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Student and Family Support (SFS)

Educational Stability Office Hours and Training Resources


Office Hours

This forum is hosted by Educational Stability Team for homeless liaisons, foster care points of contact, and DCF, district, provider staff to ask questions, discuss current issues and share best practices for supporting highly mobile students and their access to a public education. Offices Hours are optional. Registration Is Now Required to Receive Log in. Join when you are ready or need technical assistance. Stay as long as you like, leave when you are ready. All we ask is that student privacy is maintained.

Office hours are scheduled through the 2022-2023 school year:

This year office hours will start in October and will include a 45 – 60 minute webinar and an additional half hour to allow for follow-up Q&As. Please see table below for training topics and registration.

Office Hours:

  • First Wednesday of each month from 1:00 to 2:30 pm
  • Third Thursday of each month from 9:00 to 10:30 am.
TopicDateTimeRegistration Link for Login
Awareness and AcronymsThursday, February 16, 20239:00 to 10:30Registration
TransportationWednesday, March 1, 20231:00 to 2:30Registration
Open Forum
(Bring your questions)
Thursday, March 16, 20239:00 to 10:30Registration
MIC3: Compact 101Wednesday, April 5, 20231:00 to 2:30Registration
Spring Break — CancelledThursday, April 20, 20239:00 to 10:30
Homeless and Foster Care Data CollectionWednesday, May 3, 20231:00 to 2:30Registration
    
Office Hours will resume for the 2023/2024 school year in October 2023Wednesday, Oct. 4, 20231:00 to 2:30

Previously Offered Sessions (Fall 2022)

TopicDateTime
OverviewWednesday, October 5, 20221:00 to 2:30
Cancelled (in-person Orientation in Malden was held instead)Thursday, October 20, 20229:00 to 10:30
Best Interest DeterminationsWednesday, November 2, 20221:00 to 2:30
Cancelled Awareness and Acronyms (rescheduled for February)Thursday, November 17, 20229:00 to 10:30
Notice to School DistrictWednesday, December 7, 20221:00 to 2:30
LEA assignmentsThursday, December 22, 20229:00 to 10:30
Who is the EDM?Wednesday, January 4, 20231:00 to 2:30
Supporting Students' Mental HealthThursday, January 19, 20239:00 to 10:30
Role of the DCF Education CoordinatorWednesday, February 1, 20231:00 to 2:30

Training Resources

Educational Stability Training Modules

Developed in-house by the Team these modules are each 30 to 60 minutes long, topic focused and Massachusetts specific. Feel free to use them for your own reference or as part of staff training. The Team will be adding modules on an ongoing basis to cover the Nuts and Bolts as well as Hot Topics. We hope you find these helpful. If you have any questions, join us for Office Hours (see above) or contact us at achievement@doe.mass.edu .

Orientations to Educational Stability

These full-day in-person training sessions went over the nuts and bolts of ensuring access to a public-school education for students who are homeless, in foster care, or in migratory or military connected families. Federal and state educational rights, student needs and best practices for providing support were covered. Orientations were for homeless education liaisons, foster care points of contact, and district staff and administrators who support our highly mobile students. State and local service providers and DCF social workers and staff were all welcome.

Dates and locations:

  • October 12, 2022, New Bedford, Fort Tabor
  • October 19, 2022, Springfield, SPS Professional Development Ctr.
  • October 20, 2022, Malden, DESE Conference Room

All dates/locations followed the same agenda and ran from 9:00am to 3:00pm The agenda included a break for lunch-on-your-own.

Additional DESE Resources and Events that Support Educational Stability

National and Other Resources

Last Updated: March 7, 2023

 
Contact Us

Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education
75 Pleasant Street, Malden, MA 02148-4906

Voice: (781) 338-3000
TTY: (800) 439-2370

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