Colorado Charter School Institute
1600 N Broadway, Ste. 1250, Denver, CO 80202
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COVID-19: Updates & Guidance |
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October 16, 2020
Dear School Leaders,
The next School Leaders Call will take place on Monday, October 26 at 1:00pm. We have created a new schedule for School Leaders Calls taking holiday breaks into account. Calls will take place on the below dates from 1:00pm-2:00pm:
- October 26
- November 9
- November 30
- December 14
This newsletter includes information on:
- CSI Funding to Enable In-Person Learning
- Second Round Community Needs Inventory Collection
- USDA Extends Summer Food Service Program
- Free and Reduced-Lunch Outreach Toolkit
- Colorado Bureau of Investigation Audit
- Mask Order Extended
- Similarities and Difference between the Flu and COVID-19
- Travel during Fall Break
- League Health & Wellness Survey
- GrantVantage Training and Certification
- CCSP Remote Learning Grant
- GEER Draft Budgets
- CCSG Program
- and more!
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Weekly Update Calls for School Leaders |
The next call for school leaders will take place on Monday, October 26. See below for call-in information:
Meeting ID: 867 9596 7474
Passcode: 283781
One tap mobile
+12532158782,,86795967474# US (Tacoma)
+13462487799,,86795967474# US (Houston)
Materials referenced on the call will be posted in the "Weekly Update Call Materials" section of the Coronavirus Updates Google Doc.
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CSI School Support Contacts |
Every CSI school has been assigned a CSI Support Contact. Please notify your support contact if you have a confirmed or suspected COVID-19 case, quarantine a cohort, or have a school closure. Click here for a list of support contacts including mobile phone numbers.
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Prior to purchasing Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) to promote the health and safety of your school community fill out the survey here or contact Amanda Karger, CSI's Director of Finance, to inquire about purchasing PPE for your school through Colorado's PPE purchasing cooperative. Purchasing through this cooperative may save your school money.
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CSI Funding to Enable In-Person Learning |
The CSI board has directed CSI staff to disburse about $93K in funds to schools to enable in-person learning. CSI staff will evaluate proposals provided in this survey from CSI schools for grants ranging from $1,000 to $45,000 to enable in-person learning. Priority will be given to projects or efforts that will enable in-person learning for at-risk student populations. Other factors considered will be level of impact, school demographics, availability of alternate funding sources, and current spend-down of COVID-19 relief funds.
Proposals submitted through this survey by October 16th will be given priority. Please complete the form if your school is seeking funds to enable in-person learning.
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Second Round Community Needs Inventory Collection |
A second round Community Needs Inventory survey has been released, and CDE is asking all charter schools to fill out the survey. The survey, which will be open through Friday, October 23, will help policymakers, the department, and funders make informed, data-driven decisions to support you in your work to serve our students. As an example, data gleaned from the last inventory helped connect charter schools to targeted needs-based resources including hotspots, PPE, community grant funds, and remote learning grant funds from the US Department of Education. The quality of responses will help improve the subsequent quality of planning.
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USDA Extends Summer Food Service Program Flexibilities through June 30 |
U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue announced on Friday, October 9, that the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is extending flexibilities to allow free meals to continue to be available to all children throughout the entire 2020-21 school year. These program flexibilities allow school nutrition sponsors to operate a meal service model that best meets their community’s unique needs, while keeping kids and staff safe.
USDA is extending waivers through June 30, 2021, that:
- Allow SFSP meals to be served in all areas and at no cost to families;
- Permit meals to be served outside of the typically required group settings and meal times;
- Waive meal pattern requirements, as necessary; and
- Allow parents and guardians to pick-up meals for their children.
As a reminder, the back-to-school webpage and SFSP FAQs are the go-to resources for updated information about program operations during the 2020-21 school year. Any changes to the FAQs will be highlighted.
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Free and Reduced-Price School Meals Outreach Toolkit |
Use the new free and reduced-price school meals outreach toolkit to market the importance of applying and promoting the availability of free school meals. Sponsors can access print-ready and web materials, customizable flyers, social media templates and talking points.
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Colorado Bureau of Investigation Audit |
The Colorado Bureau of Investigation is conducting an audit of agencies/schools that receive Criminal History Record Information, and several charter schools have already been or are in process of being audited. The scope of the audit is limited to systems, processes, or workflows that involve the request, access, storage, sharing, and/or destruction of Criminal History Record Information obtained from CBI-CJIS Systems as the result of a fingerprint-based background check. Audited schools will be required to complete a questionnaire and may also be requested to submit documentation and policies related to CJIS Security.
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Governor Polis extended the executive order mandating the wearing of medical or non-medical face coverings due to the presence of COVID-19 on 10/11/20 for an additional 30 days. The order requires people in Colorado who are 11 years and older to wear a covering over their noses and mouths:
- When entering or moving within any public indoor space.
- While using or waiting to use public (buses, light-rail) or non-personal (taxis, car services, ride-shares) transportation services.
Frequently asked questions about implementing Colorado’s mask order can be found here. Mask Order signage in English and Spanish is available.
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Similarities and Differences between COVID-19 and Influenza |
Influenza (Flu) and COVID-19 are both contagious respiratory illnesses, but they are caused by different viruses. COVID-19 is caused by infection with a new coronavirus (called SARS-CoV-2) and flu is caused by infection with influenza viruses. Because some of the symptoms of flu and COVID-19 are similar, it may be hard to tell the difference between them based on symptoms alone, and testing may be needed to help confirm a diagnosis. Flu and COVID-19 share many characteristics, but there are some key differences between the two.
