HHS/E&C Committee #2 January 28, 2021 Discussion
M E M O R A N D U M
January 27, 2021
TO: Health and Human Services Committee Education & Culture Committee
FROM: Vivian Yao, Legislative Analyst
SUBJECT: Long Term Strategy for Learning Hubs
PURPOSE: Review and discuss efforts to plan for services that support students while MCPS is meeting virtually
Expected Participants:
• JoAnn Barnes, Chief, Children, Youth and Family Services, Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) • Dennis Linders, Manager, Planning, Analytics, and Accountability, DHHS • Ramona Bell Pearson, Director, Office of Community Use of Public Facilities (CUPF) • Robin Riley, Director, Montgomery County Recreation Department (MCRD) • Adriane Clutter, Division Chief, MCRD • Kathleen Boucher, Special Assistant to the Director, Office of Intergovernmental Relations • Jamie Cooke, Chief Operating Officer, Department of General Services • Ruschelle Reuben, Associate Superintendent, Office of Student and Family Support and Engagement, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) • Essie McGuire, Associate Superintendent, Operations, MCPS • Byron Johns, Co-Founder, Black and Brown Coalition for Educational Equity and Excellence and Chair, Education, Parent’s Council, NAACP Montgomery County MD • Kimberly Rusnak, Project Director, Children’s Opportunity Fund (COF) • Shane Tate, Program Manager, Out-of-School-Time Programming, Montgomery Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families (Collaboration Council)
I. BACKGROUND
The Council has been concerned about COVID-19 and the negative impact that the delivery of educational services in a distance-learning format is having on vulnerable, black, brown and low-income students disproportionately, and exacerbated existing academic achievement disparities for these children compared to their more affluent peers. Consequently, the Council has appropriated funding to provide child care services for vulnerable or disengaged students during the school day, including $5.6 million for tuition support for low-income children and children in foster care, and $1.8 million to support child care services in Educational Equity and Enrichment Hubs (Equity Hubs). MCPS also appropriated $1.8 million to support the Equity Hubs. Because of the possibility that schools might return in-person after the first semester, the funds appropriated were intended to support services through January 2021.
Looking forward to the second semester and beyond, Government Operations and Fiscal Policy Committee Chair Navarro convened key stakeholders to leverage collective efforts “to stand up an innovative and robust wrap-around structure that meets the needs of our students and their families now and in the future.” See October 26, 2020 memo from Councilmember Navarro at ©1-5. She requested a long-term strategy or contingency plan to address the needs of students who were at the time or have become disconnected from distance learning. In developing this long-term planning effort, Councilmember Navarro requested the following work (see also December 8, 2020 memo from Councilmember Navarro at ©6-8):
• Logistics and asset mapping of facilities: Inventory and mapping of existing licensed child care programs including programs serving Title 1 schools and out-of-school time programs; identifying areas of greatest need and specific facilities that can be used for services; exploring capacity of service consolidation hubs to support services; identifying additional public or private spaces to support child care; exploring transportation options to increase accessibility of services.
• Addressing regulatory barriers: Explore ways to streamline and waive licensing requirements to expedite licensing in alternative public and private space; explore options for waivers or flexibility in licensing requirements given the state of emergency; explore other models for providing services to students including Baltimore County model.
• Coordination and inventory of efforts on Equity Hubs and funding needs: incentivize providers and expand their capacity to support young children and school-age children; scale up efforts with COF and Black and Brown Coalition; develop an outreach plan to make parents aware of opportunities; leverage existing efforts including service consolidation hubs and the school age grant program; identify resources needed to implement services options.
II. PLANNING EFFORTS AND UPDATES
A. Logistics and asset mapping
Mapping
DHHS has developed interactive mapping that supports the team’s efforts to identify where the areas of greatest need are and what potential resources can support these services and
2 can be viewed at https://arcg.is/SjTHv. Dennis Linders will walk through the application with the Joint Committee.
The following maps layers are included in the application and can be turned on or off depending on the purpose of the search:
1. Title I Elementary Schools 2. Equity Hubs: 3. Open Child Care at MCPS – 4. MCPS Schools 5. Youth Serving Organizations with Facilities 6. Recreation Centers –minus three rec sites that are considered “fixed sites” for COVID-19 testing. Recreation Center use remains in flux to support health and human services needs including homeless shelters, COVID testing, COVID vaccination, food distribution, etc.) 7. Child Care Providers (Mar 2020) – the mapping of all child care providers pre-pandemic. Note that the circles are bigger, the more capacity/seats the provider offers. 8. Child Care Providers (Mar 2020) – heatmap 9. Density of children –census tract data on the number of below 18 year olds per square mile 10. Percent of Population Living below 200% of the Poverty Line –census tract data showing tracts with the highest share of low-income residents. 11. Mapbox Street – Default enabled “basemap” similar to Google maps. 12. Mapbox Sat (Dark) – Alternative to “Mapbox Street” - dark colored base map.
Council staff understands that Mr. Linders is working on adding additional map options including currently open child care sites, the children who are accessing Equity Hub services by home school, children accessing the DHHS school-age program by service site.
