SB 1216 is now Act 136 of 2020. The new law makes numerous changes to the PA School Code. Most of those changes apply to the 2020-21 school year. Changes in the new law address graduation requirements, testing (including Keystone Exams, NIMS, and NOCTI), staff evaluations, student transportation, and staff evaluation and certification flexibilities with regard to current and future teachers and paraprofessionals.
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PA Secretary of Health Dr. Rachel Levine and Acting PA Secretary of Education Noe Ortega have announced that, with parental or guardian permission, Pennsylvanians age 13 to 17 can now add their phone to the fight and download the COVID Alert PA app to help stop the spread of COVID-19.
“While the app has been available to Pennsylvanians 18 and older, we wanted to ensure more residents had access to these resources and can be notified if exposed to COVID-19,” Dr. Levine said. “By expanding the age range, we can hopefully increase the number of individuals who download the app, increasing its effectiveness to help control the spread of this dangerous virus, especially in school settings. I encourage everyone to download COVID Alert PA and answer the call to wash your hands, social distance, and wear a mask so we can unite together against COVID-19.”
“The Pennsylvania Department of Education is issuing a call to action to all youth in our commonwealth: We urge you to download the free COVID Alert PA app to help slow the spread of COVID-19,” said Acting Secretary of Education Noe Ortega. “Help keep yourself, your families, and your communities safe by utilizing your phone in the fight against the spread of this disease.”
COVID Alert PA is a free and voluntary mobile app developed by the Pennsylvania Department of Health in partnership with NearForm, University of Pennsylvania and MIT Lincoln Laboratory.To learn more, click here.
Monday, November 23, 2020, Dr. Lee Burket, Director of the Bureau of Career and Technical Education, disseminated a PennLink memo to all Area Vocational-Technical School/Career and Technical Center Directors and School District Superintendents titled Supplemental Equipment Grant Applications Available. The memo states that applications for the 2020-21 Supplemental Equipment Grants are now being accepted. Approximately $5,550,000 in state funds are available for the purchase of equipment and for the purchase of a complete set of tools for use in the hands-on instruction of students enrolled in Pennsylvania Department of Education-approved career and technical education programs. The equipment and set of tools must be a minimum of $3,000 per unit. The equipment must meet industry standards and the Occupational Advisory Committee must have recommended each piece of equipment. Each grant will be awarded based on the funding formula. A match of local funds is not required. The guidelines contain the application information and are available at Career and Technical Education Grants.
The deadline for applications is December 31, 2020 at 5 PM.
Questions should be directed to Janelle Smith, [email protected], 717-783-6990 on the application process, and Ben Hanft, [email protected], 717-787-5423 on available funds.
On Friday, November 20, 2020, Carole L. Clancy, Director of the Bureau of Special Education disseminated a PennLink memo titled Special Education Plan Information for Phase 3 School Districts. That memo states that the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE) is responsible for ensuring that all special education programs in public schools are appropriate and effective. To do this, school districts must submit a Special Education Plan every three years to PDE as required under 22 Pa. Code § 14.104. The school district’s Special Education Plan outlines planning generated from district special education data, compliance monitoring, professional development activities, and training necessary to provide appropriate programs to students with disabilities.
The memo further informs LEAs that the special education plan will now be developed in the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal (FRCPP). The first step to gaining access to the FRCPP is to ensure that you are a registered user on the PDE Portal. If you are not a registered user, please register here: Register a Username and Log In. Each school district’s Local Security Administrator can add/remove users in My PDE Suite. If you need help adding users to the new portal, please use the step-by-step guide for Accessing the Future Ready Comprehensive Planning Portal. If you do not know who your Administrators are, you can find this information by clicking on Find my Security Administrator on the main page in My PDE Suite. School districts in Phase 3 must submit their plans by June 1, 2021 in the FRCPP. A mandatory pre-recorded webinar will be released on January 7, 2021 for all school districts identified in Phase 3. It can be accessed at: https://www.pattan.net/legal/special-education-plans/. The purpose of the webinar is to train school districts on the special education plan requirements and the new FRCPP system. Questions should be directed to Amy Deluca, in PDE’s Bureau of Special Education, at [email protected].
On November 19 and 20, 2020, the PA General Assembly passed House Bill 1737, which would provide COVID-19 liability protections for school districts, including limited pandemic liability protections for school districts and other school entities if the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and state health guidelines for efforts to mitigate the disease are followed. The bill now goes to the Governor for signature.