School Reopening
Bureau of Indian Education School Reopening Plan
The draft Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) School Reopening (Plan) is intended to provide guidance to BIE schools regarding:
- Guidelines for school reopening
- Considerations for teachers and staff
- School building mitigation and cleaning
- Health screening
- Social distancing and other safety protocols
BIE goals for the Plan include:
- Provide reopening directives to BIE-operated schools for developing individual school site reopening plans.
- Provide reopening guidance to Bureau-funded schools, including Tribally-controlled schools, who may utilize the Plan’s recommendations to support their individual school site reopening plans.
- Serve as structural guidance for formal government-to-government Tribal consultation as well as separate engagement events with pertinent union organizations, such as the Federation of Indian Service Employees (FISE), and national Tribal organizations like the National Indian Education Association (NIEA). Formal Tribal consultation and stakeholder engagement events will be scheduled to occur in summer 2020 to provide schools adequate time to develop localized reopening plans for the 2020-2021 School Year.
- The intended purpose of the Tribal consultation and stakeholder engagement is to ensure that BIE is meeting the needs of its students, schools, and Tribal communities during the COVID-19 Pandemic recovery.
School Reopening Consultation Schedule
The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) values Tribal leader and stakeholder input into the draft School Reopening Plan (Plan) to safely reopen school sites for the 2020-2021 school year (SY). As such, BIE will conduct two formal consultation sessions to inform the development of the Plan. Due to the COYID-19 pandemic and the fact that some Bureau-funded schools will open school sites for SY 2020-2021 by the end of July 2020, this letter and the Federal Register Notice (FRN) provides an expedited notification period of 15 days instead of the usual 30-day notification period. All sessions will be conducted virtually by webinar to minimize travel.
The intended purpose of the Tribal consultation and stakeholder engagement is to ensure that BIE is meeting the needs of its students, school s, and Tribal communities during the COYID-19 Pandemic recovery. The consultation session scheduled on Day I is intended for Tribal leaders or their designee. The consultation session scheduled on Day 2 is open to school boards, parents, Indian organizations, and other interested parties who may be affected by the Plan and wish to provide comments.
CONSULTATION SCHEDULE
The BIE will accept both oral and written comments. Written comments may be emailed to cons ultation@ bia.gov or sent by postal mail to Bureau of Indian Education, Juanita Mendoza, 1849 C Street NW MIB-3612, Washington, DC 20240. Comments must be received on or before July 25, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Questions regarding the Tribal consultations may be directed to Juanita Mendoza, Special Assistant to the Director, Bureau of Indian Education; phone (202) 208-3559 or email Juanita.Mendoza@bie.edu.
CONSULTATION MATERIAL FOR TRIBAL REVIEW
- Dear Tribal Leader Letter announcing consultation schedule
- Bureau of Indian Education School Reopening Plan
- Opening Plan Presentation
| FOR: | DATES | TIME (EDT) | TO JOIN WEBINAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tribes | Thursday, July 9, 2020 Day 1 |
3-5 p.m. ET | Register in Advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting. |
| Public | Friday, July 10, 2020 Day 2 |
3-5 p.m. ET | Register in advance for this meeting. After registering, you will receive a confermation email containing information about joining the meeting. |
Off-Reservation Boarding School Consultation Schedule
The Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) values Tribal Leader and stakeholder input into the draft School Reopening Plan (Plan) to safely reopen school sites for the 2020-2021 school year (SY). As such, in addition to the consultation sessions on the Plan scheduled for July 9, 2020 and July 10, 2020, BIE plans to conduct a formal consultation session to inform the development of the Plan, specifically in regards to Off Reservation Boarding Schools (ORBS) due to their unique role in the BIE system.
Similar to the July 9th and 10th consultation sessions, the ORBS consultation session on July 14 from 3-5pm (Eastern) will be conducted virtually by webinar to minimize travel. The BIE will accept both oral and written comments. Written comments may be emailed to consultation@bia.gov or by postal mail to Bureau of Indian Education, Juanita Mendoza, 1849 C Street NW MIB-3612, Washington, DC 20240. Comments must be received on or before July 29, 2020 at 11:59 p.m. ET. Questions regarding the Tribal consultations may be directed to Juanita Mendoza, Special Assistant to the Director, Bureau of Indian Education; phone (202) 208-3559 or email Juanita.Mendoza@bie.edu.
Register in advance for this meeting: After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the meeting.
- Dear Tribal Leader Letter announcing consultation – July 1, 2020