While more is learned every day, there is still a lot that is unknown about COVID-19 and the virus that causes it. This page compares COVID-19 and flu, given the best available information to date.
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Updated Cases & Outbreaks Guidance |
CDPHE recently updated its guidance for detecting, reporting, and responding to cases of COVID-19 as well as outbreaks of COVID-19 among students and staff in child care and schools. Please find this updated guidance here; this guidance took effect on October 5. As CDPHE obtains additional information and experience with COVID-19 in schools and child care facilities, they will update the guidance. Expect frequent updates to the guidance over the school year. If you have questions about scenarios or situations that are not covered in this document, please consult with your local public health agency. You can read a summary of the October 5 updates here.
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As some students and staff prepare to depart your community for upcoming fall and holiday break periods, the CDC’s Travel During COVID-19, Know Your Travel Risk, and Know When to Delay Travel resources can be helpful to share with your school community as you work together to prevent the spread of the virus. Upon return from travel students, their families, and school staff should utilize CDPHE’s At Home COVID-19 Symptom Screening Tool before returning to your school building. Enhanced observance of health and safety measures is advised during periods when more people will be traveling and gathering in larger groups.
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Mental Health Resources for School Staff |
“We are best able to help others when we are clear-thinking, calm, strong, and healthy ourselves” - Patricia Kerig. Meeting the needs of your school community can be stressful and overwhelming. The resources below can provide support to you and your staff as you lead staff and students through these challenging times.
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Health and Wellness Survey Extended |
The Colorado League of Charter Schools has extended the 2020 Charter School Health and Wellness/Facilities survey deadline to ensure your school is represented in our data. This survey is now open until October 30, 2020 and should take no more than 15 minutes to complete.
Why should you take the survey? This data will help the League better understand the current student health landscape which informs our advocacy efforts and ensures charters have equitable access to partnerships and funding opportunities related to health and wellness. Over the past six years, the League has helped charters connect to over $1.5 million in direct health and wellness support.
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Protecting Student Information for T-Mobile's Free Hotspot Program |
CDE has been made aware of confusion around the signup process for free hotspot devices through T-Mobile's Project 10Million program. The terms of T-Mobile's program require devices to be distributed based on free or reduced price school lunch (FRL) status, so the company needs documentation in the case of an audit. However, T-Mobile does not need student identifiers for this purpose. Districts may identify the FRL students who qualify and need devices and then assign dummy numbers accordingly. The dummy numbers should be shared with T-Mobile. This process may not be clear in the communications between the vendor and districts, and CDE wants to assure districts that FRL student identifiers must not be shared. In fact, that is a privacy violation and must be avoided.
Feel free to question this practice if T-Mobile requests real identifiers. If it remains an issue, please contact CDE’s Chief Information Officer Marcia Bohannon, at bohannon_m@cde.state.co.us.
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GrantVantage Training and Certification |
School Leaders and Finance Contacts should have received information on CSI's new grant management system, GrantVantage. Instructions were released and access to LMS user training was opened on Monday, October 12. CSI will begin hosting office hours on Tuesday, October 20 from 1:30pm-2:30pm (links will be provided in a separate communication). Send certifications or any questions to Marcie Robidart and Julia Linares-Roake.
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CCSP Remote Learning Grant |
- Assurances and Application Due to CSI: Tuesday, October 27, 2020 by 4:00 PM
- Application Due to CDE: Friday, October 30, 2020 by 11:59 PM
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GEER draft budget workbooks were sent on Monday, October 12. Budget workbooks are due back to CSI by 4:00pm on Monday, October 19. The budgeting timeline is below. More specific instructions will be relayed by the Finance Team when draft budgets are sent. Contact Marcie Robidart or Dave Sever with any questions.
GEER Budgeting Timeline
- Monday, October 12th, 2020: Draft budgets released to schools
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Monday, October 19th, 2020: Draft budgets due back to RFF@csi.state.co.us
- Thursday, October 22nd, 2020: Budget review feedback provided; School assurance released to schools
- Monday, October 28th, 2020: Further requested revisions due to CSI; Signed assurances due to CSI
- Wednesday, October 30th, 2020: Reimbursement requests may begin (tentative)
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Connecting Colorado Students Grant (CCSG) Program |
To support students with a high-quality educational experience, the State of Colorado has created a public-private partnership with the Governor’s Office, Attorney General’s Office and Colorado Department of Education in coordination with internet service providers and other community focused organizations to provide broadband access to all students with remote learning needs for the 2020-21 school year.
CDE is pleased to announce the Connecting Colorado Students Grant (CCSG) Program, which is a competitive grant that provides $2 million to help school districts provide broadband access to low-income families and school staff. Funds are available to education providers who can apply on behalf of individual schools, or with a community partner as an education-related entity.
Applications must be completed (including all required elements) and submitted through the online application by Friday, November 6, at 11:59 pm. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered.
See below for CSI information:
LEA/BOCES Code
8001
Authorized Representative
Amanda Karger
Director of Finance
(303) 503-9442
Authorized Requester Information
Marcie Robidart
Grants Fiscal Coordinator
(720) 315-4065
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