4. School Meal Supply Chain Disruptions:
Due to disruptions in the supply chain, school nutrition programs across the state and the nation are struggling to secure the necessary food and supplies needed to feed students. Product shortages, discontinued items, price increases, distributor cancellations, delayed or cancelled deliveries with little to no notice, and staffing shortages are just a few of the challenges districts are facing. School nutrition staff are working hard to ensure healthy, nutritious, and appealing free school meals are served every school day despite unprecedented challenges.
Project Bread has made a template letter and social media message (download) available to school districts to assist with communications to families. Schools can tailor the templates to keep families informed.
Districts can support their school nutrition staff by:
- Helping them unload delivery trucks and transport food from one school to another.
- Allowing “key drops” so that deliveries can be made before or after schools are open.
- Working with union representatives to expand delivery receiving hours before 6:00 a.m. or after 2:30 p.m.
For more information on the food supply chain issue, please view this video produced by the School Nutrition Association which includes helpful recommendations to help minimize disruptions.
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5. Workshop on Communication in Uncertain Times:
LearnLaunch, with support from DESE, is offering a free 90-minute interactive Effective Communication in Uncertain Times workshop designed to give school and district leaders actionable strategies to hone and disseminate their core messages during times of change, uncertainty, and controversy. Understand how improved two-way communication can build trust, credibility, and confidence among stakeholders. This workshop will be offered at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday, October 14; Tuesday, October 19; and Wednesday, October 20. Links for registration and all of LearnLaunch’s upcoming workshops are here!
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6. Survey to Develop MOUs for SROs:
The Department, in partnership with Executive Office of Public Safety and Security, is co-chairing the School Resource Officer (SRO) Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) Commission. The Commission invites district and school administrators, school staff, students, parents and guardians, and others to participate in the Commission Public Input Survey. The survey results will inform the type of information that should be reflected in the MOU as well as included in future communication and training about SRO programming. The survey will be open until Friday, October 15 and is available in multiple languages via the link in the upper right corner of the survey.
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7. Reminder about U.S. Senate Youth Scholarship Program:
The U.S. Senate Youth Scholarship Program is a nationwide college scholarship program designed to promote student leaders' awareness of, participation in, and interest in government. The program is open to high school juniors and seniors in Massachusetts public (including charter) and private schools who are currently serving in an elected or appointed position in student government or in a civic or educational organization in which they represent their peers. Eligible students must submit a completed application with essay by 5:00 p.m. on Friday, October 15.
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8. Youth Mental Health First Aid Training Available:
The Department is pleased to be able to offer Youth Mental Health First Aid training sessions again this year. The training helps teachers, other school staff, parents, and others who interact with youth to recognize and support students ages 6-18 who may be experiencing mental health or substance use challenges and if needed, to refer them to mental health services. As everyone continues to navigate the impacts and challenges of the pandemic, it is likely that teachers and other school staff are seeing increased numbers of students who report and demonstrate changes in mood as well as more intense feelings of anxiety and stress. Though school mental health professionals may find this training to be helpful, the intended audience is individuals without mental health training who work or interact with young people.
Please visit DESE’s YMHFA page for more information, including available session dates and times and how to register. Sessions are currently scheduled for dates starting Friday, October 29 and continuing through January.
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9. P-EBT and SNAP Reminders:
Based on federal rules, students attending school in-person are not eligible for Pandemic-EBT (P-EBT), but the Department of Transitional Assistance (DTA) encourages students and families to keep their P-EBT cards. More information can be found at MAp-EBT.org.
If students received P-EBT, they may be eligible for SNAP. Please encourage families who received P-EBT to sign up for SNAP. It is fast and easy to apply, and the monthly SNAP amount is now higher than ever ($658 for a family of three and $835 for a family of four!). The following resources can help spread the word:
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- Project-based learning opportunities: PBLWorks (formerly the Buck Institute for Education) is offering a free Project Slice for Massachusetts educators from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on Thursday, October 28 in Marlborough. During this one-day workshop, participants will experience a high-quality project from the perspective of a learner and understand the project’s alignment to the Gold Standard of project design. Learn more about the Project Slice and register here. Additionally, PBLWorks is hosting a fall webinar series organized around topics related to starting the school year with PBL. Learn more about the webinars and register here.
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