THE STATE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT / THE UNIVERSITY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK / ALBANY, NY 12234 OFFICE OF SPECIAL EDUCATION ASSISTANT COMMISSIONER 89 Washington Avenue, Room 301M EB Albany, NY 12234 Telephone: (518) 402-3353 www.p12.nysed.gov/specialed/ Fax: (518) 402-3534 July 27, 2020 TO: Administrators of Nonpublic Schools with Approved Special Education Programs Administrators of the State-Supported Schools Superintendents of the New York State-Operated Schools Administrators of Approved Private Preschool Special Class Programs and Special Class in an Integrated Setting Programs FROM: Christopher Suriano, Assistant Commissioner RE: Submission of School Reopening Plans for Approved Private Programs Serving Students with Disabilities Nonpublic schools with an approved special education program (853 Schools), State- Supported Schools (4201 Schools), State-Operated Schools, and approved private preschool special class and special class in an integrated setting programs must submit School Reopening Plans.1 If a school is located on multiple sites, Reopening Plans may be individual plans that are specific to each school site, or a comprehensive plan that includes and specifically addresses all school sites. Reopening Plans must include the school sites each provider Agency is approved to operate as of the date of the plan’s submission. If a new site is approved during the 2020-21 school year, the Reopening Plan must be amended to include the new site. Reopening Plans must ensure that all requirements outlined in the guidance released by NYS Department of Health (DOH) on July 13, 2020 are included. On or before July 31, 2020, 853 Schools, 4201 Schools, State-Operated Schools, and approved private preschool special class and special class in an integrated setting programs must complete and submit their reopening plan to DOH in the portal described in the guidance released by DOH on July 13, 2020. On or before August 7, 2020, 853 Schools, 4201 Schools, State-Operated Schools, and approved private preschool special class and special class in an integrated setting programs must submit Reopening Plans to the SED portal. As part of its submission in 1 Please note that itinerant preschool special education programs and services (including special education itinerant services, preschool related services, and preschool multidisciplinary evaluations) are not required to submit individual Reopening Plans. the SED portal, schools must complete a survey that includes a set of mandatory assurances derived from the NYSED’s Reopening Guidance document. The Reopening Plan submitted to NYSED must be posted on the school’s public website in a location that is easily located by students, parents, teachers, administrators, and other community stakeholders. If a school does not have a public website, the school may identify an online platform (e.g. social media group or post, file sharing service, email listserv) that allows the Reopening Plan to be directly communicated to students, parents or legal guardians, school staff, and visitors. The New York State Education Department (NYSED) has issued a survey through the SED Monitoring and Vendor Reporting System (“the Portal”) to collect essential information about the Reopening Plans developed for the 2020-21 school year. The survey completed by 853 Schools, 4201 Schools, State-Operated Schools, and approved private preschool special class and special class in an integrated setting programs must provide NYSED with: • A link to the public website where each school Reopening Plan has been publicly posted or, for those without a website, an upload of the Reopening Plan; and • A set of mandatory assurances completed by the Chief Executive Officer affirming that the school will address, in each Reopening Plan, the mandatory elements outlined in NYSED’s guidance document that are applicable to an 853 School, 4201 School, State-Operated School, or approved private preschool special class or special class in an integrated setting program. Within the Portal survey, the applicable assurances related to the mandatory elements will be addressed in the same order as they appear in NYSED’s guidance document. Those assurances that are not applicable to approved private programs serving students with disabilities will either not appear in the survey or will be clearly identified as applicable only to certain schools based on specific identified criteria. Although some schools operate multiple program types (for example, an 853 School may also operate an approved preschool special class program), only one assurance survey will be required. That survey must consider and include measures applicable to all children who attend the school (school-age and preschool if applicable). Additionally, if within the same