Identifying Potential Services Sites
Information from MCPS is critical to guiding how and where to target potential community-based hub sites if MCPS moves to a hybrid model. The following questions have been posed to MCPS:
• What would a hybrid model look like when students return to school? • What are the results of parent surveys at schools with Equity Hub classrooms? Was there any effort to cross-reference survey responses at particular schools with families participating in Equity Hubs? • What is the process/formula that MCPS is using to determine the use of space in a hybrid model at schools with Equity Hubs? Will it plan for child care on par with K-12 needs for space? Will it work with key stakeholders to develop their plans? Could holding schools be used for educational programming to allow Equity Hub classrooms to remain in place? (MCPS does not need to worry about licensing requirement and time in using these spaces.)
3 Council staff understands that MCPS will try to maintain space for Equity Hubs when students return to school and this will likely be more successful in schools that have one or two classrooms; however, MCPS is not able to definitely commit to this until they have determined what their plans are for reopening schools.
The team has moved forward in identifying potential locations to add/move programming while we await information from MCPS:
• DGS is exploring available public facilities that meet the needs for school-age child care located near schools that have 4 or more Equity Hub classrooms. Those include: Stedwick ES, Highland ES, Clopper Mill ES, Silver Spring International MS, Rock Creek Forest ES, Daly ES, Wheaton Woods ES, and Whetstone ES. DGS will also scan for underserved areas based on the DHHS analysis of mapping. • Exploring a partnership with the City of Rockville for use of recreation centers or other space. • Reaching out to faith-based organizations for space that will meet school-age child care needs through the Faith Community Advisory Council newsletter.
Outreach
The team is exploring whether it is possible to use data collected by DHHS through the EARP grant process to reach out to families about services offered through learning hubs and the school age program. This would be an opportunity to reach into high needs areas that have not accessed school-day child care programs widely. Additional effort should be made to deploy case management services, e.g., Linkages to Learning, School and Community-Based Youth Services, Cluster Projects, etc., to help connect families and students with child care learning supports.
The team has also connected with the consolidated services hubs to perform outreach to clients letting them know about the Equity Hubs and School Age Child Care programs.
Transportation
A sizeable discrepancy between enrollment and attendance in Equity Hubs in the fall as well as limited attendance from some Title I communities suggested that access to transportation services could, at least in part, help improve participation in learning hubs. COF has researched transportation services which are being deployed to a greater extent in 2021. COF reports that the cost for transportation is $450 per day per bus if providers are using Coughlin (a private bus company). However, some of the Equity Hub providers have their own vans which they are using to transport students. In this case the cost per day is $300 per day per bus. COF also notes that a hidden cost for transportation is that since cohorts need to stay at 15 individuals (2 adults and 13 students), the bus driver counts as one of these 15 people. Therefore, classrooms that are using transportation are only able to enroll 12 students, unless one of the adults in the room is driving the vehicle.
4 MCPS has been asked whether school bus transportation would be available and more cost effective, at least while school remains in a distance-learning mode. The Joint Committee may want to hear from MCPS about this possibility.
B. Addressing Regulatory Barriers
Expediting the Child Care Licensing Process
DHHS is working collaboratively with the MSDE Regional Office of Child Care. The Acting Director of the Regional Office committed to expediting the licensing process as much as possible. She also advised the Department that moving an already licensed program with existing staff that have already gone through the MSDE approval process would speed up the licensing process – approximately three months. DHHS also notes that the County Department of Permitting Services would need to assist in issuing Use and Occupancy permits certifying that the spaces are acceptable for the age group to be served (in this case 5-13).
DHHS concludes that the best sites to locate expanded child care services for students are buildings that already have spaces for school age clubs, religious education, and classrooms. The costs and time needed to adapt space to accommodate child care would be unrealistic to meet the needs of students this spring.
Pursuing Other Options for Programming That Are Consistent with State Regulation
The Office of Intergovernmental Relations, the Recreation Department, the Collaboration Council, and the County Attorney’s Office have explored other avenues for programming that would not run afoul with State regulations. The team made a strategic decision not to pursue a waiver from child care licensing requirements for supports during the school day. Pursuing a waiver seemed unlikely to be successful given the Governor’s interest in having school deliver services in person and the MSDE bias toward licensed child care programming.
However, the team explored the possibility of standing up non-licensed programming during the school day consistent with programming offered by other Maryland jurisdictions. The team learned that other jurisdictions and youth serving organizations were delivering programs set up under a structure that emphasizes club-type operations, which provide supplementary educational and recreational services instead of custodial child care. The Recreation Department has developed a program proposal based on a current program in Baltimore. The proposal has been reviewed by the County Attorney and forwarded to MSDE for review. If MSDE signs off on the proposal, the Department would consider offering programming during the school day starting with Leleck and South Lake Elementary school, which are Excel Beyond the Bell sites and do not have an assigned child care provider.
In addition, the team has met with the Maryland Out-of-School-Time Network (MOST) and other jurisdictions and has heard that there may be interest in pursuing legislation that will
5 provide options for the delivery of supplemental education and recreation services for youth development providers and recreation departments without a child care license.
