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Dear Colleagues,
This week, the New York State Education Department (NYSED) released
Guidance to Reopen New York State Schools to help schools and school districts as they plan to reopen, whether that occurs in person, remotely, or in a combination of the two. The guidance builds on the
Framework of Guidance that NYSED presented to the Board of Regents on Monday, July 13.
The guidance was informed by four virtual Regional School Reopening Task Force meetings as well as a student forum hosted by the Board of Regents and NYSED last month to gather input. Each regional meeting included more than 350 experts and stakeholders from health and education fields. In all, more than 1,650 parents, students, teachers, administrators, school board members, and stakeholders, representing New York's diversity, attended and provided valuable feedback. The input we received from participants at our regional task force meetings and our student forum truly proved invaluable and, by working together, we will be able to ensure that the issues of health, safety, and educational equity are at the forefront of every decision.
By July 31, all districts and schools are required to create and provide to NYSED Reopening Plans at the school level, pursuant to the directions in the guidance. The plans should be posted on the school's public website and must contain the mandatory elements outlined in NYSED's School Reopening Guidance Document.
Below, you can find details on other announcements and resources that we have released over the last month:
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 Emergency Regulations to Ease the Burdens on Educators, Students, and Professionals
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2020 Summer Reading at New York Libraries Program
NYSED and the New York State Library are partnering with 1,100 public libraries and neighborhood branches statewide to launch the 2020
Summer Reading at New York Libraries program. The free, annual program gives children and their families the opportunity to access the vast resources of New York's public libraries to support summer reading and learning. This year's theme is "Imagine Your Story" and, due to COVID-19, local libraries across the state are reimagining summer reading this year in new and different virtual formats with exciting online activities, programs, and events.
Public and school libraries are working closely together to make Summer Reading resources and activities available to all students and families. Kids, teens and families can
visit their local public library's website to find out how to sign up for Summer Reading events and activities, then register online to track books and e-books and earn badges and prizes from their local library.
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2020 Summer Food Service Program
The
2020 Summer Food Service Program, which provides free meals to approximately 400,000 students, kicked off this month at nearly 3,000 sites statewide. In total, more than 20 million nutritious meals will be served to New York children this summer.
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NYSED Submits Application for U.S. Department of Education Rethink Education Models Grant Competition
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NYSED recently submitted an application to the U.S. Department of Education for the
Rethink K-12 Education Models grant competition to develop and launch the Teaching in Blended/Remote Learning Environments (TRLE) program. New York's TRLE program would address the immediate and urgent learning needs of New York's most vulnerable students and their parents during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing educators with the tools, resources, and training to facilitate blended/remote instruction when needed. NYSED is requesting $19.9 million over a three-year period to implement the TRLE program.
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Every Student Succeeds Act Financial Transparency Website
NYSED recently launched the Financial Transparency Reports website required under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan showing building-level financial information. Building-level financial transparency under ESSA will help those interested in education learn more about the equity and effectiveness of our federal, state, and local educational resources. Fiscal transparency reports will outline how much each school is spending per student and the source of the funds - including, for the first time ever, spending data at the individual school level. The data is available through a user-friendly report included in the school and district Report Card on the NYSED's interactive public data site.
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NYSED Approves Rochester CSD Entering into Agreement to Extend Educational Partnership Organization with University of Rochester
NYSED notified the Rochester City School District (RCSD) Board of Education that it may enter into an agreement with the University of Rochester (UR) to continue the Educational Partnership Organization (EPO) agreement for East Upper School and East Lower School for three years. East Upper School and East Lower School are designated as Persistently Struggling Schools (PSS) under the State's School Receivership law and as Comprehensive Support and Improvement (CSI) schools under New York's Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) plan. Both schools have shown demonstrable improvement in the five years since the EPO agreement was first put in place.
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| COVID-19 Guidance and Resources
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NYS COVID-19 Documentation Initiative
NYSED's Office of Cultural Education has created the
NYS COVID-19 Documentation Initiative website to help organizations throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Initiative will focus on the following areas in conducting its work:
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