July 2020 Newsletter
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Beware of The Trust: Protocols for Added Costs of Cyberattacks! p. 2 COVID-19 Exposure p. 3 COVID-19 p. 4 E S Yavapai County Education Service Agency C A Y News YCESA Volume 15, Issue 7 The First Choice for Responsive Educational Services July 2020 Arizona Department of Education is working on a template SCHOOL START and expect to send it out around July 8th. Jennifer Marson, Executive Director of the Arizona Association DELAYED of Counties (AACO), shared her notes from the Q & A during Some clarification the announcement press conference. Responding to the provided question of how realistic the August 17th start date, Marson reports that this is an aspirational date considering the Gov. Doug Ducey issued Executive Order 2020-44 which included situation could change and will be continuously evaluated. delaying the re-opening of Arizona schools' in-person classes until Schools should be ready to educate and provide their other August 17th due to the increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases. services, including meal programs. Distance learning and on-line instruction can be provided before In response to additional questions to the Governor’s Policy in-person classes start if schools submit a distance learning plan Advisor for Education Kaitlin Harrier, Arizona Association of to the Arizona Department of Education by the start date of their County School Superintendent’s lobbyist Barry Aarons offered distance learning or August 14, 2020, whichever is earlier. that the Governor has not changed the 180-day school year Students participating in distance learning will be considered as requirement. The decision on how to make up the lost days Arizona Online Instruction program students for school funding with the August 17th start date is up to the local districts. If purposes. districts begin with virtual classes, those on-line days will be Yavapai County Supt. of Schools Tim Carter sought support from counted toward the required 180 days. State Supt. of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman regarding the Click here to read the Governor’s Executive Order . application for distance learning. Hoffman’s response was that the Source: Arizona Governor’s Office and Supt. Tim Carter, Yavapai County County School Districts Work On School Re-Opening Representatives of Yavapai County school districts have been meeting regionally with Supt. Tim Carter to discuss issues about the re-opening of their schools. Representatives of Bagdad USD, Canon ESD, Chino Valley USD, Humboldt USD, Mayer USD, Mountain Institute CTED, Prescott USD, Prescott Lakes Parkway School, Seligman USD, and Yavapai Accommodation School District reached agreement on a few conceptual items after meeting for more than three hours. They have agreed to meet again this summer. The seven Verde Valley superintendents and other senior administrators met with Carter and reached considerable preliminary consensus on what re-opening of school protocols would look like. Beaver Creek ESD, Camp Verde USD, Clarkdale-Jerome ESD, Cottonwood Oak Creek ESD, Mingus Union HSD, Sedona-Oak Creek USD, and Valley Academy for Career and Technology Education CTED agreed on many aspects of reopening their schools, but will remain independent. Source: Supt. Tim Carter, Yavapai County Yavapai County has again determined to close facilities due to COVID-19 as of Monday, July 6, 2020. Yavapai County Education Service Agency will still be providing services. For an appointment, please call at 928-442-5138 or email [email protected] . Jul 6 Governing Board (School District and Yavapai 2020 College) election nomination petitions and statement of interest documents due, YCESA Office, 5:00 pm Sep 16-19 Arizona Rural Schools Association (ARSA) Annual Conference, Little America, Flagstaff Quad City Administrators ELECTION DAY Verde Valley Superintendents Nov 3 watch here for new meeting schedules when available 07/01/20 1 Beware of Cyberattacks! Frank Vander Horst, YCESA e- Rate Director, reminds schools of the vital need to be aware of the growing incidence of cyberattacks. As reported by Politico, schools should prepare for more frequent cyberattacks as remote learning continues during the corona virus pandemic. The FBI warned of this danger in a recent Private Industry Notification. The bureau stated that K-12 institutions “represent an opportunistic target” due to a combination of increased remote learning, Yavapai County School Employees limited cybersecurity budgets and high susceptibility to extortion. Ransomware is an especially serious threat to 10% tuition reduction on graduate programming schools because of the immense pressure to avoid exposing students' sensitive data. Northern Arizona University offers benefit-eligible team members a 