Thank you so much for joining us last Friday for our all-staff Teams meeting! We received over 60 thoughtful and timely live questions during the meeting in addition to the questions that were submitted from team members across the network in advance. Please see a summary of our conversation that includes our team’s responses to the questions and themes we weren’t able to cover during the live meeting.
As always – thank you for your input!
| Question | Answer |
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To cut on cost can we cut infusion for the next year? |
Infusion will be virtual and shortened this year for sure, and will not be a significant expense. Thanks for asking – we’re looking at many items like this to shrink expenses across the board. |
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Are we looking to put off NTT, NST, and infusion in an effort to save money? |
Thanks for the question! These will all be virtual and shortened and will as such cost very little this year. We're looking for lots of things like this that can help trim budgets. |
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How is DSST advocating ideas up to DPS, especially based on our successes and learnings during E-School? |
We are in constant contact with DPS at many levels and they are being quite good at soliciting our input. This certainly does not necessarily mean they will take our advice but we are in constant conversation with them. |
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Is DSST in the conversation (seat at the table) with DPS about building the plan for next year so that there is someone advocating for what is best for our network? |
Absolutely. We are in constant contact with DPS and they are soliciting input. This does not mean they will take our advice but we have a seat at the table. |
| It seems like we won't have any real answers to most of these questions until June/July - will we have another session like this to get more clarity? | Yes, we will definitely have more sessions like this and will be sure to keep the team updated as we know more. |
| When will we be updated about staffing model for 20-21 school year? Specifically, when do we know if we have a job? | At this point we are not anticipating significant staffing changes. We are hoping to have more clarity by the end of June. We will also get more guidance from the health department in July, so there may be small staffing shifts that we will need to make later in the summer. |
| With the budget approval being so late (June 30th), will DSST help with the transition for staff members who will inevitably be laid off? Should we be actively looking for jobs? | Currently, we are doing everything we can to avoid layoffs. We are eliminating some unfilled roles, moving people to other roles/campuses, pausing on hiring anyone from outside of the organization except for in Special Education roles, and we have rescinded two offers of employment for next year. We are getting as creative as we can in order to save money in anticipation of budget cuts. We have made no decisions about furloughs or layoffs - until we know more about state K-12 budget cuts, we just don't know how far we have to go. We also have other options to consider, in part thanks to you—our total list of possible ideas, which includes some of your suggestions from the last pulse survey, is very long. Your input continues to be very welcome. |
| If staff member signed letters to return next year, is there still a possibility of furloughs and layoffs for them? | |
| If layoffs were coming, when would we know? I am currently paying regular tuition to reserve my son's spot in his preschool--> if I will be home / unemployed next year this is wasted money... | |
| If an employee is furloughed, does her insurance coverage continue? | |
| Has it been considered allowing people to opt into an approved unpaid sabbatical or summer off option to save those salaries for a period of time? Some people might like that time off without pay and some teams might be in lower stress work cycle that would more easily allow this | |
| Are we thinking there's going to be big shifts in terms of personnel and capacity at the HO? | We are still waiting on the state budget to better understand how much we have to cut. We are first thinking about ways to save money with cuts to everything that excludes team members. We have a freeze on hiring and promotions with few exceptions. |
| For those returning teachers who have agreed to taking on additional courses and creating new classes/programs... are we not getting additional compensation? | There have been no changes to compensation at a network level. It is best to talk with your School Director if you have specific questions about your pay for next year. |
| Will there be the return bonus in August as there has been in the past? | No, there will be no returning staff bonuses this year. |
| Is there a plan for TCP and the new format for next year? | We have not made a decision yet. As of now there is no clarity on the future of state assessments and without assessments, we can't administer TCP fairly. |
| Will TCP operate next year similar to how it does in an FMLA year where the following year of data could "count" twice? Also, would TCP be retroactive or is this truly a lost year of earnings potential for folks? | |
| While that may not be used to make TCP decisions this year, that review still lives in Quickbase and only gives half a picture of a teachers year. Doesn't feel fair to anyone | Mid-year reviews are always used for developmental purposes, as they officially don't factor into end of year performance reviews (even if we were doing end of year reviews). |
| If we aren't going to have an end of the year review in Quickbase, then is it fair to let our mid year review stay in Quickbase? | |
| Have we considered across-the-board salary cuts? A few percentage points that could be restored over time? | We appreciate all ideas--and yes, if state budget cuts are drastic, we might need to consider salary cuts. At this point, we believe there are other more viable ways to handle budget cuts. (The spirit of this question is very much appreciated--all for one, one for all!) |
| I imagine this question can't be answered until we know the budget, but will 5% retirement gift be eliminated this year? | Yes, there will be a 401K gift this year. It will be 5% of salary, as promised. |
| Will there be a 401k gift this year? | |