school building, there are two separate education program operators (for example, a private preschool special class in an integrated setting program is collaborating with a school district operated prekindergarten program at a district site), each school operator is responsible for submitting its own separate survey to include information on aspects of the program that it is responsible for providing, but should coordinate and communicate on their respective Reopening Plan applicable to that site. The information submitted through the NYSED Portal will not include detailed narratives or descriptions of specific actions to be taken by a school as part of their Reopening Plan. Instead, those details must be articulated in the materials that are publicly made available. This approach will allow schools to develop plans in their preferred format, to rapidly address changes that may be needed based on local needs, and to update their plan materials on a regular basis. 2 Submission of the Reopening Plan in the NYSED Monitoring and Vendor Performance System The survey has been assigned to an 853 School, 4201 School, or State-Operated School, or preschool special class/special class in an integrated setting program based on the provider Agency (see attachment for a listing of provider Agencies and corresponding Chief Executive Officer on record). Chief Executive Officers will submit the link(s) to the school Reopening Plan(s), or, for those without a website, an upload of the Reopening Plan and submit assurances through NYSED’s Monitoring and Vendor Reporting System (“The Portal”). A table in the survey is also included to submit additional Reopening Plans, if applicable, for each school site not located at the same physical address of the Agency. For each school site, the Chief Executive Officers will provide a link/upload to the individual school’s Reopening Plan or link/upload to a plan that specifically includes the school site. Once schools have completed and submitted their survey within the NYSED Portal, a confirmation notice indicating that the completed survey has been received will be generated and sent to the Chief Executive Officer. Reopening Plans should be implemented with fidelity upon submission and should be considered as approved unless the school is notified that modifications are necessary. NYSED Monitoring and Vendor Performance System Schools may submit their Reopening Plans and assurances in NYSED’s Monitoring and Vendor Reporting System (“The Portal”) by completing the following steps: 1. Go to the NYSED Business Portal; 2. Click on the “Log In” button; 3. Enter your username and password; 4. Click on “SED Monitoring and Vendor Performance System” under My Applications; 5. Select “View Surveys for School Closure;” 6. Click on ‘view’ to begin/continue to input information. Contact Information and Technical Assistance To resolve any questions related to user accounts, password resets, the SEDDAS application, and assistance with the Business Portal itself, please contact the Help Desk at [email protected]. If you are unsure as to whether or not you have access to NYSED’s Vendor Performance and Monitoring System, or believe Agency/Chief Executive Officer information listed on the attachment is incorrect, please contact the Office of Special Education at [email protected]. If you have any questions regarding the requirements for Reopening Plan submission, please reach out to NYSED program staff via email at [email protected]. 3 Reopening Survey Assignments Approved Private Programs Serving Students with Disabilities REOPEN SURVEYAGENCY INST IDAGENCY NAME SED CODE CEO FNAME CEO LNAME CEO TITLE PHYS ADDR LINE1 PHYS CITY ZIP COUNTY 853/4201/ST 800000042533 AABR, INC. (NEW YORK CHILD LEARNING INSTITUTE)342800997750 SUSAN VENER DIRECTOR 123-14 14TH AVE COLLEGE POINT 11356 QUEENS 853/4201/ST 800000053412 ABILITIES FIRST, INC 130801997760 JEFFERY FOX DIRECTOR 24 FIREMENS WAY POUGHKEEPSIE 12603 DUTCHESS 853/4201/ST 800000047271 AICHHORN SCHOOL (THE) 310300999436 MALIKA DUCKWORTH PRINCIPAL 23 W 106TH ST NEW YORK 10025 NEW YORK 853/4201/ST 800000053389 ANDERSON CENTER FOR AUTISM 130801996542 PATRICK PAUL DIRECTOR 4885 RT 9 STAATSBURG 12580 DUTCHESS 853/4201/ST 800000035527 ANDRUS CHILD HOME 660404998061 BRYAN MURPHY PRESIDENT 1156 N BROADWAY YONKERS 10701 WESTCHESTER 853/4201/ST 800000036179 ARC MID-HUDSON (THE) 620901999364 JOHN MCHUGH DIRECTOR 11 TANHOUSE BROOK RD COTTEKILL 12419 ULSTER 853/4201/ST 800000091383 ARC SULLIVAN-ORANGE COUNTIES 441600996478 J RICHARD SCHWARTZ EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 930 RAZ AVE NEW WINDSOR 12553 ORANGE 853/4201/ST 800000056022 ASCENT 800000056022 NANCY SHAMOW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR 819 GRAND BOULEVARD DEER PARK 11729 SUFFOLK 853/4201/ST 800000052310 ASPIRE OF WESTERN NEW YORK