End of Week Wrap Up from FACE (Office of Family Advocacy & Community Empowerment)

The followign is the end of week Wrap Up from the DOE's Office of Family Advocady & Community Empowerment (FACE) for the week ending 9/11/2020

School Building Ventilation Survey

The School Ventilation Assessment Teams have completed their inspections of all DOE schools. 1485 buildings have been inspected, and 10 buildings have temporarily been taken offline so that they can be remediated. Of the 64,550 classrooms surveyed, 96% (61,568) classrooms have operational ventilation. Rooms in need of repair must have those repairs made before first day or they won’t be used for school.

For more information about the School Building Ventilation Survey, or to review the results for your child’s school, please visit the DOE’s website here.

Contact Tracing and Confidentiality

Recently, the state legislature passed the Contact Tracing Confidentiality Bill to ensure that contact tracing information is only used for public health purposes, and that police and ICE are not allowed to access any information given to contact tracers. Contact tracing will be an important tool in the DOE’s fight against Covid-19 because tracing cases and identifying who may have been exposed to the virus, will help keep our students and their families healthy. The bill is waiting on the governor to act.

2020–21 School Calendar and Attendance Guidance for Fully Remote Instructional Days

The 2020–21 school year calendar has been finalized and made public. Please note the following details regarding this year’s calendar:

• The first three student attendance days, September 16–18, are fully remote, partial instructional days for students. Teachers are expected to engage students for at least one hour on each of these days.
• Election day (November 3), and any days on which in-person instruction cannot be provided due to inclement weather or other emergency, will be fully-remote instructional days. Teachers will be expected to provide instruction and students will be expected to participate in remote learning on these days.

Schools are expected to take daily attendance on all fully-remote instructional days, including all days listed above.

Regardless of the school’s programming model, September 21 will be a cycle day 1.

Learning Bridges Child Care

Learning Bridges will have 30,000 seats available during the start of in-person classes on September 21. The number of seats will increase each month, eventually providing 100,000 seats.

The program provides enrichment activities and free child on days scheduled for remote learning for children up to grade 8. Priority is being given to children in the communities hardest hit by COVID-19, children of essential workers, children of teachers and program staff and families in temporary housing and NYCHA developments.

70% of families with priority who have expressed interest will have access to a seat by the end of September.

Parents and guardians can apply through the DOE website under Learning Bridges.

RESOURCES AND OPPORTUNITIES

Telehealth Tips Website

The NYC Administration for Children’s Services, the NYC Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, the Mayor’s Office for Economic Opportunity, and the Public Policy Lab have collaborated to create a Telehealth Tips website to support families, providers, and advocates in using telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic. All information on the website is available in New York City’s 11 official languages.

Families can use the Telehealth Tips for Families page to find answers to common questions about setting up their technology and preparing for a virtual session. If you have any questions, please contact info@publicpolicylab.org.  Go to https://www.familypathways.nyc/telehealth-tips.