There are many deadlines that schools are requested to meet both by the Office of Catholic Schools and by Washington State’s  Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI). These requests for data/deadlines can get lost in the onslaught of daily emails schools receive.

Immunizations

Only 58 of our schools have met reporting their immunization data by December 1 to the state. Reporting is critical to OCS’s understanding of the impact should a contagious disease outbreak occur in our schools and the impact of OCS policies on schools.  If you have not reported your immunization data, please do so as soon as possible.  https://www.doh.wa.gov/Portals/1/Documents/Pubs/348-416-HowCompleteSchoolImmunizationReport.pdf

 

Federal Programs

Declaration of Participation in Federal Programs (Title Funds) for schools is done through the Education Data System (EDS) process. This process begins in March and ends in April allowing access to funds for the next school year. Schools can access four Title programs, once they indicate their participation by the deadline. These grants represent an incredible amount of funding which can support our schools. Watch your email for notification from the state for Participation in Federal Programs:

• Title 1- Serves the unique needs of children – kindergarten to grade 12 – who struggle to learn
• Title IIA – improve the quality and effectiveness of teachers, principals, and other school leaders
• Title III- to help ensure that English learners, including immigrant children and youth, attain English proficiency and develop high levels of academic achievement in English
• Title IV – provide all students with access to a well-rounded education; improve the use of technology in order to improve the academic achievement and digital literacy of all students

These are funds can substantially increase your program offerings and staff training. Every school should be applying for the appropriate funding for their schools. Additional information can be found at https://www.k12.wa.us/policy-funding/grants-grant-management/every-student-succeeds-act-essa-implementation/elementary-and-secondary-education-act-esea/private-school-participation-federal-programs

State Board of Education

The State Board of Education has an annual approval process for private schools. The application will be submitted through an online survey application rather than through the Educational Data System (EDS). The 2020 – 2021 private school approval application will be available on this webpage in late February – early March of 2020 https://www.sbe.wa.gov/our-work/private-schools/private-school-re-approval . You may preview the application Additionally an email will be sent to notify all private schools once the application is posted and available The enrollment numbers to use for the application are the numbers from October 1^st enrollment count. Applications for initial or reapproval are due by April 1^st.  This is a very important deadline. If you wait to complete the deadline until the 11^th hour you may find that some of the information you must provide is not readily available such as Health and Safety reports and Fire Inspection Reports. Missing the deadline can impact schools receiving funding or recruiting students as families look to find approved schools in their community.

 

Weapons Report

Each year in the spring (June), schools must complete a Weapons Report. Data from this statewide report can provide marketing information to OCS about how safe our Catholic Schools are in serving their communities.

OCS and OSPI collect all this data to help us better serve our schools either through providing funding, updated policies, professional training or educational programing. Please do not overlook or ignore the requests for data. Data is a necessary part of planning and evaluating our work as we come together to strengthen our schools. Additional information can be found at https://www.k12.wa.us/student-success/health-safety/school-safety-center/z-index/weapons-and-schools