| E-school has been particularly challenging for teachers with small children and no childcare. What's our plan for supporting staff members who are also caregivers if this model continues in the fall? | Yes, working from home has been very challenging for our entire team, but particularly for those with children. We understand that this is a concern and as we get clearer about the picture for fall, we hope to have more guidance on both expectation and support. |
| What are the expectations for school retreats? Do you expect TLI to be virtual? | At this point, we believe that TLI may be a combination of in person and virtual sessions, but that assumes that students will be back in buildings (in some configuration). School retreats will not be out of town/overnights. They are likely to be a combination of virtual and in person as well. |
| Can we expect to have a "normal" summer or will we be expected to work over the summer or return sooner than expected? | At this point, you can expect a "normal" summer calendar. Team members who typically work over the summer (school leaders, Home Office) will continue to do so. Instructional staff are not being asked to return early. |
| When we learn what next year will look like, how will you ask for and prepare for teacher (and student?) involvement in the planning process? That feels as though that was missed during E school, and teacher's opinions and ideas were brought in too late. | We will planning in phases for next year in hopes of creating a process that is responsive to when we will have information/guidelines from the state and from DPS. The first round of program planning will be happening in late May through mid-June. We expect DPS to release recommendations on June 3rd and those will help inform our program vision. We expect we will need to do another round of planning in July to get very concrete on teacher and student schedules/building use/etc. based on the restrictions released from the state. Throughout the end of May, we will be engaging in a robust input process with students, staff and families. In particular for staff, we will be hosting a combination of working groups, focus groups, and open forums to gather input and perspectives from our team. |
| On the note of how Network-managed courses have felt sustainable, non-network managed courses have not felt very sustainable. What measures will be put into place to support teachers of the non-network supported courses? | Our goal is to have more detailed insight on school program in mid to late June after we collect and analyze E-School feedback from across the network (see input structures above) and receive critical guidance and parameters from the authorities (state budget, DPS recommendations, health department guidelines). |
| Given we'll likely be in some form of remote learning next year, what are some of the major shifts you're anticipating from e-school to 20-21? | |
| There was much time spent on developing materials etc. for asynchronistic instruction. Will that still be our focus for next year if/when instruction is remote? | |
| Will we have PDs for some helpful E-school skills? I would love to know more about producing educational videos. I am a novice and don't think my YouTube work is that great. | Once we have a clear direction on our school program we will develop professional development to support with hybrid and e-learning. We'd love to hear your thoughts on what support and training students and staff could benefit from through the input structures listed above. |
| Is there any plan for developing both students and teachers with technological proficiency skills, given our virtual environment? | |
| What about if students are doing summer school to skip into higher level classes? | We typically do not have students do summer school in order to skip into higher level classes. That said, school teams can work with individual students to support their unique needs. |
| What is the future for the electives. physical education, music and other classes under this umbrella? | As with all of our school programming, we don't yet know what electives will look like and will need to refine that as more information is released from the state/districts. We do know that our hope is to continue to offer a robust set of electives for our students as this type of engagement and learning will be key to student growth and overall wellness. |
| Should we get the guidance that we will need to operate in a physical/online hybrid, would we consider prioritizing some groups of students for physical learning? All students deserve the social/emotional components of being physically present in schools but we also know that some students are at higher risk of lost learning than others when working online... | Yes, we are currently gathering input from our staff team regarding how we might prioritize our "in-person" instruction time. |
| Is there going to be a different plan for special needs/autism center program? These students are very hands on, meaning social distancing and wearing masks will most likely not be possible with these students. How do we keep them and ourselves healthy and safe? | Our Center Program team in the home office is currently doing a lot of planning and thinking regarding how we best serve our Center Program students next year. As we know there are many factors - ranging from hands-on needs in our instructional approach, all the way to medical fragility considerations. We do not yet know how we will balance these factors and welcome any and all input and ideas. |
| What conversations have been had for students in Center Programming? These students often need individual, consistent instruction. Will there be an opportunity to have these students attend on a regular basis even during the process of allowing certain students at certain times to close as many gaps as possible? | |
| What kinds of thought are behind done around advisory during the next year? What kinds of innovation can be done to help keep students and families engaged with distance learning that we haven't done in this iteration of E-school? | Advisory is definitely going to be a huge lever for student engagement and wellness! We absolutely want to iterate and improve on what we did during E-School. We do not yet have concrete guidance on advisory but know that this will be a core focus area for us. We welcome all ideas and input. |
| How can we hold students to the same level of learning if we can't have realistic grades that impact students? | We are in the process of thinking through how our grading policy will change next year but we do know that it will not be the exact same grading policy as we had in E-school (which was more of a crisis response policy). We hope to refine our grading policy for next year to look more similar to what we've done in typical school years. |