C. Learning Hub Expansion and Funding
• Current data on Learning Hub and Equity Hub enrollment
COF, Black and Brown Coalition, CUPF, and MCPS have been working closely to open new Equity Hub classrooms and identify students who would benefit from Equity Hub services. As of mid-January, COF reported that enrollment at Equity Hubs had reached 1,370 students from 131 home schools. To date, CUPF has permitted classrooms in 71 elementary schools where distance learning and Equity Hubs are located in a comingled fashion. There are over 96 dedicated Equity Hubs classrooms. Of the total 1,370 students, 391 or 28.5% attend Title I schools. COF has been working on its data collection from providers to be able to provide a clearer picture about what students and families are accessing Equity Hub services and determine whether families are accessing child care subsidy benefits for which they are eligible. This is important to ensure that the program is meeting contractual requirements and maximizing service delivery to students.
COF, DHHS, CUPF and MCPS are working closely to recruit families that need service and reconcile data from various sources to better connect families to services and ensure that funding from multiple sources are accounted for appropriately. The organizations have been increasing their coordination of services to students and families and have begun to identify the strengths that each organization brings to this work, e.g., outreach to families, connecting to school-based staff, processing payments, etc. These efforts will inform future appropriations and improve the efficiency of resource allocation, planning efforts to expand and target programming, and accountability for the use of public funding for the remainder of the school year and beyond.
The Joint Committee will review the $3.6 million special appropriation introduced on January26 to continue the operation of the Equity Hubs through March, at which time, the Council will have a better idea about what funding will be needed to support the program through the end of the school year. The total amount is based on a cost of $1.8 million per month to serve 1500 students per month while MCPS continues in a distance learning mode. The total amount of the special appropriation will be reduced by any amount that is approved by the Board of Education to support the Equity Hubs.
III. RECOMMENDATIONS
The team presents the following recommendations for providing support services for students who have been academically challenged by the pandemic. The recommendations are categorized as short-term, medium-term, or long-term strategies, as requested by Councilmember Navarro.
6 Short-term
• Appropriate $3.6 million (less any Board of Education contribution) to continue operation of Equity Hubs through March.
• DHHS funding for child care subsidies targeted for savings due to lower utilization should be redirected to support the additional students in the school-age child care program and administrative costs.
• Improve coordination between COF, DHHS, MCPS and CUPF to improve the process for connecting families with services, processing subsidy applications and payments, tracking student attendance and family information, etc.
• Implement transportation options to allow students to access programs that are not in their immediate neighborhoods. Explore the possibility of support from MCPS while distance learning continues.
• Connect students with existing child care providers (especially family) and available resources. Cross-referencing COVID databases – EARP to let families know about resources, particularly in areas where hubs are less accessible. Council should note that all partners (COF, DHHS, MCPS, and CUPF) should emphasize connecting families with DHHS subsidy programs as it creates long term sustainable supports for child care costs (State funded and County funded) even after school fully resumes. By connecting with the public system, families gain better access to other support services.
• Deploy case management services, e.g., Linkages to Learning, School and Community- Based Youth Services, Cluster Projects, etc., more comprehensively to help connect families and students with child care learning supports.
• Expand Recreation Department programming particularly at EBB program sites without existing child care providers. Begin services during the school day if MSDE approves.
Medium-term
• Appropriate funding needed to continue school-age child care services during the school- day through the end of the school year. The amount needed will be determined after information about MCPS reopening plans is released.
• License facilities in targeted areas to ensure continuity of Equity Hub services as indicated by MCPS information.
• Begin planning for summer services – assess demand, available facilities and resources. Begin conversations and coordination with MCPS.
7 • Increasing the staffing capacity of programs by training additional staff through Montgomery Collage or other providers. Consider targeting public resources to financially support this training.
Long Term
• Expand licensed facilities in targeted areas/child care deserts.
• Consider advocating to the State to expand role of Recreation Department and private youth development providers in delivering supplemental education supports and enrichment programs in emergency settings or in out-of-school-time settings without requiring child care licensing.
• Explore the role of Equity Hubs, EBB, and/or other services in providing youth development and educational enrichment during out-of-school hours, evaluate the efficacy of the different program models, and how to coordinate these services seamlessly.
The packet contains the following attachments: Circle # Oct. 26, 2020 Letter from Government Operations & Fiscal Policy Committee Chair Navarro to Long Term Options for Learning Hubs Team ©1-5 December 8, 2020, Letter from Government Operations & Fiscal Policy Committee Chair Navarro to Long Term Options for Learning Hubs Team ©6-8 COF data on Equity Hubs ©9-17
8 MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
COUNCILMEMBER NANCY NAVARRO CHAIR, GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND DISTRICT 4 FISCAL POLICY COMMITTEE
EDUCATION AND CULTURE COMMITTEE
MEMORANDUM
October 26, 2020
TO: Team on long term options for equity hubs
FROM: Nancy Navarro, Chair, Government Operations & Fiscal Policy Committee
SUBJECT: Follow up from October 22, 2020 meeting
I would like to thank everyone who met with me at short notice on Thursday, October 22, 2020, to brainstorm ways to serve Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS) students who for various reasons have not been able to engage in meaningful learning since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic. This is a follow-up to the October 9, 2020 memorandum on equity hubs that I sent to the County Council (attached). I am pleased that working with Councilmember Craig Rice, the school system, and key stakeholders, we will be able to offer some short-term relief to our vulnerable students.
