandemic Relief Funding

Audience: Superintendents, Directors; Federal Programs Coordinators
Contact: Carol Sylvester, Director of Office of Pandemic Relief Programs

Recently, the U.S. Department of Education (USED) issued a letter in response to inquiries about the potential impact of the debt ceiling negotiations on COVID relief funding for states and school divisions.  The letter issued by USED states that the suspension of the Federal debt ceiling does not impact COVID-19 relief funds that have been awarded to states and school divisions. Programs outlined in the notification include the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) program, the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief (GEER) program, and the Emergency Assistance to Non-Public Schools (EANS) program under the American Rescue Plan (ARP) and CRRSA Acts, as well as any remaining properly obligated funds under the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act.

The letter from USED is available online: Fiscal Responsibility Act and COVID-19 Relief Funds. This article first ran in edition #2023-02.

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Release of July 1, 2022 School-Age Population Estimates

Audience: Superintendents, Division Finance Directors
Contact: Ed Lanza, Director of Budget

Call for Nominations to Board of Education Advisory Committee

Audience: All
Contact: Jim Chapman, Director of Board Relations

The Virginia Board of Education (Board) is seeking nominees for several vacancies on its advisory committees. A full list of vacancies is available on the Board’s Advisory Committee webpage. Nominations may be made by completing the Board’s Nomination Form for Advisory Committees by August 11, 2023. Self-nominations are accepted. 

Members of advisory committees do not receive compensation for their service but may be reimbursed for travel expenses in accordance with state travel guidelines set forth by the Department of Accounts. Some of the vacancies on advisory committees require specific categories of expertise, qualifications, or geographic representation. This article first ran in edition #2023-02.