| How do you think that this will affect the format of education going forward? | It is too early to tell. One of the largest determining factors will be how quickly we can find a vaccine and set of treatments that allows us to go back to "normal school." Finding these treatments within the next 9 months will have less impact on how we do school long term. Finding them in a longer time span, like 2 or 3 years, may provoke a Hybrid school model to emerge as a more standard option in our education system. |
| Is business as usual even being considered as an option for 20-21? | Business as usual, in our view, is not the most likely scenario. That said, we are committed to ensuring that our plans can flex to meet whichever scenario plays out in the fall - whether that's 'business as usual', 100% virtual, or somewhere in between. |
| When is the goal date for knowing what the plan is for next year. I know we don't know, but when is the goal or hopeful date. | Our goal is to have more detailed insight on what our school program will look like in mid to late June after we collect and analyze E-School feedback from across the network (see input structures above) and receive critical guidance and parameters from the authorities(state budget, DPS recommendations, health department guidelines). |
| When will we have a plan for the fall for virtual/in-person school? Will we follow DPS or do our own thing? | |
| Would teachers be doing both in-person and e-school simultaneously next year depending on how things progress? | |
| Some districts are considering a year-round calendar. Is DPS/DSST considering this move? | Not at this time. Most of our focus and DPS' focus is on how to re-open schools in the fall. It is possible that we could consider this long term, but it is not seriously being considered today. |
| As we will, most likely, be dealing with Covid in the 20-21 school year, how will we moderate the amount of students per classroom and the amount that will be online? How will teachers teach in class and on-line at the same time? | We expect to receive guidelines from the health department in July that will inform our approach to our school program and use of facilities. We will absolutely prioritize the safety of our students, staff and families. |
| So are you saying that if a teacher doesn't feel comfortable coming into school, we can be flexible with that? | |
| Jeffco announced this week that it is predicting a 12% budget cut and up to 20% - is DPS still on 5% or is it higher now? | At this point in time we do not have any reliable estimates for the Total Program funding for FY 2020-21. |
| This is an immediate need, but also a long term plan. It took years for schools to sort of recover from the 2009 recession, what is DSST looking for long term planning in the future to protect budgets and things 1, 2, 3, 4 years down the line? | Our budget decisions will: * Rely upon our core (mission, vision, values, human condition, equity) * Put people first as much as possible * Be fiscally responsible and make the tough decisions as needed * Look ahead and be strategic * Treat challenges as opportunities |
| Will school budget cuts ultimately be connected to enrollment? | Most school districts rely on a combination of state and local sources of revenue to pay for school finance, or what is also called total program funding. Normally, state aid makes up the difference between a district’s total funding and what is provided from local tax revenue. The state’s share of funding for districts varies based on the amount of local tax revenue generated in each district. Variables like housing costs, unemployment, birth rates, and private school dis-enrollment are likely to vary greater than other years & may impact enrollment which is a primary driver of school funding. |
| Budget: Are we going to have Fall sports programs? | We do not have clear guidance on sports at this time. We will continue to consult and comply with districts as well as state and local health officials to determine if and how sports programs will function this fall. It is our hope to be able to conduct fall sports with some level of normalcy. |
| How are our schools adjusting to prepare for budget cuts? | Round 1 budget cuts are already happening. We anticipate there will be a second round of planning for cuts depending on where numbers come in with PPR. |
| Are there things we can/ are doing to address any impending budget gap? | We've proposed dramatic spending guidelines and cuts already. We are saving money right now and all those dollars help towards next year. Do not hesitate to continue to suggest ways in which we can improve and share these considerations with your leader. |
| Because a good portion of education funding comes from property taxes, it’s not entirely clear how much the state budget affects DPS and DSST - Can you talk about the mechanics by which DSST and DPS are affected by the state budget? | The majority of our funding comes through sales taxes and income taxes. This has dropped 25%, which will have a large impact. Property taxes impact our mill levies and bond capacity, which give us supplemental budgeting. This as a 1 year lag because of the timing of property assessments, so should these go down they won’t affect the budget for another year. |
| Where is the line in the sand where at a certain percent of budget cut we will have no choice but to make cuts to personnel? | At this point in time we do not have any reliable estimates for the Total Program funding for FY 2020-21. That said, per pupil funding reductions in excess of 20% will require material adjustments to our plan. |
| APS is allowing students to keep their computer. Are we doing the same? | No - Our 1:1 program is essential to the way we support our students. We intend to recover our laptops even if we have to turn into tech grub hub. We have worked closely with schools to recover our equipment in a safe way during EOY closeout. We are working to allow some of our seniors to keep their laptops to help support them with college/summer needs. |
| What resources (if any) are we going to give teachers for possible online learning such as computer monitors? | We are currently in the process of determining the needs for next school year. We have consulted teaching staff to ensure we have a comprehensive understanding of needs and will balance those realities with our financial resources. |
