Charter Schools Office March Newsletter Visit our website

SPRING IS IN THE AIR! IN THIS ISSUE SY 2020-21 District-Wide Survey School Operations SY 2021-22 Charter School Calendars UPCOMING CSO DEADLINES Statements of Financial Interest RESOURCES FOR SCHOOLS View the new resources below! CHARTER SCHOOL FEATURE Belmont Charter School SHARE YOUR HIGHLIGHTS! We know your school is doing great things and have some exceptional people leading the work! Let us know by emailing jdreyes@philasd.org. March 17, 2021 Greetings Sector Leaders, Thank you again for being extremely responsive to the CSO’s requests as we worked to facilitate schools’ access to the vaccine program. Our partners at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) have begun administering second doses to educators this week, and our City partners have stepped in to ensure that the remaining educators who are interested in getting vaccinated have an opportunity to do so. We will continue to keep you updated on inoculation efforts as we receive them.  We also want to commend the 39 schools who are ramping up in-person learning efforts and the additional 10 schools that are currently committed to opening their doors in the coming weeks. While social distancing remains in effect, we know that both educators and children are excited to have the opportunity to engage with one another live and in person! We want to remind you to continue to review the guidance from the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE), which currently recommends that schools in counties with low transmission rates implement in-person instruction models, schools in counties with moderate rates implement hybrid/blended models, and that schools in counties with high transmission rates implement in-person models for elementary grades only and keep subsequent grades remote. For additional information from PDE, click here or visit the FAQs page. As a reminder, if any updates are made, please complete this survey to ensure that your school information is updated on the CSO website. Lastly, thank you to Tricia London on behalf of the Office of School Safety for her supportive efforts in ensuring that the charter sector receives trauma kit materials, and to the 22 schools who picked up kits on March 16th! To the 43 schools who are currently communicating with CSO Program Coordinator Jasmine Reyes to schedule their March pick-up, we are asking you to thoroughly review the instructions she shared and complete all forms as requested prior to your anticipated pick-up dates, as these are mandatory documents in which the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) will cross-check and reference for its records. We have one final distribution date next week. If your school has not signed up but is still interested in receiving a trauma kit, please complete this form as soon as possible. If any school has any additional questions, please contact Jasmine at jdreyes@philasd.org. As always, please read below for important information on upcoming deadlines, events, and opportunities. We look forward to continuing our partnership with you. Sincerely, Christina Grant Chief of Charter Schools and Innovation

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Quarterly Sector Newsletter Report  As a reminder, we recently shared our first Quarterly Newsletter Report, which captures various sector data points including how many subscribers are opening the monthly newsletter. Our goal is to transparently share readership data and also encourage engagement by way of feedback, as we continue to work to ensure newsletters meet your expectations.

CHARTER SCHOOL FEATURE

Belmont Charter Network  The Belmont Charter Network (BCN) has now joined many schools in welcoming back a cohort of students as part of its phased reopening, following the guidance and recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and local health experts including those at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).  In addition to ensuring that students, teachers and staff can safely re-enter buildings by enforcing various mandatory standards including social distancing, mask-wearing, contact tracing additional sanitizing stations, and plexiglass separators in classrooms, the Network has also been in the unique position to provide rapid testing through its on-site Wellness Center (a collaboration with Education Plus Health). This allows them to do weekly assurance testing for staff and students with a self-swap Bianex test followed by an additional Cue test. To date, about 60% of families have opted in for in-person instruction. Given the positive feedback thus far from students, teachers, and parents, BCN is happy to connect with school leaders to offer supportive suggestions as students gradually return to in-person instruction. Interested schools may contact Beth Dyson at beth.dyson@belmontcharternetwork.org.

CSO UPDATES

SY 2020-21 District-Wide Survey Reminder  The School District of Philadelphia (SDP) District-Wide Survey window is Wednesday, March 24, 2021 through Friday, May 14, 2021. Students, parents, teachers, full-time school support staff, principals, and assistant principals (new this year) are eligible to take the survey, making it one of the best tools the District has for assessing stakeholder perspectives across numerous topics impacting our operations, even during a year of virtual learning. For more information or to learn more about the survey, click here. Please be on the lookout for an email with applicable information and links. Schools will receive a toolkit of outreach materials from the Office of Research and Evaluation. If you have any questions, please contact schoolsurveys@philasd.org. SY 2021-22 Charter School Calendar In preparation for SY 2021-22, Information Systems (IS) is requesting that schools submit school calendar information via the linked Calendar Submission Survey by Friday, April 30, 2021. This information will be used to create shell calendars in Infinite Campus (SIS). Schools will need to provide start and end-date data for each grade combination that will have a unique set of calendar days. Once the shell calendars are created, schools will then be able to adjust specific instructional days as needed. Please review the guidance here as it relates to graduating students and additional charter module expectations and deadlines. To review the Charter Calendar & Rollover Process slide deck, click here. Please contact Jasmine at jdreyes@philasd.org if you have any questions.

