Supporting Student Success – NH Extended Learning Opportunities

All Site Meeting

December 4, 2008

Location: NH DOE, Room 100

Time: 9:00 – 12:00 p.m.

In attendance: ELO teams from the following high schools: Manchester Central, Laconia, Franklin, Newfound Regional, Monadnock Regional, Farmington, Raymond and Mascenic. ELO Partnership: Jessica Spohn (NMEF), Mariane Gfroerer (NH DOE), Paul Leather (NH DOE), Janice Hastings (PlusTime NH & facilitator), Cynthia Billings (PlusTime NH), Melissa Gallagher (PlusTime NH and recorder), Suzanne Birdsall (NH DOE), Rose Colby (CACES), Karen Thompson (QED Foundation). Special guests: Darlene Simmons LGC, Marcy Bauers LGC, Jonathan Kipp, Primex

Materials Distributed:

• Meeting agenda

• Meeting evaluation

• Primex information packet

• “Internship Tool” document

• Department of Labor site screening and approval forms

Part I: Insurance Provider Information and Q & A

The first part of the meeting was dedicated to providing information to sites on school based insurance coverage and addressed questions that the group had related to coverage for ELOs. Representatives from insurance providers LGC and Primex were on hand to field these questions.

LGC and Primex view ELOs as similar to the “work-based learning” component of their respective policies and referred to it as such. The LGC Educator’s Member Agreement definition of a member is as follows:
“School Member includes its governing body, administrators, faculty, employees, student teachers,Students participating in unpaid supervised work based learning programs…”. A school’s policy for students participating in a work based learning opportunity would have full coverage as outlined in the Summary Amounts of Protection. However, they won’t cover incidents related to an employer site’s negligence.

Primex coverage is similar, however the work-based learning piece is a separate policy. They both state that for the purpose of discussing coverage, their interest is in the safety of students and decisions should be based on the needs of students.

Q & A session:

• Q: Are students covered if they go out of state?

  • Primex: Out of state businesses cannot be approved by DOL (DOL doesn’t have the authority to monitor the safety and other aspects of the business and can therefore not approve it as a work site. ), so Primex does not cover schools for students going out of state to participate in an ELO.

  • LGC: Yes, LGC will cover the student

• In order for the student’s out-of-school learning experience to be covered, it has to be an unpaid learning opportunity.

• Q: If there is an exchange of services – what does that mean? Does this mean it is a paid work position? Who covers the student in these circumstances?

• A: We should get clarification from the DOL, but both providers assume that if there are no wages attached, it is not considered a paid work position. The schools are reminded that if there is an exchange of services arrangement, the employer must get an exemption from the minimum wage requirement.

• Q: If a group of students are participating in dance lessons at a studio (group ELO) where they are in a learning program, and they are working with teacher at school, getting P.E. credit, are they covered?

  • A: If it’s an approved school program (part of the student’s learning plan), then yes, they are covered. LCG likened this to a school field trip and for liability coverage, field trips are covered.

• Q: Does the time of day matter when a student is doing this?

  • A: No. As long as they are following youth employment laws.

• Q: Does off site work with a mentor fall under work based learning? E.g. Under the school’s approval, the student works with mentor, not a business. Would the student be protected?

  • A: There is not a clear answer, e.g. if this was not a site certified by the DOL. It depends on the negligence of that person involved – neither provider will cover for the negligence of the adult mentor. Schools must look at the safety aspect of it. You need to know the environment they are going into beforehand. However if it is an approved learning program that has been documented – the student is covered.

  • An additional thought by LGC: The school can control the structure of agreements between the district and the mentor/partner – make sure the status of the relationship is very clear. Schools should make sure that the arrangements for meetings is in the safest format – other adults should be present during these meetings.

• Q: What are insurance providers’ expectations around the screening of a mentor?

  • A: There is nothing specific but they can give guidance in terms of what should be put in place. They can help to develop a document or protocols – maybe key guidelines that everyone should take to assure safety, etc. Due diligence to be as safe and covered as possible. LGC and Primex suggested that they meet with the DOE reps to draft these protocols, as they did with the school-to-work protocols. Paul L will follow up directly with them.

  • Background checks and fingerprinting policies are made at the district level.

• Q: ELO’s have more wiggle room, are more flexible, e.g. private lessons, interviews, things that occur over a long period of time; this may include one on one mentorship, or someone simply overseeing what the student is doing. Where does coverage fall in these circumstances?

