Charter Schools Office

May Newsletter

Philadelphia Charter School Highlights

Green Woods Charter School

Last month, the U.S. Department of Education announced that Green Woods Charter School is among the 2024 U.S. Department of Education Green Ribbon Schools award honorees.

The U.S. Department of Education's Green Ribbon Schools (ED-GRS) honors schools, school districts, and institutes of higher education for excellence in resource efficiency, health and wellness, and environmental and sustainability education. Congratulations!

Please email the CSO at: charters@philasd.org if you would like to have your school or one of your scholars featured in an upcoming CSO newsletter.

Click on each link to view standing resources:

Safety and Security | Emergency Drills

We are sharing the following information on Act 55 School Safety and Security Training of 2022 because the trainings below are very important for school safety, and they are also a PA Public School Code requirement. Please note that the Charter Schools Office is not currently tracking schools’ completion of these trainings.

Act 55 School Safety and Security Training of 2022 mandated school safety-related training for all Pennsylvania public school employees. Section 1310-B of the PA Public School Code requires that all school entities provide employees with two hours of mandatory training on any combination of one or more of the following topics, based on the needs of the school entity and aligned with training standards adopted by the School Safety and Security Committee (SSSC):

Situational awareness.
Trauma-informed approaches.
Behavioral health awareness.
Suicide and bullying awareness.
Substance use awareness.

In addition, school entities must provide employees with one hour of annual training that addresses emergency training drills (including fire, natural disaster, active shooter, hostage situation and bomb threat) AND identification or recognition of student behavior that may indicate a threat to the safety of the student, other students, school employees, other individuals, school facilities or the community.

To assist charter schools with satisfying the one hour of annual training requirement, as described above, IU 26/School District of Philadelphia is hosting a series of virtual train-the-trainer sessions for Emergency Drills. If interested in participating, please designate one or two individuals from your school to attend a session of their choice by registering using the links listed below:

REGISTRATION LINK | MAY 9, 2024 (9:00am - 10:30am EST)
REGISTRATION LINK | MAY 10, 2024 (9:00am - 10:30am EST)
REGISTRATION LINK | MAY 16, 2024 (1:00pm - 2:30pm EST)

The School District of Philadelphia will host their 1st annual IU 26 STEAM Conference on June 1, 2024, at Science Leadership Academy Middle School (SLAMS). The full-day (8:30 am-5:30 pm) conference will include (12) 1.5-hour sessions held concurrently throughout the day. Sessions will range in topics but will focus on building the capacity of teachers to plan learning opportunities, use technology, and engage with students in alignment with STEAM practices. Sessions will be led by District teachers or external partners. Public school teachers from IU 26 (SDP and Charter) interested in growing their capacity to use STEAM in their instruction are invited to attend.

Registration can be accessed HERE.

General Schedule:

8:30-8:55 Breakfast
9:00-9:25 Introductions w/ 10 min Keynote
9:30-10:55 Concurrent Session 1 (85 min)
11:00 - 12:25 Concurrent Session 2 (85 min)
12:30-1:10 Lunch
1:15-1:40 STEAM Presentation
1:45-3:25 Concurrent Session 3 (95 min)
3:30-4:55 Concurrent Session 4 (85 min)
5:00-5:30 Final Comments, Survey and Reflection

Updates & Reminders

*NEW* Release | SY2024-25 Calendar of Collections

The Calendar of Collections for SY 2024-25 can be accessed here. The Calendar of Collections has been updated to reflect submissions for the upcoming school year.

Upcoming Submission for All Schools:

Transportation Calendar- due May 15, via email to routing@philasd.org

Upcoming Certification for All Schools:

Epicenter User Verification- due May 31, via Epicenter.

Upcoming Submissions for 2024-25 Renewal Cohort:

Renewal Letter of Intent- due June 14, via Epicenter.
Prep Documents for Renewal Document Review- due June 28, via Epicenter.

School Year 2024-2025 | Transportation Services Route Operation Report

Please review your school’s Route Operation Report, which can be found in Compass, to confirm the students currently assigned to buses and school vehicles will need transportation services for SY 2024-25. Schools should enter TARs to remove students who no longer require transportation services for SY 2024-25 by June 10.

Please note that the routes in effect at the end of SY 2023-24 will serve as the starting point for routing for SY 2024-25. More accurate ridership allows for more efficient bus routes. If you have questions, please contact Chris Love, Director of Routing & Scheduling at cdlove@philasd.org.

Transportation Services | SY 2024-25 School Calendar

To support transportation planning, please be sure to send SY 2024-25 transportation calendars for all buildings/annexes used to the Department of Transportation Services.

Please use this link to download the attached spreadsheet and fill in a copy of the transportation calendar template. All completed calendars should be emailed to routing@philasd.org by May 15. As mentioned in previous communications from Transportation Services, your calendar must be submitted as a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet.

Please reach out to Chris Love at: cdlove@philasd.org if you have any questions.

