Public Notices

NON-DISCRIMINATION NOTIFICATION: FACTS does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, or age. FACTS does not retaliate against persons who file a discrimination complaint or lawsuit, who complain about discrimination; or who participate in a discrimination proceeding, such as being a witness in a complaint investigation or lawsuit.

FACTS is required to respond to complaints of discrimination from individuals or groups (e.g. program beneficiaries or employees) who are aggrieved. A discrimination complaint may be related to a claim to have been denied the benefits of, excluded from participation in, subjected to discrimination under, or denied employment in connection with any program or activity, on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability or age.

The information below is to assist individuals in understand the proper steps to file complaints of discrimination with the Federal Office for Civil Rights (OCR). Formal complaints should be filed as soon as possible (under some civil rights laws you only have 180 days after the incident to file a complaint; others, such as the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 and the Violence Against Women Act of 1994, provide a year).

Information about applicable laws, complaint forms, and the investigative process is available at the website for the OCR: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/ocr. To file a civil rights complaint with OCR, the aggrieved person(s) must complete a Complaint Verification Form (download from the OCR website) and send the form to:

Office of Justice Programs
Office for Civil Rights
810 7th Street, NW
Washington, D.C. 20531

Additionally, a copy of the complaint form should be provided to PCCD at the below address:

Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency
Director, Office of Financial Management and Administration
3101 North Front Street
Harrisburg, PA 17110

After receiving the letter of complaint, OCR will make the determination if an investigation will be initiated. OCR will contact the complainant as well as the agency in question.

FACTS TITLE IX OFFICER:
Individuals wishing to make a complaint of sexual discrimination or sexual harassment may contact FACTS’s Title IX Officer:

Trish Morris, Director of School Culture: tmorris@factschool.org

FACT Charter School
1023 Callowhill Street
Philadelphia, PA 19123
215-569-2600

FACTS’S EQUAL OPPORTUNITY EMPLOYER STATEMENT:

We are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer with a commitment to creating an inclusive workplace where all employees can thrive – regardless of race, gender, sex, pregnancy, gender identity and/or expression, sexual orientation, national origin or ancestry, citizenship status, color, age, religion or religious creed, physical or mental disability, medical condition, genetic information, marital status, military or veteran status, or any other basis protected by federal, state or local law. FACTS complies with federal and state disability laws and makes reasonable accommodations for applicants and employees with disabilities.

FACTS’s TITLE IX POLICY: Title IX rev aug 2020

FACTS’s ANTI-BULLYING AND ANTI-HARASSMENT POLICIES: FACTS Anti-Bullying & Anti Harassment Policies

MCKINNEY-VENTO HOMELESS ASSISTANCE ACT

Adopted: 3/15/2017

FACTS Charter School is dedicated to presenting our youth who may be experiencing homelessness with the same educational opportunities as those students with permanent residency. It is our duty to understand the criteria which will qualify students as homeless, identify these students in a timely manner and remove any barriers that may exist to provide them with a quality education.

The School Counselor has been identified as the Homeless Liaison with the School District of Philadelphia’s Education for Children and Youth Experiencing Homelessness Division (ECYEH). S/he will collaborate with the ECYEH, School Principal, School Nurse, Special Education Supervisor and the Director of School Culture and the Non-Instructional Coordinator to address any challenges any homeless student may encounter.

DEFINITION:

FACTS employs the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act definition when identifying students who may be homeless. The term, “homeless children and youth” shall mean:

(A) individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence…; and

(B) includes—

(i) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; are abandoned in hospitals; or are awaiting foster care placement;

(ii) children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings;

(iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and

(iv) migratory children who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).

Children and youth are considered homeless if they fit both part A and any one of the subparts of part B of the definition above.

IDENTIFICATION:

Students will have the opportunity to be identified as homeless throughout the course of the academic year with standard questions being asked at designated times, however, students may be identified via teachers and an open communication with the families we serve. Applicants will be asked residency information during the application process and there will be an opportunity for families to be identified during quarterly Report Card Conferences with a brief question regarding residency.

TRAINING:

All faculty and staff will be trained on the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act to aid in identification of students who may be experiencing residential difficulties and to understand how to refer a homeless student to school staff to ensure the student receives all appropriate educational services in a timely manner.

RIGHTS:

FACTS will assure that homeless students will not be denied immediate enrollment due to any requirements including: immunization records, medical records, residency, birth certificates, school records, guardianship, or uniform policy. The school will partner with the parent and guardian, while fully complying with their privacy rights, to attain documents or information necessary for the safety of the student and the student body as a whole (e.g. emergency contact information, immunization records). All homeless students will be advised of their rights including the rights to: immediate enrollment, remain in their existing school, transportation, access to educational services to which they are entitled, and free breakfast and lunch.

