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Dear Colleagues:
By now, I know you’ve heard a lot about the Kentucky Board of Education’s (KBE) vote last Thursday to pass an emergency regulation to require face masks for students, staff and visitors in Kentucky’s public schools, regardless of vaccination status.
I know the decision of whether students should be required to wear face coverings in your district was difficult and contentious for many of you. I hope this emergency regulation provides clarity and will make it easier for you to keep your students, staff and community safe.
None of us wanted to go back to wearing face coverings, but we must take the steps necessary to get this virus behind us. Because of this highly transmissible COVID-19 delta variant, we are living in a different health environment today than we were two months ago. Masks, along with the other layered mitigation strategies we used successfully last school year, are necessary if we are to keep our schools open for the 2021-2022 school year.
I want you to know that one of our main concerns here at the department is to keep schools open to in-person instruction for as much as we possibly can. While some of our students thrived during the extended use of virtual instruction, many more of them struggled. Nothing can replace face-to-face instruction and we must remain focused on that as our end goal.
It is not the intent of this regulation to have students in masks any longer than is absolutely necessary. The KBE indicated that they would call a special meeting and withdraw or amend the regulation based upon the changes in guidance from state and national public health officials.
The opening of a new school year always has filled me with hope. By using face masks, social distancing and good hygiene, we can help keep that positivity and hope going for our students, and prioritize the health and educational experiences of our students.
Kind regards,
Jason E. Glass, Ed.D.
Commissioner & Chief Learner
KBE Emergency Regulation Quarantine Leave
The Kentucky Board of Education passed an emergency regulation regarding quarantined leave for district employees at its August meeting. Generally, this is what the regulation provides:
- Only one of four entities must determine the employee needs to be quarantined; a medical professional, the local health department, the state Department for Public Health or the employing district. The employee cannot solely determine the need for quarantine in order to access this leave.
- If an employee is quarantined by one of the entities above, in order to be eligible to access this paid leave, the employee must be fully vaccinated or exempt from vaccination due to a prior disability or a sincerely held religious belief.
- Documentation may be required to be provided to the district for the quarantine of the employee by a medical or health provider. If the district determines the quarantine, the district must provide the documentation to the employee of the determination.
- Quarantined leave is not available for an employee that tests positive. The employee may use sick leave or other leave available from the district. Districts may grant additional sick leave.
- Quarantined leave is only available for the employee’s quarantine, not family members. Other district leave may be available for a family member who is quarantined.
- Districts may require an employee on quarantine to get tested in accordance with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance in order to facilitate a possible earlier end to the quarantine time.
- A district may determine that an employee can fulfill their job responsibilities remotely during quarantine. If so, this leave would not be available. For example, an asymptomatic employee who works in central office and can do their work remotely.
- This leave is only for the 2021-2022 school year, cannot be accrued and is not transferrable.
- Federal pandemic relief funds may be used to assist in costs associated with this paid leave.
Applications for National ESEA Distinguished Schools Program Due by Sept. 17
The National Association of ESEA State Program Administrators (NAESPA) – formerly the National Title I Association – has been selecting examples of superior, federally funded school programs for national recognition through its National ESEA Distinguished Schools Program since 1996. This program publicly recognizes qualifying Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA)-funded schools for the outstanding academic achievements and growth of their students, highlights efforts of selected schools that have successfully leveraged ESEA federal education funds to improve education for all students, and nationally recognizes educators’ hard work and dedication to continuous school improvement processes.
Every year, states can identify up to two Distinguished ESEA Schools in three possible categories:
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Category 1: Exceptional student performance and academic growth for two or more consecutive years;
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Category 2: Closing the achievement gap between student groups for two or more consecutive years; and
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Category 3: Excellence in serving special populations of students (e.g. homeless, migrant, English learners).
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) reviews student performance data to identify Distinguished ESEA Schools in Category 1 and Category 2. Beginning in the 2021-2022 school year, it will begin accepting applications for schools from Category 3.
While a review of student performance data from the 2019-2020 school year still will be used to identify possible Distinguished ESEA Schools in Categories 1 and 2, an application process will be used to potentially select a school from Category 3. Since each state education agency can only identify two schools per year (one per category), those schools could be identified in Category 1, 2 or 3.