Emergency Preparedness | L&I Summer Inspections

In the coming weeks, Philadelphia’s Department of Licenses and Inspections (L&I) will reach out to charter school CEOs to request school-based contact information and schedule annual inspections. L&I will use this contact information to coordinate visits, so it is imperative that schools share this information as soon as possible. All L&I inspections occur in July and August.

L&I shared a “cheat sheet” for schools to support schools in preparing for annual inspections. Prior to your inspection, please review the Common School Violations Checklist for areas of potential remediation within your school site.

Philly School Experience Survey | Parents, Student, Teacher, Support Staff, and Principals

Student, Teacher, Support Staff, and Principal/Assistant Principal Philly School Experience Surveys opened Wednesday, May 1!

Students in grades 3-12 can access the survey at this link: http://philasd.org/studentsurvey. Students will need their School District of Philadelphia Student ID number to take the survey.
Teachers, Support Staff, and Principals should have received an email invitation on May 1 from, schoolsurveys@philasd.org with the subject heading, “Take the Philly School Experience Survey.” Periodic reminder invitations will be sent throughout the survey window.
Parents and guardians can continue to take the survey online at this link: philasd.org/parentsurvey. Each household should complete the survey one time for your school. Just like last year, parents do not need to enter an ID number. The last day to take the surveys is June 14.

Other updates:

If your school opted into paper surveys for parents/guardians, the surveys should have arrived last week, either directly to schools or households based on your school's selection earlier this year.
Track your progress! The parent survey response rate tracker can be found here. You can also access the link using the yellow button on our PSES homepage: philasd.org/pses. The teacher, support staff, and student trackers are currently scheduled to go live on May 6 at this link.
Remember that our PSES website contains many helpful tools, including the PSES resource packet which has:
A link to the flyer template if you want to customize it with your school name or contact info, or list the specific ways your school uses the survey, etc.
Suggested email message templates that you can use as a starting point for your own reminders to families.

If you nominated a survey champion for your school, they have received this information via email. You can review all PSES announcements to date using our PSES Updates for Charter School Leaders document.

Questions? Email our team at schoolsurvery@philasd.org or call our hotline at 215-400-6565.

Updated Head Start MOUs | Early Childhood Education

As previously shared, the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) has updated its guidance on Head Start Coordination Requirements. The multi-year MOU is permissible, however, rather than the LEA (charter schools) signing this MOU once during the effective term, PDE now requires that it is reviewed and signed annually by the LEA. You can find these requirements here.

Based upon this guidance, we have updated the MOU template to include three signature lines for the charter school to sign, for the three years that the MOU is in effect. Please email charters@philasd.org if you would like the updated template reissued for your school. If you prefer, you may also add additional signature and date lines to your school’s current MOU.

Please do not hesitate to contact oece@philasd.org if you have any questions.

SY 2024-25 | System Access and User Verification

The CSO wants to ensure school-based staff have no delays or disruptions to system access related to student data or District operations services. As such, charter school leaders and operations contacts should verify SY 2024-25 school-specific users for SDP systems including Infinite Campus, Compass, and Payments.

As a reminder, Network Administrators need to request access for users for each site/location, as necessary. To do this, the Network Administrator should include all codes in Column L of the ‘External User’ tab, via the school-specific User Verification Form. Please include all location codes where the user needs access. Failure to do so may result in a delay in gaining access to SDP systems.

Questions about the user verification process, including requests for links to school-specific and network-specific user information, can be directed to charters@philasd.org.

Withdrawal Requests | School Year Process

The Office of Student Enrollment and Placement has updated their process for processing end-dating requests. A full overview of this process can be accessed via the letter linked HERE. In Summary:

If a school has a student that needs to be withdrawn from a District, Renaissance Charter,

or Brick and Mortar Charter School, please reach out to the sending school directly, via email. Please include the following information: the student’s full name, date of birth, state or local ID, and effective dates. If the sending school is non-responsive after 2 email attempts and 72 hours, please email studentenddate-request@philasd.org.

If a school has a student that needs to be withdrawn from a Cyber or non-Philadelphia Charter School, please email: studentenddate-request@philasd.org and include the following information: the student’s first and last name, DOB, state or local ID of the student requesting to be end-dated, the date you are requesting the student be withdrawn, and proof that the student has been attending your school (i.e. attendance record). Please note, Cyber and non-Philadelphia charter schools do not manage their enrollment in Infinite Campus (SIS). As such, please do not email or call the school to request a student be end-dated in SIS. All end dates for these schools must be processed by the Office of Student Enrollment and Placement (OSEP).

While the CSO does not have the ability to process withdrawal requests in Infinite Campus, we do want to ensure the sector has the most up-to-date information regarding receiving support. As much as possible, issues with withdrawing students should be resolved at the school-to-school level to ensure timely transportation arrangements for students as well as accurate payments to schools.

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Please email the CSO at charters@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.