There have been several Council appropriations related to addressing service gaps in Early Care and Education (ECE), as well as for full-day school-age childcare that include before and after school care. Implementation of community and consolidation hubs in key geographic areas of the County is also an important component as they serve the same population of constituents we are targeting with this effort. In an effort to avoid working in silos, I am interested in leveraging these existing efforts and strengthening our collective work in order to stand up an innovative and robust wrap-around structure that meets the needs of our students and their families now and
(1) in the future. Having this long-term strategy or contingency plan will better prepare us for the uncertainty of our times.
It is clear that we must address the needs of the 1,500 students who have not logged in at all, while preparing for the real possibility of additional students in need of support should a worsening of COVID-19 ensue in the winter months. It is necessary to prepare contingency plans, which assess and address constraints, opportunities, and alignments.
Based on the comprehensive conversation we had on Thursday, the following are the main tasks that we agreed upon. Our Council Analyst, Vivian Yao, will serve as the coordinator of this strategy with my office providing support. We will be meeting in about a month, after reviewing the individual reports from those tasked to address the issues below:
Logistics and asset mapping of facilities: Jamie Cooke (Department of General Services), JoAnn Barnes (Health and Human Services (HHS)), Essie McGuire (MCPS), BB Otero (Early Care and Education Initiative (ECEI)
Do an inventory and mapping of existing licensed childcare programs in the County, including the number of programs currently serving Title I MCPS schools. Review existing capacity of community and consolidation hubs in key geographic areas of the County that have been set up to serve constituents with various needs. Is there capacity here to utilize these spaces? What are the barriers? Identify along with MCPS some non-traditional spaces including the use of MCPS fields to set up temporary learning spaces. Explore locations that licensed providers can utilize like public owned facilities, malls, retail, churches, etc. Brainstorm creative ways to overcome the issue of lack of transportation as a barrier to accessibility.
Addressing regulatory barriers: Kathleen Boucher (Office of Intergovernmental Relations (OIR), Vivian Yao (Council), Essie McGuire (MCPS), JoAnn Barnes (HHS)
Work with staff in OIR to explore ways to streamline and waive licensing requirements as necessary and help speed up setting up programs in MCPS buildings, retail spaces, community spaces and public owned facilities. o Is there flexibility for licensed providers to get into school spaces? o What are the barriers we must overcome for community, public owned facilities, and retail spaces to be utilized by licensed providers? Work with OIR and MCPS staff on a draft letter to the Maryland State Department regarding flexibility in licensing requirements and/or waivers given the current state of emergency.
(2) Coordination and inventory of existing efforts on equity hubs, and funding needs - Vivian Yao (Council), JoAnn Barnes (HHS), Kimberly Rusnak (Children’s Opportunity Fund (COF)), Byron Johns and Diego Uriburu (Black and Brown Coalition)
Is there a way to incentivize providers and expand their capacity so that they can support both 0-5 ages, plus school-age children? How can we scale up existing efforts with partners like COF and the Black and Brown Coalition? How are we leveraging existing efforts that have already been stood up such as the Community and consolidation hubs and Early Care and Education Initiative School Age Grant?
As the various groups work on these important issues, I urge them to interact with each other to garner information and ideas to help with their work. Council staff Vivian Yao will help coordinate the flow of information among the groups.
Once more, many thanks for agreeing to be part of this exciting journey. I see a great opportunity here to work on standing up an innovative and robust wrap-around structure that meets the needs of our students and their families now and in the future, while also greatly improving upon the alignment with existing resources and processes. I look forward to the work.
(3) MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
COUNCILMEMBER NANCY NAVARRO CHAIR, GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND DISTRICT 4 F ISCAL POLICY COMMITTEE
E DUCATION AND CULTURE COMMITTEE
M E M O R A N D U M
October 14, 2020
TO: Members of the County Council
FROM: Nancy Navarro, Chair, Government Operations & Fiscal Policy Committee
SUBJECT: On Student Connectivity Issues and Equity Hubs
Montgomery County Public Schools reports that about 1500 students are not connected to the ongoing digital learning environment deployed by the school district in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Most of these children are of color and from families that are of limited economic means. It is an urgent equity issue. It is deeply concerning to me; the school district has a moral and legal responsibility to provide a free and appropriate education to all our children, regardless of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic circumstances.
