Principal's Playbook: Distance Learning Edition

March 23. 2020

COVID-19 and Distance Learning Edition

In order to have transparent and timely communication, the Division of Schools will share up-to-date information on a daily basis via the Principal's Playbook: Distance Learning Edition. Each daily edition will include information related to COVID-19, distance learning and Leadership Academy, and how they relate specifically to principals and assistant principals. Each edition will be shared by no later than 5 p.m.

If departments have urgent or pertinent information to share regarding operations during this unprecedented time, please email jada.wollenzien@spps.org . If your information is not urgent, please submit to the regular weekly Principal's Playbook here .

Division of Academics Updates

Special Education Due Process Guidance

Saint Paul Public Schools must ensure that, to the greatest extent possible, each student with a disability can be provided the special education and related services identified in the student’s IEP or IFSP developed under IDEA, or a plan developed under Section 504. (34 CFR §§ 300.101 and 300.201 (IDEA), and 34 CFR § 104.33 (Section 504)).

Due Process Guidance during Distance Learning

With all of the free webinars (federal, state and local school districts) regarding special education compliance, we ask that you only follow guidance provided by the Office of Specialized Services (OSS), which is vetting all guidance through the SPPS General Counsel team.

To assist staff in walking through the guidance provided, OSS will be offering Skype meetings on Tuesday, March 24, and Wednesday, March 25, for special educators. OSS has assigned groups by OSS supervisors to better manage the number of participants. Principals may also join the online meetings, or OSS can provide a recorded session to view independently.

Schedule for Tuesday, March 24:

8:30 - 9:30 a.m. - Dr. Hitchens' schools - Join online meeting
11:30 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. - Hai-Yen Vo's schools - Join online meeting
1 - 2 p.m. - Larry Wren's schools - Join online meeting
2:30 - 3:30 p.m. - Brenda Natala- ECSE - Join online meeting

Schedule for Wednesday, March 25:

11 a.m. - 12 p.m. - Amy Johnson's schools - Join online meeting
1:30 - 2:30 p.m. - Marcy Doud's schools and leads - Join online meeting

Division of Operations Updates

Meal Service for March 23-27

New meal information is going out to families today; full details can be found here .

The changes made to this week's meal service are:

School meal pickup will be at six schools only, on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, from 10 - 11:30 a.m. (or until all food is handed out)
The six schools are: Battle Creek Middle School, Cherokee Heights Elementary, Como Park Senior High School, Harding Senior High School, Highland Park Senior High School and Johnson Senior High School
Buses will continue to deliver meals on their regular morning routes: Wednesday for 7:30 a.m. schools; Thursday for 8:30 a.m. schools; and Friday for 9:30 a.m. schools

Nutrition Services is asking principals to:

Not share phone number 651-523-6328 with parents or families. This number is only to be used by administrators if they are having issues or have questions. If families have questions, please direct them to the Student Placement Center.
Be aware of the timing of the communication you are sending to families. Sending updates about meals well after your site has stopped passing out boxes creates a lot of calls and complaints to Nutrition Services.
Home delivery is not a viable solution if a site runs out of food boxes on their distribution day. Nutrition Services will be passing out a flyer with additional food resources if buses or hub sites run out of food.

And remember, please remind staff and families to practice social distancing when picking up meals. Security staff will be present at all sites this week.

COVID-19 Updates Specific to SPPS

The Office of Communications is posting all COVID-19 updates at spps.org/COVID . The below information is specific to building administrators and what they need to know in order to operate effectively.

Building Access

As a reminder, effective Monday, March 23, SPPS will move to restricted building access. If there are staff who need to access sites, please contact your supervisor or administrator. Administrators will need to approve all requests for access. Questions may be directed to photo.id@spps.org or 651-767-8278. Essential Kids Care will remain accessible to staff and parents.

iPad Distribution

You should have received an email about iPad distribution this morning, which asks Educational Assistants to meet at the SPPS Transportation Garage on the specified date and time this week to help distribute the remaining iPads. Please review the full details here.

Apps Website

Review the SPPS approved apps website . To ensure student data privacy and federal guidelines, all iPad apps, Mac apps and websites accessing student data must be reviewed for CIPA, COPPA and FERPA guidelines. Staff should not add students, data and information to free accounts or resources not approved through the SPPS App Approval Process . Visit the SPPS Personalized Learning website for more information.

Language Line

During the COVID-19 school closures, buildings can access Language Line , a phone interpreting system to contact families. Principals and lead clerks should have instructions and codes to access their individual accounts. For questions or account information, please contact alejandra.lindskoog@spps.org.

Human Resources

It is the expectation of the Governor’s Executive Order and the expectation of Saint Paul Public Schools that all school and district employees report to work as directed by their supervisors to assist with emergency management planning activities unless an employee is in an at-risk category. This work may be different than an employee’s regular job duties and may occur at locations other than the employee’s usual job site. Regardless of location, all employees are to be working during this time. A more detailed letter from Human Resources can be found here .

SPPS Athletics

As we receive updates from the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL), SPPS athletics will align to the most current MSHSL guidelines. For the most up-to-date notices, please visit https://sites.google.com/view/mshslcovid19/home

Communications

The Office of Communications recently launched our COVID-19 response plan websites in Spanish , Hmong , Karen and Somali . Please share these links with families for the latest news and updates.