UPCOMING CSO DEADLINES

Statements of Financial Interest Various Dates The annual collection for Statements of Financial Interest (SOFI) has been scheduled in Epicenter. Schools should see two submissions: Priority Deadline: Friday, March 26, 2021 Final Deadline: Saturday, May 1, 2021 Schools who submit by the priority deadline will have their documents reviewed no later than Friday, April 16, 2021. If a school is found to be noncompliant, they will be provided with instructions pertaining to revisions needed. Additionally, if a school is found to be compliant during the priority deadline, the Final Deadline submission will be waived.   As a reminder, SOFIs must be submitted for all charter school Board members and school leader(s) who served at any point during calendar year 2020. Note, this also applies to Board members who served in 2020 and are no longer current Board members. Schools may submit a scanned copy of a paper form or a PDF of the online form. Please contact Seun at ooke@philasd.org with any questions.

RESOURCES FOR SCHOOLS

OPPORTUNITIES The CSO now includes resources accessible to schools at all times in our monthly newsletter. Click the links below to review important updates. Board of Education Calendar of Collections Charter Sector In-Person Dates For SY 2020-21 City of Philadelphia’s “Safer at Home” guidelines Family Newsletter IU-26 Charter School Special Education Meeting Sector Communication School FAQs

CGCS-Bernard Harris Scholarship Applications Accepted Through Tuesday, May 4, 2021 12:00 AM Named for the first African American to walk in space, the Council of the Great City Schools (CGCS)-Bernard Harris Math & Science Scholarship is being offered to graduating high school seniors. Four scholarships will be awarded to two African American males and females, and two Hispanic males and females—$5,000 per student. Applicants must be accepted for full-time enrollment at a four-year college or university in the next academic year, and pursuing a degree in science, technology, engineering, or mathematics (STEM). Interested students should be encouraged to apply by clicking here. For additional scholarship information, feel free to share this flyer with your students. To learn more about the organization, click here. Trades and Workforce Development Fair Wednesday, March 24, 2021 Please encourage all juniors and seniors to join the Collaborative Office of Postsecondary Readiness on Wednesday, March 24, 2021 to have an exclusive look at Philadelphia's Trades and Workforce Development opportunities. The event will include information sessions and panel discussions, featuring professionals from diverse trades. They will engage with representatives from SEPTA, Year Up, Orleans Tech, the Steamfitters Union, and more. Students as well as their parents will have the opportunity to network with local Philadelphia companies and organizations, and receive additional information regarding specific programs and employment opportunities. To view the flyer and registration details, click here.

Mighty Rho Chapter Scholarship Program Applications Accepted Through Thursday, April 15, 2021 The Brothers of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. ~ Mighty Rho Chapter is now accepting applications for their Annual Rho Education Foundation Scholarship Program. The scholarship is intended for young African American men from the Philadelphia area who will be pursuing higher education. To be considered, applicants must fully complete the application, and submit a personal statement, school transcript, a copy of their student ID, two letters of recommendation, and an official college acceptance letter.  To learn more about the requirements and to complete the application, please encourage qualifying scholars to click here. 2021 Annual RPA Scholarship Applications Accepted Through Friday, April 30, 2021 The Raymond Pace Alexander (RPA) Scholarship Foundation is inviting students to apply for the Raymond Pace Alexander Annual Scholarship. The Foundation wishes to award high-achieving, graduating black male seniors from Philadelphia with a $1,000 scholarship to support their educational pursuits at postsecondary institutions. The RPA is entering their third year of operations and to date, has distributed three scholarships. Please encourage qualifying and interested students to apply here. For additional information, view the flyer linked here, or visit the Foundation’s website here. Questions should be directed to rpasfoundation@gmail.com.

Dolly Parton’s Imagination Library  The Dolly Parton Imagination Library, founded in 1995, recently launched in Philadelphia and will be sending free books to up to 2,000 Philadelphia children each month. Children must be under the age of 5 and reside in the 19133 zip code to qualify. To learn more, click here or visit the Imagination Library website. Qualifying residents can sign up by clicking here, or by visiting either the Lillian Marrero Free Library Branch or the Maria de los Santos Health Center. ISTE Scholarship  The International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE), an organization that works to cultivate innovative solutions and connections that improve opportunities for all learnings, is now offering scholarships for their Online Teaching Academy, a fully virtual, self-paced professional development course that helps K-12 educators learn foundational principles for teaching online. The Academy provides guidance on critical topics such as equity, inclusion, and designing online instruction, to name a few. To learn more about ISTE, click here.

Penn Rising Scholar Success Academy  Various Dates & Times In support of ensuring students are graduate ready for postsecondary success, the School District of Philadelphia (SDP) will once again partner with the University of Pennsylvania for the Penn Rising Scholar Success Academy (PennRSSA) for all rising seniors in charter and public schools. PennRSSA is a series of free-of-cost, entirely virtual postsecondary access programs designed to prepare Philadelphia high school students for the pivotal next steps of educational and career pathways in a post-pandemic world. Information session dates, program details, and the application may be found here. Women and Girls in Transportation Thursday, March 25, 2021 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Women and Girls in Transportation (WITI), a federal initiative run by The Enterprise Center, is hosting a virtual conference for female high school students on Thursday, March 25, 2021. The purpose of the free WITI Summit is to inspire high school aged young women to pursue exciting opportunities available in the Transportation and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) industries. For more information and registration details, click here.

Click here to view the CSO February Newsletter. Our April newsletter will include pertinent deadlines and further updates. Please email Jasmine at jdreyes@philasd.org if you have feedback, questions, submissions, and/or if you would like to have your school or one of your scholars featured in an upcoming CSO newsletter.