Given the interest by the Black and Brown Coalition, the Children’s Opportunity Fund and other nonprofits to address this matter, I believe it is important to seek clarity on issues around clarity of purpose, alignment, and roles and responsibilities. I have several concerns. Let me be clear, even before the pandemic hit our nation, I have been a proponent of a holistic way of assisting the Black and Brown Coalition in standing up a robust structure that works with the school system to address the opportunity gap that exists between Latino and Black students, and white and Asian students. We must focus on that work. The disconnection of hundreds of students from their legal right to a free and fair education is unacceptable and I appreciate that the coalition has been trying hard to get a handle on the problem. I had asked council staff to provide us recommendations on proposed structures and funding. Ahead of the HHS and EC joint session on October 15, I asked my staff to ask our Council analyst Vivian Yao several questions and concerns that would help inform and clarify the process forward. Given the urgency of the situation, I am sharing the questions and concerns with Councilmembers:
(4) Several hubs with varying levels of subscription have been set up to address the needs of some of these students. It is estimated that we will need $10-12 million through January 2021 to fund these hubs, scaled up. I would need more information about the assumptions behind the funding estimates. MCPS needs to provide more information about these kids, where they are, and what their real needs are. If the issue is about connectivity, the funding estimate seems expensive. For instance, at $3,000 per kid (for Wi-Fi, equipment, supplies) we would have $4.5 million. What segment of the population has a need for supervision and care? How is MCPS currently using the $60 million in CARES act funding to address this issue? Given that it is their responsibility to provide a free and appropriate education to all kids, are they not responsible for this fiscally? How is HHS using the funding currently approved by the council? Is it not more efficient and safer to connect them at home and provide the wrap around services on an as needed basis? The hubs seem undersubscribed. How can we leverage efforts such as the HUB model? How are MCPS staff, COF, Black and Brown Coalition, DHHS, and other key partners working together to identify children that need the most support and connect them to programs and identify and stand up programming in the areas of greatest need? I need more information about the hubs. What are the constraints and challenges? MCPS has committed space until early November. Without space commitments it will be difficult to stand up these initiatives and invest when space is not guaranteed. The need for care will continue when children return to school on a part-time/rotating basis. There is a need to evaluate available MCPS and community-based space that can be used to provide supports to students. Transportation may also be needed to link vulnerable students in isolated communities with services.
I see a great opportunity here to work with the Black and Brown Coalition to focus much needed attention on this segment of our student population, stand up a robust logistical and funding mechanism and also greatly improve upon the alignment with existing resources and processes, and just as important collaboration and communication among agencies and non-profits. I welcome your thoughts.
CC: Shebra Evans, President, Montgomery County Board of Education Dr. Jack Smith, Superintendent of Schools Dr. Raymond Crowel, Director, Department of Health and Human Services
(5) MONTGOMERY COUNTY COUNCIL
ROCKVILLE, MARYLAND
COUNCILMEMBER NANCY NAVARRO CHAIR, GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS AND DISTRICT 4 F ISCAL POLICY COMMITTEE
E DUCATION AND CULTURE COMMITTEE
December 8, 2020
TO: Team on Long Term Options for Learning/Equity Hubs
FROM: Nancy Navarro, Chair, Government Operations & Fiscal Policy Committee
SUBJECT: Follow up from November. 30, 2020 meeting on a long-term strategy for Equity/Learning Hubs
On Monday, Nov. 30, 2020, we met to continue discussions regarding the development of a long-term strategy, or contingency plan, which will better prepare us for the uncertainty of our times when it comes to supporting vulnerable students and their families during this pandemic. A desired goal is to improve upon the alignment between service delivery and existing resources and processes by collaborating and communicating among agencies and non-profits.
This multi-agency effort initially included Council Staff, Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS), the Children’s Opportunity Fund (COF), the Black and Brown Coalition, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Department of General Services (DGS), and the Office of Intergovernmental Relations (OIR), but as discussions have taken place, this group has also consulted with the Department of Permitting Services, Fire and Rescue Services, the County Attorney’s Office, the Department of Recreation, Community Use of Public Facilities (CUPF), Collaboration Council for Children, Youth and Families, and the Maryland State Department of Education (MSDE).
From our initial meeting on October 26 (see attached memorandum), we discussed standing up this strategic long-term vision focusing on a robust logistical and funding mechanism, which required exploring the following areas: o Logistics and asset mapping of facilities; o Addressing regulatory barriers; and
(6) o Coordination and inventory of existing efforts on equity hubs, and funding needs.
Brief summary of our most recent meeting:
Joann Barnes, Chief of Children, Youth and Families reported on discussions with MSDE regarding expediting the licensing process for a licensed provider going into a new space, as long as the provider was already licensed to run a program elsewhere, was bringing their staff along to this new site, and had met space requirements. This would significantly reduce time needed for the licensing process.
Kathleen Boucher, Deputy Director of OIR shared information about work already underway in neighboring jurisdictions where MSDE worked with local government agencies and private youth serving organizations like the Baltimore County Department of Recreation and Parks, the Y of Central Maryland to operate academic support centers to provide options for in-person care for families of school-age children before, during, and after the school-day. The centers offer support for virtual learning as well as recreational activities.
Byron Jones mentioned faith-based partnerships, which identified an opportunity to explore how we could further support these efforts.
Essie McGuire from MCPS discussed challenges and opportunities regarding the school system’s space needs and other implications for re-opening; however, she could not comment further pending the Board of Education’s action on their in-person instruction/reopening plan, which has now been rescheduled for review on December 15, 2020.
Kimberly Rusnak of COF pointed out that transportation is a big barrier, and in addition, offered to share some of the inventory and mapping that COF has worked on regarding availability of providers and programs in the County.
I closed the discussion by requesting the asset mapping/inventory from HHS/DGS of existing programs, potential facilities and partnerships (faith-based, other community-based programs like the GATOR Club) to understand where the gaps in services are by geographic areas along with potential options for new service sites. We must leverage existing efforts such as the Consolidated Service Hubs and the Minority Health Initiatives to get all this critical information out once it is ready. We need to focus our work and strategize in terms of short, mid, and long-term goals.
