Category: Government Actions

Wolf Administration: $24 Million Available to Help Schools Identify and Support Homeless Children and Youth (September 22, 2021)

On Wednesday, September 22, 2021, Governor Tom Wolf announced that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) will release more than $24 million to identify homeless children and youth, provide wraparound services due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, and make it easier for students to participate in in-person instruction and extracurricular activities at school.

The Homeless Children and Youth (ARP-HCY) funding is a subset of the federal American Rescue Plan Act Emergency and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ARP ESSER) program. The ARP-HCY fund will allocate 25% of the funding to the state’s eight McKinney-Vento funded regional offices and the remaining 75% will be distributed to school districts and charter schools based on the amount of Title I Part A schools received under the federal Every Student Succeeds Act and the number of identified homeless children and youth served during the 2018-219 school year.

Applications and allocations for school districts and charters schools can be found on the PDE Homeless Education website.

For the 2019-20 program year, education and community agencies identified 37,930 children and youth experiencing homelessness served by Pennsylvania’s Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness (ECYEH) Program. The population includes children under the age of five and youth enrolled in pre-kindergarten through grade 12.

Students and families experiencing homelessness can access resources on the PDE website. Additional information will be forthcoming from PDE’s Division of Student Services, Office of the State Coordinator for the Education of Homeless Children and Youth.

U.S. Ed. Secretary Miguel Cardona Launches Back to School Bus Tour, Stresses COVID Safety Measures (September 21, 2021)

On Monday, September 20, 2021, U.S. Secretary Miguel Cardona launched a five-day, five-state bus tour in Eau Claire, Wisconsin to highlight the return to in-person learning at the country’s public schools. He stressed the importance of COVID-19 mitigation efforts, including indoor face mask requirements, in keeping schools from encountering interruptions to in-person learning and moving instruction online as the pandemic continues to infect children and staff. 

The initial stop in the “Return To School Road Trip” bus tour of K-12 schools was held outside with all students, staff, and parents wearing face masks. 

Sec. Cardona also said he would strongly support school districts’ efforts to require students to be vaccinated if the vaccines are deemed safe, while expressing hope in the Pfizer company’s “promising news” in its Monday, September 20th release of data that show its COVID-19 vaccine is safe and effective for children ages 5 to 11. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, as of September 9, 2021, nearly 5.3 million children have tested positive for COVID-19 since the pandemic began, but nearly half a million of those cases have come in just the past two weeks,

Sources: NPR and WPR.

BSE Releases PASA Test Administration Memo (September 20, 2021)

On Monday, September, 20, 2021, Carole L. Clancy, Director of the PA Bureau of Special Education, released a PennLink titled Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA): 2021-22 Updates and Training Announcements to provide school administrators with important information regarding the Pennsylvania Alternate System of Assessment (PASA) for the 2021-22 school year.

Due to the extension of the 2020-21 PASA test administration window through September 30th, all 2021-22 test cycle activities will occur later this calendar year. PASA Assessment Coordinators (ACs) must not enter or update information to the 2021-22 test cycle in the Dynamic Learning Maps (DLM) Kite Portal prior to December 3, 2021.

PASA ActivityTimeline
Required Test Administrator TrainingDecember 3, 2021- February 28, 2022
Student Enrollment WindowJanuary 5, 2022 – March 7, 2022
Test Administration WindowMarch 14, 2022- May 20, 2022
Score Reports (available electronically)August 2022
Score Reports (mailed)September 2022

A detailed calendar of training and other requirements associated with the 2021-22 PASA can be accessed at: PaTTAN PASA. It is imperative that PASA ACs ensure all training and requirements, including training for assessors, are met according to the timelines defined in the calendar. The calendar also includes data management training specific to PASA ACs. The PIMS report will be used again this year for PASA enrollment in the DLM system. PASA ACs must follow the data management timelines and guidance provided in the training to ensure proper enrollment of PASA eligible students.

The annual “PASA Getting Ready” webinar is intended specifically for Special Education Administrators, Building Administrators, and PASA ACs. This training will highlight important details regarding alternate assessment and regulatory requirements including the 1 percent threshold justification process. This pre-recorded webinar will be available beginning October 15, 2021, at the following link: BSE PASA.

The PA Alternate Assessment Team will continue to provide updates and guidance throughout the year to PASA ACs via the alternate assessment email listserv. New PASA ACs or those who are not currently receiving communications should contact [email protected] immediately to ensure they are added to this listserv.

Questions regarding this information may be directed to Lisa Hampe, Special Education Adviser, at [email protected] or Lynda Lupp, Statewide Assessment Coordinator, at [email protected].

PA Legislators et al. File Three Lawsuits Challenging State School Mask Mandate (September 19, 2021)

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, at least three lawsuits have been filed challenging the PDH order which took effect on September 7th and has generated protests in some school communities.

One of the cases alleges that two children “could not breathe while wearing a mask,” and that another family believes “wearing masks interferes with their religious duty to spread the word of God and forces them to participate in a satanic ritual.” One challenge was brought by the top Republican in the Pennsylvania Senate. Backed by a conservative group that has challenged the 2020 election results, Senate President Pro Tempore Jake Corman says he signed on as a Bellefonte Area School District parent, not a legislator. Other plaintiffs in the case include fellow Republican State Rep. Jesse Topper of Bedford County, other parents, and two Christian schools. Together they contend acting PA Health Secretary Alison Beam didn’t have the authority to issue the order because no state rule or regulation exists that provides for a mask mandate. A hearing on their claim scheduled for Thursday was continued without a new date.

In a second case filed against Beam in Commonwealth Court, parents in Bucks County and elsewhere also accuse her of overstepping her authority — in particular, in counties that have their own health departments.

A third case, filed in federal court by parents against the Tredyffrin/Easttown School District, argues that not only did Wolf’s administration not have the right to order masking, but neither did the Chester County district, which had announced its own mask requirement prior to the state mandate.

For more form the Philadelphia Inquirer, click here or go to: https://www.inquirer.com/news/pennsylvania-school-mask-mandate-lawsuits-corman-20210916.html.

PDH Sends Reminder: 2020-21 SHARRS Reporting Window  to Close Sept. 30th (September 18, 2021)

NOTE: THIS IS A REPRINT FROM A PRIOR POSTING. On September 9, 2021, Colleen Schultz, M.Ed., CSN RN, PDH Chief of the Division of School Health, sent a PennLink communiquĂŠ to all LEAs titled Reminder: 2020-21 SHARRS Reporting Window.

The message stated that the SHARRS reporting window will close on September 30, 2021.

It advised LEAs to share the important reminder with staff responsible for completing the SHARRS report, and to ensure the LEA’s reporting information is submitted in a timely manner so the school districts receive their reimbursement for the 2020-21 School Year.

LEAs are also asked to note the following:

  • The Superintendent/CEO is the only person with the capability to submit the report.
  • SHARRS programming will close the reporting window at close of business September 30, 2021. Therefore, timely submission of information is essential in order to be reimbursed for the 2020-21 School Year.
  • SHARRS can be accessed at https://apps.health.pa.gov/SHARRS/Login.aspx. An “INSTRUCTIONS” button on each page provides additional guidance to assist in completing the report.
  • If school exams and screenings were incomplete/unable to be completed last year due to the various instructional models in place during COVID-19, LEAs must note it in the “Comments” box on the ADM page in SHARRS.