SERVICES:

Once a student has been identified as homeless under the McKinney-Vento Act they will be referred to the School Counselor, who in turn, will help identify what barriers may exist to the student that would impede the student having access to a quality education. The School Counselor/ Homeless Liaison will work with ECYEH to ensure the student benefits from programs designated to remove barriers to their education.

Students who are identified as homeless who have not procured a safe place to stay will be referred to the School Counselor who will provide connections with outside agencies as well as the ECYEH to aid in procuring safe, temporary, housing.
FACTS will work with the transportation provider to ensure an uneventful transition in alternate transportation i.e. an alternative school bus route. FACTS Charter School will also partner with ECYEH if warranted to ensure transportation is not a barrier to the student attending school on a regular basis.
The School Counselor will work closely with the educators to ensure the quality of the student’s work is not affected.
The School Counselor will offer the families the benefit of individual school counseling sessions on as needed basis to address the student’s mental, emotional, and developmental health is being sufficiently addressed.
The School Counselor will work closely with the School Nurse to ensure any health needs can be addressed in a timely manner and will contact outside agencies to coordinate procuring health care or outside mental health counseling if the need arises.

FAMILY EDUCATIONAL RIGHTS AND PRIVACY ACT (FERPA)
Notification of Rights

The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) affords parents and students over 18 years
of age (“eligible students”) certain rights with respect to the student’s education records. These rights are:

(1) The right to inspect and review the student’s education records within 45 days of the day the
School receives a request for access.
Parents or eligible students should submit to the Executive Director a written request that identifies the record(s) they wish to inspect. The Executive Director will make arrangements for access and notify the parent or eligible student of the time and place where the records may be inspected.

(2) The right to request the amendment of the student’s education records that the parent or eligible
student believes are inaccurate, misleading, or otherwise in violation of the student’s privacy rights under FERPA.
Parents or eligible students who wish to ask the School to amend a record should write the Executive Director clearly identify the part of the record they want changed, and specify why it should be changed. If the School decides not to amend the record as requested by the parent or eligible student, the School will notify the parent or eligible student of the decision and advise them of their right to a hearing regarding the request for amendment. Additional information regarding the hearing procedures will be provided to the parent or eligible student when notified of the right to a hearing.

(3) The right to privacy of personally identifiable information in the student’s education records,
except to the extent that FERPA authorizes disclosure without consent.

One exception, which permits disclosure without consent, is disclosure to school officials with
legitimate educational interests. A school official is a person employed by the School as an administrator, supervisor, instructor, or support staff member (including health or medical staff and law enforcement unit personnel); a person serving on the School Board; a person or company with whom the School has outsourced services or functions it would otherwise use its own employees to perform (such as an attorney, auditor, medical consultant, or therapist); a parent or student serving on an official committee, such as a disciplinary or grievance committee; or a parent, student, or other volunteer assisting another school official in performing his or her tasks.

A school official has a legitimate educational interest if the official needs to review an education
record in order to fulfill his or her professional responsibility.

Upon request, the School discloses education records without consent to officials of another school district in which a student seeks or intends to enroll, or is already enrolled if the disclosure is for purposes of the student’s enrollment or transfer and if the school has been unsuccessful in its reasonable attempts to notify the parent or student of the records request.

Notice for Directory Information
Under FERPA, the School must, with certain exceptions, obtain written consent prior to the disclosure of personally identifiable information from a student’s education records. However, the School may disclose personally identifiable information contained in the student’s educational records without obtaining prior written consent of the parent or eligible student if the School has designated the information as “directory information.”

The School has designated the following categories of information as directory information for the purpose of disclosure relating to school-sponsored/school-affiliated purposes:

Student name;
Photographs (including video image);
Degrees, honors, and awards received;
Grade level; and
Participation in officially recognized activities and sports.

School-sponsored/school-affiliated purposes are those events/activities that the School conducts and/or sponsors to support the educational mission of the School. Examples include, but are not limited to:

Extracurricular programs or events (e.g., school plays, concerts, athletic events, graduation ceremony);
Publications (e.g., newsletters, yearbook, etc.);
Honor roll and other student recognition lists.

The School shall not release directory information except for the purpose indicated above, namely:

Disclosure relating to school-sponsored/school-affiliated purposes.

(4) The right to file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education concerning alleged failures by
the School to comply with the requirements of FERPA. The name and address of the Office that administers FERPA are:

Family Policy Compliance Office
U.S. Department of Education
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20202

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