To do list for the next 5-6 weeks and suggested agency assignments:
Inventory and map existing licensed child care in Title I MCPS schools, faith-based institutions, recreation facilities, other public facilities, and other targeted possibilities. (DHHS, DGS) Inventory Out-of-School-Time Programs in the community, e.g., GATOR Club. (Collaboration Council, COF, Recreation, CUPF) Identify areas of greatest need, specific facilities that can be used for services, e.g., recreation centers, and assess demand for services. (DHHS, Recreation, CUPF) Follow up with Baltimore County to understand their model and get information on number of students/families being served by site. (OIR, Recreation)
(7) Develop options for transportation to provide access and overcome barriers to service. (MCPS, DHHS, COF) Develop an outreach plan to parents so that they are aware of these opportunities and include key MCPS staff and health initiatives (LHI, AAHP, and AAHI). (DHHS, MCPS) Identify resources needed to implement service options. (All agencies, DHHS being the lead)
Next Steps:
I will be making a request to the Chairs of the Council’s Education and Culture, and Health and Human Services Committee so that the Joint Committee is briefed on this work in early February. It is important that we move forward with adopting this contingency plan to ensure virtual learning supports for vulnerable students that also leverage existing efforts. This plan should include short, mid, and long term strategies based on need, capacity, and availability and accessibility, so that we can implement and fund these efforts quickly, especially as we are approaching this critical time during the pandemic where we are seeing a surge in cases.
As I have stated in previous correspondence, as the various groups work on these important issues, I urge them to interact with each other to garner information and ideas to help with their work. Council central staff, Vivian Yao, will continue to help coordinate the flow of information among the groups.
With COVID-19 cases continuing to be on the rise, we should have a robust wrap-around structure that meets the needs of our students and their families now and in the months to come. Thank you for all your time and dedication, and I welcome the opportunity to continue working together on this.
Copy to: Members of the County Council Marc Elrich, County Executive Rich Madaleno, CAO, County Government Marlene Michaelson, Executive Director, County Council Vivian Yao, Council Analyst
(8) From: Yao, Vivian To: Uyakonwu, Shirley Subject: Fw: update on the data Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 9:49:28 AM Attachments: image001.png image011.png
This is along with the next e-mail I send you will be the 3rd attachments
From: Kimberly Rusnak
[EXTERNAL EMAIL] Vivian and JoAnn,
Here are the current enrollment numbers and a list of students by homeschool. There are 1,370 students enrolled. There is a group of students where providers didn’t list their homeschools – which is a requirement. So we are going back to gather that information. Expenses by month: (these are strictly scholarship funds, it does not include transportation or administrative supports for COF)
September: $25,988
October: $148,273
November: $907,503
December: $1,418,175 (this will still change depending upon Global’s numbers - it will vary by $100-200,000)
We forecast that we will spend the remaining funds in full by the end of January 2021. Initially, the contracts with all 12 providers were paying for the monthly expenses at the beginning of each month. A few providers (Bar-T, Kids Co and KAH) are transitioning in January to being reimbursed for monthly expenses. This will allow these three providers to transition more students to the DHHS subsidy during the month of January. For the month of January, we have the remaining $910,933 (a portion of which is reserved for GWCF’s A-133 Audit) and $550,000 from private philanthropy. This leaves us with a budget of $1,440,933 for January. We forecast that this will be spent in full by January 31st. We are currently running a campaign to raise additional private funds to help support the gap which will arise in February. There have been verbal commitments from County Council and we are still in negotiations and discussions with MCPS regarding funding. This is a critical service needed as a result of the pandemic. The need is actually much greater than the 1,500 students we are aiming to serve. We will continue to work toward our goal of 1,500 and we are confident we will reach this goal by the end of January 2021. Vivian you also asked specifically about transportation. Transportation costs will also increase during the month of January. In December, only Kids Co, KAH and Kid Power were implementing transportation supports. This will expand to Bar-T in January and potentially other providers. The cost for transportation is $450 per day per bus if providers are using Coughlin (a private bus company). Kids Co and KAH have their own vans which they are using to transport students. In this case the cost per day is $300 per day per bus. The other hidden cost for transportation is that since cohorts need to stay at 15 individuals (2 adults and 13 students), the bus driver counts as one of these 15 people. Therefore, classrooms that are using transportation are only able to enroll 12 students, unless one of the adults in the room is driving the bus/van.
If you have other questions, let me know.
