Resources for COVID-19
Dear Clients,
Thank you all for your hard work and creativity during this unprecedented time. We hope we’ve been able to provide you with the support you need as you meet these new challenges. Over the past couple of weeks, we’ve recognized a few common areas of questions from you. We hope that the below list of resources will be useful to you in proactively addressing some of these common concerns.
As always, please don’t hesitate to reach out for additional guidance. We stand ready to support you.
1. Electronic Board Meetings: Charter Schools can typically conduct electronic meetings via teleconference services, so long as each board member can be heard by each other board member and so long as the public can participate by including the call-in information on any public meeting notices. While this is generally true, it is important to double-check your bylaws to ensure there aren’t additional requirements imposed by your unique bylaws for electronic meetings. Also pay attention to any notice requirements found in your bylaws. Under a newly enacted law, school districts are also now able to amend their policy for electronic participation in meetings to allow a meeting to occur without any board members being physically present (prior to the new law a physical quorum was required). Both charter schools and school districts must still meet the requirements of the open meetings law, including notice and public participation in the meetings.
2. Sick Leave/eFMLA Requirements: Federal legislation was recently approved to add COVID-related, paid sick leave requirements for employers and to expand FMLA to cover new situations, including requiring paid leave instead of just protected leave. Perhaps most notably, the expansion now covers an employee’s inability to work (or telework) due to caring for children who are at home as a result of the school closures. The following document created by CSI is a helpful tool in understanding these new requirements: http://resources.csi.state.co.us/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/Federal-Families-First-Coronavirus-Response-Act_FORMATTED.pdf
3. Job Descriptions: Given the nature of changes to online delivery, we encourage you to review and revise any job descriptions, as necessary, to address the new expectations and requirements for teachers and other school employees. We also advise the importance of considering flexibility in how employees meet those requirements, in order to allow them to meet any responsibilities at home, while delivering online education.
4. Seat Time/School Attendance Waivers: The Colorado Department of Education recently announced it would be providing a universal waiver for all schools with regards to seat time requirements, and/or tracking and submitting student attendance. You can review this announcement, including expectations of schools for online delivery, here: https://www.cde.state.co.us/safeschools/covid19-instructionalguidance
5. Special Education: The short answer is that schools should still be prepared to deliver special education services to students, even if it looks different than it would under normal circumstances. Guidance for delivery of special education is evolving by the day, and we encourage schools to continue tracking the latest guidance from the state and federal departments of education. The latest FAQ/guidance can be found here: https://www2.ed.gov/policy/speced/guid/idea/memosdcltrs/qa-covid-19-03-12-2020.pdf
6. Notifications of COVID-19 Cases: The federal Department of Education release guidance on balancing student privacy with the public’s right to know on this issue:https://studentprivacy.ed.gov/sites/default/files/resource_document/file/FERPA%20and%20Coronavirus%20Frequently%20Asked%20Questions_0.pdf
7. Financial Impacts: There is still a great deal of speculation as to how this event will impact educational funding next year. The most recent projection, which is from a couple of weeks ago, predicted a $750 million decrease in the overall state budget. Impacts to local revenues could be a factor in the overall changes, as well. While schools would do well to anticipate a fiscal downturn or flattening for next year’s total program funding, the actual ramifications of the economic closures can’t quite be known yet. An article on the topic can be found here: https://chalkbeat.org/posts/co/2020/03/19/how-coronavirus-downturn-could-affect-colorados-already-stretched-education-budget/
8. Recommendations for Online Delivery of Education: School employees should exercise the same caution and common sense in interacting with students for online educational delivery as they do when interacting in-person. Because there are unique features to online delivery, we remind you to consider, and share with staff as appropriate, a few tips:
a. Avoid being one-on-one with students via video chat, messaging, or other online communications. Staff should attempt to include another adult, including the student’s parent(s), on all communications. If one-on-one interactions occur, be sure to retain a record of what is conveyed to avoid any future allegations or confusion.
b. While recording lessons or engaging in video-conference, be aware of your surroundings. Try to be in a remote part of your home or office to avoid anything inappropriate from occurring behind you (i.e. a spouse or roommate unwittingly changing clothes behind you, as just one example). Direct the camera with a wall or bookshelf in the background.
c. If you record any video chats with students, maintain privacy (i.e. don't post the recording to social media, even if it's to praise the student or the work you're doing together, unless you have the proper permission to do so).
d. Make video-conferences invite-only to manage who is in attendance.
e. Use professional sites for video-conferencing, and school-based email systems for communications (copy a parent when communication is one-on-one with a student). Avoid using personal-oriented messaging and social media sites (Facebook, Instagram, Snap, Twitter, etc.) for interacting with students. If using those platforms, set up a professional account, rather than mixing it with your personal account.