Get documents about "DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Document Sample
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 1
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
February 14, 2008
12:30 pm CT
Operator: Good afternoon, and welcome to the Technical Assistance for the FY 2008
Safe Schools/Healthy Students Initiative. Karen Dorsey from the U.S.
Department of Education will provide opening remarks before we begin the
question and answer portion of the call.
During the Q&A session you may press star then 1 to ask a question. To
withdraw your question press the pound key.
I will now turn the call over to Miss Dorsey. Please go ahead.
Karen Dorsey: Thank you. Thank you. Good afternoon or morning and welcome to the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students Technical Assistance Call for fiscal year 2008.
Again, my name is Karen Dorsey and I’m with the Office of Safe and Drug
Free Schools at the U.S. Department of Education and I will serve as the
moderator for the call.
Also participating in today’s call are members from the federal Safe
Schools/Healthy Students team and they will introduce themselves.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 2
(Michael Wells): I’m (Michael Wells) from the U.S. Department of Education.
Michelle Bechard: And I’m Michelle Bechard and I’m with the U.S. Department of Health and
Human Services.
Karen Dorsey: Thank you. Each year we work hard to produce an application that is thorough
and complete but it’s impossible to anticipate every question that an applicant
may have. The purpose of this call is to provide technical assistance by
responding to applicant’s questions relating to eligibility requirements, the
absolute priority, grant application submission process, selection criteria, and
the application review process. Technical assistance does not include
providing recommendations or feedback on your approach or proposed project
design.
I recommend that you have your 2008 application available for making notes
as we will frequently reference page numbers in the application when we
respond to questions.
Before we open the line for questions I want to review some logistics for the
call and highlight minor changes made to this year’s application.
About the call. We have scheduled weekly calls every Thursday at 1:30 pm
Eastern until the week before the competition closes. The last call will be
Thursday, March 6.
A written transcript from the call will be posted on the Safe Schools/Healthy
Students Web site the Monday following the call. Additionally, audio
transcripts will be posted on the Web site as soon as they are available and
these things will be available until the competition closes. I would like to say
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 3
that the transcript from last week’s call was delayed. We will be working very
diligently to make sure these things are posted as we promised.
In addition to the posted transcript there is audio replay that will be available
two hours after each call ends and available until March 14. To access a
particular call you will need the call’s conference ID number.
Before asking a question please give us your name, city, and state. There may
be questions that require our discussion before we can provide a response. In
these cases we will place the call on mute briefly. There may be some
questions that we are unable to answer during this call. In such cases we will
consult with the necessary federal staff and post the responses on the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students Web site FAQ Page as well as include a note in the
transcript that is posted on the Web site.
And now I’m going to talk a little bit about the minor revisions that were
made to this year’s application. As many of you know the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students Initiative has been in existence since 1999
providing funding and technical assistance from three federal departments, the
U.S. Department of Education, Justice, and Health and Human Services to
267 communities across the nation. If you are not familiar with Safe
Schools/Healthy Students I recommend that you review the application
thoroughly as well as visit the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Web site for
additional information on the Initiative.
Safe Schools/Healthy Students is a discretionary grant program that provides
communities with federal funding and support, technical assistance to
implement a coordinated comprehensive plan of activities, curricula,
programs, and services that focus on creating safe school environments,
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 4
promoting healthy childhood development, and preventing youth violence,
alcohol, tobacco, and other drug use.
The absolute priority, requirements, selection criteria, and definitions have not
changed. These are the same for fiscal year 2008 as they were in fiscal year
2007. If you are not familiar with the changes to the Safe Schools/Healthy
Students Initiative that were implement in fiscal year 2007 I strongly
recommend that you review the May 10, 2007 Federal Register Notice of
Final Priorities, Requirements, Selection Criteria, and Definitions. This notice
is posted on the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Web site.
Changes made to the fiscal year 2008 application are in response to questions
received during last year’s competition and things we wanted to clarify.
The requirements for this grant are explained on Page 6 and 7 of the
application.
Again, for those of you not familiar with Safe Schools/Healthy Students I
recommend that you review the application thoroughly.
The following are revisions that are included in the fiscal year 2008
application.
Budget. Applicants need only submit a single ED 524 budget form. In
addition to the ED 524 budget form, applicants must include a detailed budget
for each of the four 12-month budget periods. Applicants still must include
two separate detailed budgets as required last year.
The first detailed budget should represent the funds needed to support
program elements 1, 2, and 3.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 5
The second detailed budget should represent the funds needed to support
program elements 4 and 5.