Thanks! Kimberly
Total Students by Home Elementary School Homeschool Arcola 15 Ashbuton ES 11 Bannaker Middle 1
(9) Barnsley 3 Bayard Rustin 42 Beall 16 Bells Mill 5 Bethesda 7 Beverly Farms 3 Bradley Hills 14 Brookhaven 1 Brown Station 33 Burning Tree 1 Burnt Mills 8 Burtonsville 4 Cannon Road 5 Carderock Springs 2 Carl Sandburg Learning Center 1 Cashell 6 Cedar Grove 2 Chevy Chase Elementary 1 Clear Spring 1 Clopper Mill 54 Cloverly Elem 19 Cold Spring 4 College Gardens 6 Daly 29 Damascus 2 Diamond 1 DuFief 6 Earle B Wood MS 1 Eastern Middle 13 Fairland 1 Fallsmead 8 Farmland 6 Field Road 4 Flora M Singer 2 Flower Hill 29 Flower Valley 10 Forest Knolls 13 Forest Oak MS 2 Fox Chapel 7 Gaithersburg 10 Garrett Park 23 Georgian Forest 1 Germantown 2 Glen Haven Elem 12 Glenallan 1 Goshen 14 Great Seneca Creek 20 Greencastle 21 Harmony Hills 2 Highland elementary school 42 Highland View 24 Jackson Road 4 JoAnn Leleck 31 Judith K Resnik 4 Julius West MS 22 Kensington Parkwood 1 Kingsview Middle 1 Lake Seneca 2
(10) Lakelands Middle School 1 Lakewood 1 Laytonsville 6 Little Bennett 5 Lux Manor 1 Maryvale 12 Matsunaga 6 Meadow Hall 31 Mill Creek Towne 1 Montgomery Knolls Elementary 6 Montgomery Village MS 1 Neelsville MS 1 New Hampshire Estates Elementary 2 North Chevy Chase 5 Not Listed 121 Oak View Elementary 2 Oakland Terr 7 Olney 3 Pine Crest 3 Piney Branch 12 Poolesville 4 Potomac 6 Rachel Carson 9 Ritchie Park 3 Robert Frost MS 2 Roberto Clemente MS 8 Rock Creek Valley 4 Rock Creek Forest 49 Rock View 8 Rockwell 1 Rocky Hill MS 3 Rolling Terrace 24 Ronald McNair 24 Roscoe Nix 1 Rosemary Hills 6 Rosemont 6 S. Christa McAuliffe 9 Sally K Ride 1 Sargent Shriver 3 Shady Grove MS 1 Sligo Creek 1 Sligo Middle School 1 Snowden Farm 2 Somerset 1 South Lake 20 SSIMS 63 Stedwick 23 Stone Mill 3 Strawberry Knoll 22 Summit Hall Elementary School 8 Takoma Park 20 Thurgood Marshall 7 Tilden Middle 1 TPMS 12 Travilah 6 Twinbrook 10 Viers Mill ES 6 Washington Grove 8
(11) Waters Landing 4 Watkins Mill 10 Weller Road 12 Westland Middle School 1 Westover 2 Wheaton Woods 38 Whetstone 23 William Gibbs 9 William Tyler Page 2 Wood Acres 3 Woodfield 4 Woodlin 12 Wyngate 1
Total Number of Students enrolled: 1370
Kimberly Rusnak Director, Children’s Opportunity Fund She/Her/Hers
(301) 495-3036 (office) (301) 526-9989 (mobile) [email protected] 8720 Georgia Avenue, Suite 202 | Silver Spring, MD 20910 Donate Now h www.thecommunityfoundation.org
For COVID-19 Information and resources, visit: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COVID19
(12) From: Yao, Vivian To: Uyakonwu, Shirley Subject: Fw: Updated numbers for Equity Hubs Date: Wednesday, January 27, 2021 9:49:49 AM Attachments: image001.png image010.png
From: Kimberly Rusnak
[EXTERNAL EMAIL] Vivian and JoAnn,
I wanted to share with you some data that we’ve gathered in the last week or so to answer your questions regarding Equity Hubs. As of this week there are 1,226 students enrolled in Equity Hubs throughout Montgomery County. On Monday, January 4th we rolled out a new data gathering tool so that we can better address the data points requested at a classroom level. We are also asking providers to submit regular data regarding attendance vs enrollment and asking each provider with open seats to submit to us a recruitment and enrollment plan of how they plan to fill the empty seats. We realize there are empty seats and we are working in the month of January to fill those empty seats and encourage providers to help their families apply for the DHHS subsidy. I also want to state that the data points can change on a daily basis. There have been families that enrolled in September, then left and are now coming back again in January so it is a continually evolving program.
Data Points Avg family income: $25,927 Grade Levels: K-2 is 52.43%, 3-6 is 31.49% Student Race/Ethnicity: 28.92% Black, 7% multiracial, 45.54% Hispanic or Latino, 11% White, 0.68% Asian, 3.11% other Language: 34% Spanish, 60.68% English, 1% French, 4% other Number of students that have transitioned from COF to DHHS: 32 students
Below are the enrollment numbers by site, number of Equity Hub classrooms, number of COF scholarship students, seats available in Equity Hub cohorts and seats available in non-Equity Hub cohorts. This first table is for schools where there are dedicated Equity Hub Cohorts. We also have a few new classrooms opening in January, which have been in the works since December. We will be opening a second classroom at Strathmore, a fifth classroom at Wheaton Woods, a first classroom at Stonegate, a first classroom at Galway, a second classroom at New Hampshire Estates and a fifth classroom at Pine Crest (for students from JoAnn Leleck). Below the table we will list number of students funded individually at other Learning Hubs which are open throughout Montgomery County. Schools that are grayed out are Title 1 schools, the green schools are the Kirwan Community Schools, the teal schools are focus schools.