10% savings on its graduate programs, including cerficates, masters and doctorate degrees. Since September 2019, the FBI has observed an increase in ransomware attacks targeting K-12 schools Opons include: · M.Ed. in Educaonal Leadership with Principal Cerficaon through remote desktop protocol (RDP) vulnerabilities, · M.Ed. in Educaonal Technology particularly the Ryuk variant. These attacks have caused · M.A. in School Counseling a wide range of damage including a “complete shut- · MS in Mathemacs Educaon · PsyD in Clinical Psychology down” of school networks. The alert cited industry · Ed.D. in Educaonal Leadership – K-12 Administraon warnings that schools rank second only to city govern- · Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instrucon ments on the list of ransomware's biggest targets. · See the link below for more opons… From January 2019 to April 2020, 94 school districts NAU also has affordable undergraduate degree opons, including programs that accept containing 1,150 schools reported ransomware attacks, up to 90 transfer credits. Scholar ships are available for transfer students who qualify. according to the security firm Armor. Degrees are offered in Yavapai County and online. Many classes are available in 8-week sessions so you can accelerate your compleon. The U.S. government discourages ransomware victims from paying to unlock their systems, and officials note You can learn more about this opportunity by vising this website that paying a ransom does not guarantee results. When hps://nau.edu/educaonal-partnerships/yavapai-county-schools/ schools are faced with an inability to function, admin- istrators will evaluate all options to protect their communities, stated the FBI. Funding Mechanism Contact Frank at [email protected] with Under Discussion questions. Source: Supt. Tim Carter, Yavapai County Gov. Doug Ducey will use an additional $270 million from the federal CARES Act funding to assist schools in paying for safety protocols, technology and remedial courses. These Distance Learning Gap funds come from the $850 million for education through the CARES Act, of which the governor can use $270 million at his discretion. Stan Goligoski, Technology Director for the Yavapai County Educational Technology Consortium (YCETC), The governor and Arizona Superintendent Kathy Hoffman, along with is sharing information with policymakers, educators, school superintendents, have been meeting to finalize the plans for and the private sector who are grappling with increased funding schools in 2020-2021. With full school funding tied to distance learning demands during this pandemic. students being physically in class, educators are concerned they could lose millions of dollars without students in the classrooms. Common Sense Kids Action is dedicated to ensuring that all kids have the opportunity to succeed. It has Educators had been calling for the governor to call a special legis- recently focused on the gap between students who lative session because resolving the issue requires a change in the have high-speed internet and technology devices in the state's funding formula which is codified by state statute. The home and those who do not. governor's executive order appears to bypass that process, using the governor's broad powers under a public health emergency order. Their state-by-state report will be a valuable tool for the state superintendent's Tech Task Force as they address The Arizona Education Association and Arizona School Boards the digital divide for K-12 students. “Closing the K–12 Association are advocating for a special legislative session citing the Digital Divide in the Age of Distance Learning” can be need for districts to have predictability as they enter into the new read at Common Sense Digital Divide Report. school paradigm. Source: Stan Goligoski, YCETC Source: S. Irwin & K. Navarette, ABC15.com, 6/24/20 07/01/20 2 Supreme Court Ruling Cements AZ Tax Credits A new U.S. Supreme Court ruling allowing state funds to be used for parochial school scholarships in Montana validates Arizona's dollar-for-dollar income tax credit for donations to provide scholarships for students in private and parochial schools. In the Arizona program, individuals can divert up to $593 a year (double that for couples) to the scholarship organizations. Many states, including Arizona and Montana, bar state aid to religious schools. Courts have ruled, however, that the diversion of tax receipts does not necessarily undermine providing state funds for public education. Since that ruling, Arizona has enacted the “empowerment scholarship accounts” program where parents receive vouchers of state dollars to send their children to private and parochial schools. The judges also found no violation of a separate constitutional provision that bars public funds from being used to subsidize