Learning with the World Wide Web!

Just wanted to let you guys know about a free webinar that could be coming to a screen near you! All you have to do is sign up by following the link provided below.

Webinar - Personal Skill Development Please join us for a FREE webinar on Thursday, December 10 with Christine LaRocco, noted author and International Center Consultant Title: Personal Skill Development Date: Thursday, December 10 Time: 3:30 PM - 4:30 PM Eastern Standard Time Space is limited. Reserve your webinar seat now at: https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/652080450

Personal skill development is an essential element in continuous school improvement. When students learn to communicate effectively, respect others, accept responsibility, resolve problems, and work on teams, their academic achievement improves. Business leaders validate the importance of these personal skills as critical for success in the workplace.

During this webinar participants will:

* Understand the personal skills students will need to be successful in the workplace
* Form the basis for strategic integration of skill sets into the overall school curriculum
* Learn strategies for integrating personal skill development into classroom instruction


Feel free to share this invitation with colleagues that may also be interested in attending. Please contact Lori Eastman at Lori@LeaderEd.com [mailto:Lori@LeaderEd.com] or (518)399-2776 x210 with any questions.

Additionally I would like to remind all of you to use Fiscal Year 2010 forms when submitting any claim for Reimbursement! The forms can be found at the link below:

http://www.okcareertech.org/fla/docs.htm

As always if you have any questions, concerns or suggestions feel free to let us know.

-cp

Fall Supplemental Surveys

After looking at the responses to the Fall Survey sent out to all the Supplemental Grant recipients, we would like to say a big thank you to those that have taken time to answer and submit. Performing these types of information gathering surveys is one way we at ODCTE try and stay in tune with what the educators of our system need to continue to excel at producing the next generation workforce. If you have not yet made time to acquire your pin and fill the survey out we would like to kindly usher you to complete this task (only if you received a Carl Perkins Supplemental Grant), to find the survey you may go to our main site.

In other news all fiscal year 2010 notification of award letters have been sent to the Superintendent/President of each respective school. If you received a provisional notification the revisions required to your application are due no later than November 30th. If you have not received a letter please contact us at (405)377-2000; Janet is extension 130 and Josh is extension 401, or by email carlperkins@okcareertech.org



As always if there is anything we can do to help feel free to contact us.

--cp

Staying a Step ahead of Fall

It’s hard to believe that it is already the middle of September…

We just thought that this would be a good time to cover a couple of common questions that we have been receiving from the schools, and to close up a few loose ends as we are working to close up fiscal year 09.

FAQ’s:

1. Is my school’s Carl Perkins Basic Application approved for fiscal year 2010?

The short answer is no, this means that schools are not to spend funds expecting Carl Perkins Reimbursement. The long answer is that we are diligently working to review all applications and hope to have the letters mailed to all schools by the end of the month. Once you receive your letter, which is your official notice that you have been approved, you may then request reimbursement for funds spent.

2. I made a mistake or need to change a portion of my budget narrative to include something left off, overlooked, unaware of, or any other numerous instances, is it too late?

The answer is…..No! It is not too late to do a budget narrative revision, to do this you will need to call the Federal Legislation Office, and talk with Janet or Josh. If you need to do this we need an explanation as to why, for auditing purpose and so that we know what it is you are planning to change, and if it is allowable.

The phone numbers of the FLA office are:

Janet Cooper: 405.743.5130 and Josh Miller: 405.743.5401

3. Is it Fall break yet?

No, sorry. Hang in there it is just a few weeks away!


Finally, claims for FY09… We are still working on a couple of claims that need more information to approve certain purchases. We are thinking of holding a webinar over claims in an effort to streamline the process and improve turnaround time. Do any of you have any suggestions or questions over claims that need to be addressed or answered?

As always if we can be any assistance let us know.

--cp

Claims, Claims, and Claims.

As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality. --Albert Einstein


I had to search for a quote that would straighten out the whirlwind of claims processing flying around the FLA office, and somehow Einstein always knows how to word it best! Processing of claims for reimbursement is going quite well and we should have the batch down to Finance in the next couple of days.
JUST AS A FRIENDLY REMINDER

ALL CLAIMS FOR FY09 REIMBURSEMENT ARE DUE AUGUST 1ST!

This means all Secondary, Post secondary, and Supplemental reimbursements need to be in the FLA office by this date. Please make sure that you have the proper documentation sent with your claims, as this greatly speeds up the approval process. I have listed and in some cases linked examples of the documents needed for your claim to be processed smoothly.

Get your reimbursement quicker list!

• Correct Claim Form (signed, electronic signature is ok)
• OCAS Report (signed, electronic signature is ok)
• Invoices for any purchase of single equipment or software items over $250

In addition we are glad to announce that all the FY10 Carl Perkins Supplemental Grant Categories have been awarded. These notices went out as a fax to each school that submitted a grant application from any of the 7 categories including Summer Bridge, Tech Now, Postsecondary Transitions, High Growth and Emerging Technologies, Gateway to Technology, Mentoring Underrepresented Students, and Guidance and Advisement. The competition was tough this year with nearly 100 grant applications, and over 1.45 million awarded. We would like to commend those that sent in applications for their hard work and dedication to CareerTech programs and initiatives.

The temperature on my computer says its 108 degrees outside, stay cool during these Oklahoma summer days. As always the FLA office is here to assist you with any questions or concerns, if we can help you in any way just swing by here and post a comment or give us a call and we will be glad to help you.

Till next time I’m “certain” it’s time to go…

CP

Putting the Know in Innovation:

Welcome to the inaugural first post for the ODCTE Carl Perkins blog, your source for up to date information on the inner workings of the FLA office.

A hot topic for discussion within our division over the past month has been innovation, thinking way outside the box in an effort to more efficiently serve our schools, technology centers, and staff. Following the lead of ODCTE's Tech Prep coordinator we have established this blog, designed to give regular updates on the activities of the Carl Perkins team.

Hopefully as time progresses those of you who deal with the Carl Perkins process will use this blog as a news source, checking the details of the general process here in a central web location. It is our intent to use this in the coming years to give updates on official due dates for the application, as well as giving reminders of upcoming deadlines.

Wishful thinking hopes that in the future the grant writers, teachers, and administration would use this blog as a place to provide instant feedback on topics that are affecting the process. This would allow the FLA office as a whole to improve services to the educational system, speed up grant approval and encourage change to processes to improve them from year to year.

For now; welcome to the Carl Perkins Blog, bookmark it and check it often. You could be the first to feel the change in the air.

CP