Dedicated seats seats Equity # of COF available available Hub students Scholarship (Equity (in paid Schools Cohorts enrolled students Hubs) cohorts) Arcola Elementary School 1 13 13 0 0 Bayard Rustin Elementary School 3 60 43 0 0 Bells Mill Elementary School 1 21 10 3 2 Brown Station Elementary
(13) School 3 52 39 0 0 Cannon Road Elementary School 1 15 15 2 0 Carson Rachel Elementary School 1 36 11 2 1 Cashell Elementary School 1 17 8 4 5 Cedar Grove Elementary School 1 19 9 3 4 Clopper Mill Elementary School 5 60 60 4 0 Cloverly Elementary School 2 26 28 9 0 College Gardens 3 36 36 3 0 Daly, Capt. James E. Elementary School 4 57 45 8 0 Fallsmead Elementary School 1 20 8 3 3 Flower Hill Elementary School 2 23 23 3 0 Forest Knolls Elementary School 2 30 27 3 9 Gibbs Elementary School 2 14 14 12 0 Goshen Elementary School 1 26 19 0 0 Great Seneca Creek Elementary School 3 48 36 8 0 Greencastle Elementary School 1 10 17 6 0 Highland Elementary School 5 65 65 7 0 Highland View Elementary School 2 39 28 0 0 Laytonsville Elementary School 1 26 16 2 1 Maryvale Elementary School 1 4 3 9 0 McNair Ronald Elementary School 2 38 28 0 1 Meadow Hall Elementary School 3 39 39 0 0 New Hampshire
(14) Estates 2 5 5 21 0 Oakland Terrace Elementary School 1 22 13 10 0 Pine Crest Elementary School 3 51 30 13 0 Piney Branch Elementary School 2 39 31 0 0 Rock Creek Forest Elementary School 5 57 44 21 0 Silver Spring International Middle School 8 96 96 0 0 Stedwick Elementary School 7 80 80 11 0 Strathmore Elementary School 2 13 13 13 0 Strawberry Knoll Elementary School 2 42 32 5 5 Summit Hall Elementary School 2 26 26 0 0 Viers Mill Elementary School 2 26 26 0 0 Wheaton Woods Elementary School 4 57 56 8 0 Whetstone Elementary School 4 48 48 4 0
Totals 96 1356 1140 197 31
Schools with students funded individually Chevy Chase Elementary School – 1 Poolesville Baptist Church – 4 Ritchie Park – 2 Carderock Springs – 4 Farmland – 4 Flower Valley – 3 Garrett Park – 2 North Chevy Chase – 2 Rock View – 6 Woodlin – 2
We only have homeschool information for 738 students. We are receiving updated data documents from all providers on Tuesday, January 12, so we will be able to provide a more complete data set after we compile all of the data from the new data tracking document.
By Home School Total Arcola 15 Ballenger Creek 1 Bayard Rustin 2
(15) Beall 15 Bells Mill 5 Beverly Farms 3 Bradley Hills 2 Brooke Grove 2 Brookhaven 3 Brown Station 33 Cashell 4 Cedar Grove 2 Clear Spring 1 Clopper Mill 54 College Gardens 6 Daly 47 Damascus 1 Diamond 1 Dufief 1 East Silver Spring 4 Eastern Middle 1 Fallsmead 2 Flower Hill 34 Forest Oak MS 2 Fox Chapel 7 Gaithersburg 10 Germantown 2 Goshen 14 Great Seneca Creek 20 Greenwood 1 Highland 31 Jackson Rd. 2 Judith K Resnik 2 Julius West MS 22 Kensington Parkwood 1 Kingsview Middle 1 Lake Seneca 1 Lakewood 1 Laytonsville 6 Little Bennett 5 Maryvale 1 Matsunaga 6 Meadow Hall 1 Mill Creek Towne 1 Montgomery Knolls 6 Montgomery Village MS 1 N/A 1 Neelesville MS 2 Neelsville MS 1 North Chevy Chase 2 Oakland Terrace 1 Olney 3 Other 1 Pine Crest 2 Piney Branch 13 Poolesville 4 Potomac 6 Rachel Carson 9 Ritchie Park 3 Robert Frost MS 2 Roberto Clemente MS 8
(16) Rock Creeek Valley 3 Rock Creek Forest 49 Rock View 1 Rocky Hill MS 3 Ronald McNair 24 Rosemont 2 Rusty 2 S. Christa McAuliffe 9 Sally K Ride 1 Sargent Shriver 1 Sequoyah 1 Shady Grove MS 1 Sligo Creek 1 Snowden Farm 1 Somerset 1 South Lake 20 Stedwick 23 Strawberry Knoll 26 Takoma Park 15 Thurgood Marshall 7 Travilah 6 Twinbrook 5 Unknown 1 Viers Mill 1 Washington Grove 7 Waters Landing 5 Watkins Mill 10 Weller Rd. 10 Wheaton Woods 28 Whetstone 23 William Gibbs 2 Wood Acres 3 Woodfield 4 Wyngate 1 Student Total 738
Kimberly Rusnak Director, Children’s Opportunity Fund She/Her/Hers
(301) 495-3036 (office) (301) 526-9989 (mobile) [email protected] 8720 Georgia Avenue, Suite 202 | Silver Spring, MD 20910 Donate Now h www.thecommunityfoundation.org
For COVID-19 Information and resources, visit: www.montgomerycountymd.gov/COVID19
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