Each detailed budget should contain the same budget categories as the ED
Standard Form 524 and provide sufficient itemization to demonstrate how
costs were determined. For example, the cost per unit, or the cost per month or
per person.
The sum of the total amounts requested for each budget category of the first
and second detailed budgets should be entered on the ED Standard Form 524.
Failure to submit an ED Standard Form 524 and detailed budgets for each of
the four 12-month budget periods will result in no funding for those years for
which the documents, the Standard Form 524 and the detailed budget, were
not submitted. These instructions are included on Pages 9 and 86 of the
application and we have also posted a sample of a detailed budget on the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students Web site.
GPRA. There are six GPRA performance measures for the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students program. These measures are listed on Page 11. If
an award is made, grantees are expected to provide baseline data on each of
the six measures before implementing the project. If baseline data is not
available then a grantee must collect baseline data on each of the six measures
before implementing the project.
In addition to providing baseline data in year one, grantees are expected to
collect actual performance data for the year one annual performance report.
Consequently, applicants should give careful consideration to the GPRA
measures in conceptualizing the approach and evaluation of their proposed
project.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 6
Selection criteria. Several of the selection criterion require that information be
included in more than one place in the application, in the project narrative and
in the logic model or in the project narrative and in the preliminary MOA, in
order to be fully responsive. For those sub-criterion we have included a note
to remind applicants of this requirement and we have also included text boxes
throughout the application reminding applicants to maintain a consistency
between information presented in the narrative, preliminary MOA, and logic
model.
Frequently Asked Questions, FAQs. In addition to the FAQs that are included
in the application on Pages 31 through 47, we will be adding FAQs to the Safe
Schools/Healthy Students Web site. You should check this Web page
frequently.
Attachments. Page 87 contains a list of attachments for your Safe
Schools/Healthy Students application. Peer reviewers will only consider
attachments A, D, and E. Peer reviewers will not review other documents
submitted as an attachment nor will they review additional items other than
those listed for Attachment E. These items are job descriptions, resumes, and
timelines.
If you choose to include additional attachments and an award is made these
items will be considered part of your project and included in the management
and monitoring of your project.
Electronic submission. Applicants may choose to submit applications
electronically. Electronic submissions must be received before 4:30. We
strongly recommend that you do not wait until the last day to submit your
application. Grants.gov will put a date and timestamp on your application and
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 7
then process it after it is fully uploaded. The time it takes to upload an
application will vary depending on a number of factors including the size of
the application and the speed of your Internet connection. The time it takes
grants.gov to process the application will vary as well.
If grants.gov rejects your application you will need to resubmit successfully
before 4:30 on the deadline date. Electronic applications received after 4:30
even by a few seconds are late and will be deemed ineligible for funding and
will not be forwarded to peer review. If you choose to submit electronically
please review carefully the instructions related to electronic submissions on
Pages 3 through 5.
Finally, last week, and I will repeat again this week, we had some questions
about naming the local evaluator in the fiscal year 2008 Safe Schools/Healthy
Students application. The selection criteria related to evaluation are, and this
is on Page 27, the extent to which the applicant’s project narrative describes a
plan for regularly monitoring program implementation and identifies process
measures that the applicant will use to assess the quality and completeness of
the activities under the grant, and the extent to which the applicant’s project
narrative and logic model identify outcomes that are clearly linked to
identified objectives and activities for the project and specify how outcomes
will be measured. To fully respond to these selection criteria it is not
necessary to name a local evaluator in the application.
Furthermore, Department of Education general administrative regulations
require that all procurement transactions must be conducted in a manner that
provides for full and open competition consistent with the standards in
EDGAR Section 80.36. Thus, it should not be presumed that an individual or
an organization’s assistance with the development of an application will result
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 8
in the receipt of a contract for work under the project if the grant is awarded.
Please carefully review the FAQ on this topic on Page 46.
And finally, we would like to address another issue that has been brought to
our attention last week and Michael Wells will review that.
Michael Wells: Thank you Karen. This is Michael Wells. As you work on developing your
Safe Schools/Healthy Students applications you may be contacted by
organizations and vendors that offer to assist you in the development of your
comprehensive plan, the selection of activities and programs to be included in
your comprehensive plan. I’m aware of at least one organization that has
developed samples for applications to consider using if they would like to
include their program as part of the comprehensive plan. This is not the first
year that applications have been - applicants, excuse me, have been
approached by organizations that are selling their services and programs.