For a school to qualify for the National ESEA Distinguished School award for Category 3, it must:
- Have a poverty rate of at least 35% for the 2019-2020 and 2020-2021 school years. The unadjusted percentage of low-income students listed in the district’s Title I application in the Grant Management and Application Planning (GMAP) System will be the source for this data. Your district’s Title I coordinator can tell you your school’s unadjusted percentage of low-income students in GMAP, or you can view your district’s application by searching for it from the landing page in GMAP;
- Receive funds under at least one program in the Every Student Succeeds Act;
- Demonstrate high academic achievement (which may include high academic growth) for two or more consecutive years;
- Meet or exceed state-determined accountability criteria based on two or more consecutive years of achievement data;
- Demonstrate excellence in serving special populations of students (e.g. homeless, migrant, English learners);
- Submit a completed application signed by the school principal and district superintendent by the deadline of 17, 2021; and
- Agree to a site visit and interview of the principal and selected staff by KDE if the school is identified as a finalist.
After completing site visits for finalists, KDE will decide if a school from Category 3 will be selected that year and if so, will make the final selection. Two National ESEA Distinguished Schools (one from Category 1, 2 and/or 3) will be notified by email of their selection in November.
USED Releases ‘Return to School Roadmap’
The U.S. Department of Education (USED) has released its “Return to School Roadmap.” This document provides schools with tools and guidance for consideration related to safely reopening schools during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The document includes discussion on vaccination, planning for the prevention of COVID-19 outbreaks, connecting students to nutritious school meals, and ensuring safe and healthy transportation. The Kentucky Department of Education encourages school and district leaders to review the resources provided by USED and to allow those resources to inform their back-to-school plans.
2021-2022 Comprehensive Improvement Planning for Districts and Schools
Improvement planning for the 2021-2022 academic year will be critical for student and staff success. While many things have changed over the past 18 months, proven systems and processes will continue to support quality teaching and learning. A collaborative process involving multiple stakeholders is essential to identifying priority needs and the resources and actions to best address them.
The process and timeline for comprehensive school and district improvement planning outlined in 703 KAR 5:225 remain unchanged, but there have been a few changes to the required diagnostics. This year will include a new English Learner Plan for Districts (Lau Plan) in Phase Four. The Closing the Achievement Gap diagnostic is no longer required as a separate document, but the school’s yearly targets for eliminating any achievement gap are embedded in the Comprehensive School Improvement Plan Template. The 2021-2022 Improvement Planning guidance provides additional information on goal-setting options for schools and districts.
While comprehensive improvement planning is a continuous process and plans may be reviewed and revised at any time, the 2021-2022 timeline identifies the diagnostics included in each phase of the planning process and their statutory due dates.
The Kentucky Department of Education (KDE) will continue to utilize the Cognia platform for all comprehensive improvement planning diagnostics, but you will begin to see a transition in name from eProve to the Cognia Comprehensive Improvement Platform. For more information, see the Continuous Improvement Platform user manual.
We hope you will join us for the Kentucky Continuous Improvement Summit on Sept. 22-23 to learn more about improvement planning and continuous improvement.
For more information about the Cognia Comprehensive Improvement Platform (formerly eProve) or improvement planning, visit the Comprehensive Improvement Planning website or email Ruth Swanson.
Essential Workplace Ethics Reporting Required by Sept. 1
KRS 158.1413 requires districts to create an essential workplace ethics program for all K-12 students as of the 2019-2020 school year. As part of this requirement, districts must determine how, when and where this education and training will take place. This legislation requires each local school board to collaborate with the local workforce investment board, in conjunction with the local economic development organization and other economic, workforce or industry organizations the workforce investment board deems necessary.
The law requires districts to report to the commissioner of education and the Kentucky Workforce Innovation Board how the essential workplace ethics program is being implemented in each district at the school level. The next district reporting deadline is Sept. 1, 2021, and every two years thereafter.
Districts should report this information by Sept. 1 using this survey. The survey was designed to be user-friendly and not require a large investment of time.
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