Governor Baker, the state of emergency, the K-12 education (with updates)

Yesterday afternoon, Governor Baker held a press conference on the ongoing COVID-19 situation. He has declared a state of emergency--see here for what that means--and, among other things, issued new information about public schools. Essentially, these are suspensions of current regulations:

• For this school year, the chronic absenteeism calculation in school and district accountability will run through days completed by March 2.
• Schools will only need to complete days scheduled to their 185th day of school (all school calendars are required to have 185 days scheduled, of which students are by regulation required to attend 180).

UPDATE: The following clarification has come this morning from DESE:

1. Data reporting – districts should not be changing the way they report student attendance to DESE. Student absences should be coded as they have in the past. The announcement yesterday was in regard to the use of that data (see below) and not about how the data should be reported. If schools are open, students should be reported as either being in attendance or not. If schools are closed, then student attendance is not reported for that day (just as student attendance is not reported to DESE if a district closes because of snow day).
 2. March SIMS reporting – the certification deadline for the March SIMS collection is next Thursday, March 18. This reporting should cover all 2019-20 school days as of March 2nd (March 1st was a Sunday) and is no different than any past collection of SIMS in March.
 3. Chronic absenteeism in accountability – this is where there will be some changes as a result of the health situation. For accountability purposes we will calculate the percent of students that were considered to be chronically absent as of March 2nd. Specifically, DESE will calculate the percentage of students that missed 10% or more of their days in membership based on the data provided in the March SIMS collection. To be clear, student attendance data from March 3rd to the end of the school year should be reported to DESE (see #1), but will not be used in the accountability chronic absenteeism calculation. DESE will also calculate a comparable rate from the March SIMS in the 2018-19 school year to serve as a baseline for accountability results this year. Our accountability team will begin this work and get the revised 2018-19 baselines and targets out to you in the coming weeks.

UPDATE: Here is the specific language on make up days per DESE:

180 School Day Requirement: In light of concerns about possible school closings for public health reasons, I have updated DESE’s guidance about the requirement for 180 days of school to provide relief to districts. (Note: The Department will continue to revisit this guidance if the situation warrants it.): 

All days lost to health, weather, or safety emergencies between the first day of the school year and March 15 must be made up by rescheduling full school days to ensure a 180-day school year. 

All days lost to health, weather, or safety emergencies between March 16 and June 1 must be made up to ensure a 180-day school year or until the district has reached its previously-scheduled 185th day, whichever comes first. If all five snow days have been used prior to this point, the district is not required to scheduled additional school days. 

Districts will not be expected to make up any days lost to health, weather, or safety emergencies that occur after June 1. 

This change means that if you have already canceled school for five days before March 15, you do not need to schedule additional make-up days for any days that school is closed after March 15. 

The longest that any school district will be required to go is its scheduled 185th day. No schools will be required to be in session after June 30. This policy applies to the current (2019-20) school year only. 

There are also new rules issued for executive branch workers, which does include the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education:

• All work-related travel, both foreign and domestic, is to be discontinued until further notice. Executive Branch employees are also strongly encouraged to avoid any personal international travel. 
• Conferences, seminars and other discretionary gatherings, scheduled and hosted by Executive Branch agencies involving external parties, are to be held virtually or cancelled. 
• Regular internal business shall continue, including but not limited to mandated public hearings and board meetings. Meeting organizers are strongly encouraged to utilize alternatives like conference calls, WebEx and other group communication tools. 
• Additionally, Executive Branch employees should not attend external work-related conferences, seminars or events. Alternatively, Executive Branch employees are encouraged to participate remotely.