Graduation Ceremony Guidance – updated May 8, 2020
The Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH) recommends that graduation ceremonies planned in May be held virtually, as drive-through events or be held outdoors with no more than 20 people at a time practicing social distancing.
Along with MSDH and CDC guidelines, considerations include:
- Limiting spectator attendance
- Providing individual ceremonies for smaller groups of graduates over several days
- Providing a livestream or broadcast of graduation by videoing individual students
- Following social distancing between families
- Consulting with your local health department to address local community concerns
Save the Date: FY21 Consolidated Application Webinar May 14
The Offices of Federal Programs and Grants Management will host a webinar on the FY21 Consolidated Application on Thursday, May 14, 2020 at 10:00 a.m. LEAs can register clicking this link. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact Judy Nelson at jnelson@mdek12.org.
Release of FY21 21st CCLC Request for Proposals
The Office of Federal Programs (OFP) is pleased to announce the release of the FY21 Nita M. Lowey 21st Century Community Learning Centers (CCLC) Request for Proposals (21st_CCLC_FY21_RFP). All proposals are due on June 9, 2020, by 5 p.m. to the Office of Procurement. OFP will host an informational webinar session to review proposal requirements on May 11, 2020 at 10 a.m. Register by clicking this link. If you have any questions, please email Chris Norwood, 21st CCLC Coordinator at crnorwood@mdek12.org or Aisha McGee, 21st CCLC Specialist at amcgee@mdek12.org.
RESOURCES
Free Online Pre-K Program for Children Enrolling in Kindergarten in Fall 2021 or Later
A free online summer kindergarten readiness program is looking for participants in Mississippi. The Mississippi Head Start Association partnered with the Waterford learning nonprofit to offer this early education tool to parents. The organization received charitable donations to provide the Waterford Upstart program to 2,500 families across Mississippi this summer at no cost. Go to https://www.waterfordupstart.org/register/ for more information.
Webinar Announcement: Keeping Kids Safe in Schools: Associations Between School Safety and Behavioral Health Webinar – May 20, 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM
The Southeast Prevention Technology Transfer Center (PTTC) has a standing prevention webinar series that occurs on the third Wednesday of each month. For May, the Southeast PTTC is hosting Dr. Patti Clark, the Program Manager of the Prevention and Promotion Branch within the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Department of Behavioral Health, Developmental and Intellectual Disabilities.
In this webinar, participants will learn about the findings from a recent Kentucky study that looked at the association between substance use, mental health issues, interpersonal violence, and problem behaviors and the perception of safety of students, will review specific prevention strategies that schools should consider, and will provide talking points to create dialogue with educational systems around the inclusions of behavioral health prevention components in school safety plans. Register for this webinar here.
REQUIRED ACTIONS FOR SUPERINTENDENTS
DUE MAY 11: 2020 Bus Driver Summer Training Request
Pursuant to Miss. Code Ann. § 37-41-1, all public-school bus drivers are required to be re-certified every two years through the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE), Division of Pupil Transportation….
DUE MAY 14: Digital Access Surveys for Families and School Employees
As school closures continue and as the state develops plans to direct resources to the areas of greatest need, the MDE has prepared two brief surveys for districts to circulate:…
DUE MAY 15: Learning-at-Home and Summer Enrichment Plan
We appreciate the time you took in early April to respond to the initial request from the MDE regarding current efforts to support students who are learning at home. In…
Do You Have Questions for MDE?
Please check the MDE COVID-19 Information webpage before emailing your questions to MDE staff. The answers to most of the questions we receive are addressed on the webpage. We also regularly add guidance, answers to new questions and links to our daily update email on this webpage. Daily updates are posted in the Administrator News section of the EdUpdate.
The Educator Licensure Call Center will be open every Tuesday and Thursday, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. and 1 p.m. – 4 p.m., until further notice. You may reach a licensure team member at 601-359-3483. Due to the anticipated high volume of calls, we encourage you to continue visit the Educator Licensure section of www.mdek12.org/covid19 and www.mdek12.org/licensure before calling the office or emailing questions to the teachersuppoort@mdek12.org email address. Answers to most questions we receive are addressed on those webpages.
Announcements from all previous email updates are posted in the Administrator News section of the EdUpdate.