  • A: Districts have to be clear about the agreements between individuals, for example: What is the school’s role? what is the parent’s role? Just because a parent approves a particular activity doesn’t mean it’s allowed by, or should be approved by, the school. The school must take measures to ensure these activities are safe and appropriate for students.

• Q: What about travel to an ELO site in the student’s own car?

  • A: The school’s policy with LGC or Primex will cover the student’s travel but it ONLY will cover travel to and from the work site or the learning program – no detours. The student must be traveling alone.

• Q: What about a student’s age? What about an 18 year old? What are the responsibilities?

  • A: If they are a student they are covered and age does not matter.

• Q: What about time out of school to go to a college fair in a student carpool?

  • A: Since LGC and Primex cover students traveling to and from work-based learning when traveling alone, this would not be covered. If school approved transportation is not provided, schools should state so clearly and suggest that students and parents make their own arrangements.

• Q: What about a student getting into a car with a mentor? What if it’s another teacher?

  • A: They would not recommend it under either scenario. You have to think about protecting the adults as well as the kids.

• Q: What about going across country borders with programs such as Habitat for Humanity?

  • A: Not completely clear but international organizations should have their own liability coverage.

  • This should be treated like any other out of country school trip – proper safety plans, supervision, trip insurance, etc.

• The group referred to the last page of the Primex form and it is clarified that the safety issues outlined are requirements of DOL, not Primex.

Part II: Setting up an ELO

Karen Thompson walked through the process of setting up an ELO at a community partner site.

• Having a relationship with the business manager or designated person at the school who handles insurance matters is very important. ELO coordinators should set up a time to meet with this person and explain what the ELO initiative is, and the nature of these activities. This will help that manager better understand how to address insurance questions as they arise.

• Karen distributed and walked through the “Internship Tool” document to describe the various steps in setting up an ELO with a new site.

• Q: What if the site doesn’t get approved by the DOL but the student is already in midst of ELO?

  • A: It is not recommended that students begin work at a site until the site has been approved by DOL.

• Addressing fingerprinting and background checks:

  • Whomever the mentor/supervisor is at a site (directly working with or supervising the student), that is the person you want to do the background check on.

  • Background checks cost money and are time consuming. Don’t ask the site partner to get it done on their own. Karen suggested that schools get their own fingerprinting kit and bring it with them to a site, it takes two minutes to perform. A local police station can show you how to do it. Once the fingerprinting has been done, the form has to be notarized.

  • Questions were raised about current changes to state requirements for background checks and fingerprinting due to homeland security issues, i.e., only the state police can can do fingerprinting. The ELO team will look into this.

• If the DOL sends back a site screen that has been rejected, find out why and consider next steps. If it’s something as simple as a safety summary needing to be on file, that is an easy fix. If it’s something more serious like multiple workman’s comp violations, you need to consider whether this is an appropriate site for your student.

• Karen encouraged sites to call the DOL and walk through questions and paperwork processes if they are unclear.

• Karen mentioned that there is a crosswalk between federal and state labor laws, which the ELO Team will get to sites.

• The group reviewed the DOL site certification and program approval forms. The forms are available on line and Melissa will send out this information via email. You can go to the “school to work” portion of the DOL site and see every site that is currently certified.

• The site certification needs to be completed every calendar year.

• Karen recommends that, prior to a new student starting at a site, the coordinator call to check in and remind the site of the start date and confirm details.

Part III: Discussion on ELO Student Recruitment

Mariane started off with an introduction and addressed the broadened definition of underserved students, which now includes “at risk” students. “At risk” could mean at risk for school failure or dropping-out through failing one or more classes or repeated tardy or absence. Schools are encouraged to find out if their school uses a particular definition or set of criteria for designating a student as “at risk”. We will continue to discuss this to reach a shared understanding of the term for data collection purposes.

Mariane also addressed the notion of “Disruptive Innovation”, meaning as we embark on a new way of doing things, we’re learning as we go and we must be sensitive to the student and ensure that they are not unintentionally harmed – such as being set back for graduation because of assessment practices that are still under development. The more sites can make clear to students at the front end what the expectations are, the better job we can do about ensuring their success.

Part IV: Group Activity

Discussion on the strategies, challenges and opportunities around Student Recruitment as well as general current challenges (notes attached).

Part V: Snow Day Protocols

Janice has developed protocols by which the Leadership Team will decide when to cancel all-site meetings due to snow. These decisions will be based on the number of school closings. The protocols will be distributed via email and will include a phone number to call on the morning of the meeting to check for cancellation.