As in previous years, Safe Schools/Healthy Students staff would like to take
just a second to remind applicants that the purpose of this initiative is for
schools and communities to develop, enhance, and hopefully sustain a
community-focused collaborative approach to resolving community problems.
Page 28 through 30 of your Safe Schools/Healthy Students program
announcement for 2008 discusses how to get started in the development of
your comprehensive plan for Safe Schools/Healthy Students.
There’s two important steps involved in the process: assessing your
community and selecting activities, curricula, programs and services. It’s our
experience that the most successful and meaningful projects begin with a
thorough needs assessment that is specific to the schools and communities to
be served. The needs, gaps, and resources identified in the community-
specific assessment should then drive the development of your goals,
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 9
objectives, and activities as well as the selection of evidence-based programs
that are needed to fully respond to the selection criteria and that are likely to
have a meaningful impact on your students, your schools, families, and
communities.
Karen Dorsey: Thank you. That concludes our opening remarks and we will now open the
line for questions.
Operator: At this time I would like to remind everyone, if you would like to ask a
question press star then the number 1 on your telephone keypad.
We’ll pause for just a moment to compile the Q&A roster.
Your first question comes from the line of (Sheryl James).
(Sheryl James): Yes. May I ask it now?
Karen Dorsey: Yes.
(Sheryl James): Okay. Element 5 supports activities for early childhood ages 0 to 5 and how it
will impact school readiness. Currently we offer a Pre-K program for our 4-
year-olds but we only offer it 3 hours a day. However, when we did our needs
assessment we found out that we were only serving about 15% of the 4-year-
olds in our school district. And then day care centers were serving about
another 15%. So there are 70% of 4-year-olds who are at home usually with
grandmothers because - and (when) we found out - we asked them,
transportation was the number one barrier for serving this population.
My question is, could these funds be used to supplement our Pre-K program
so that we can serve more of the 4-year-olds and that way we could also
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 10
extend our program to the length of the full school day and therefore our 4-
year-olds could ride our school buses home?
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen. Yes, that is an allowable activity.
(Sheryl James): Okay. Thank you very much.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of (Chris Utzinger).
(Chris Utzinger): Hi. Are there any page limits on the appendices like the MOA, the logic
model, and the budget narrative?
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen again. No.
(Chris Utzinger): Thank you.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of (Nancy Langenfield).
(Nancy Langenfield): I have two questions. As far as including job descriptions for positions that
we put in the grant, we have those that will be school employees and those for
contracted services, do you need job descriptions for both the sets of
personnel?
Michael Wells: I think we would like to have job descriptions for any position that you’re
planning to fund with the grant, either as a district employee or through
contracting.
(Nancy Langenfield): Okay, thank you. The other question is regarding the involvement of
private schools. We will be meeting - we are meeting with our private schools
but a question is on the extent of the program activities and materials that we
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 11
provide to private schools after consultation and a conversation with them.
Are we required to provide the same level of participation for all the private
schools as we do with our district schools?
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen. Yes, but also they are agreeing to participate in the entire
comprehensive project. It should not be a selective “we’ll do this, but not
this.”
(Nancy Langenfield): So if we are providing, say, a particular evidence-based program for Pre-
K, we need to provide that same program for the private schools that have a
Pre-K?
Karen Dorsey: If they elect to participate in your Safe Schools/Healthy Students project, yes.
(Nancy Langenfield): Okay, thank you.
Operator: You have a follow-up question from the line of (Chris Utzinger).
(Chris Utzinger): Yes, are there any specific guidelines for the job descriptions, resumes, and
timeline as far as required information or page limits go?
Michelle Bechard: As far as - this is Michelle. I’m a little confused. As far as the page limits are
concerned I think that your question earlier was that, “Were there page
limits?” and we said, “No.”
There are no guidelines for job descriptions. We’re assuming that your school
district has their own standards for what a job description should contain. As
far as the timeline, the only suggestion is the timeline needs to cover the entire
- needs to cover the entire grant period, not just the first year.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 12
(Chris Utzinger): Yeah. Thank you. And another question there. Where can we put letters of
support and, for example, a tribal resolution if we are working with the Native
American community?
Michelle Bechard: Okay, as far as the letters of support we ask that you not include letters of
support. They are not required. They will not be reviewed and they will not be
considered when your application is reviewed. So, I would say there’s no
point in taking the time to collect and then submit letters of support.
As far as the tribal resolution, depending on how it’s worded perhaps it might
be included in the section with your MOA and your logic model. And I think
that’s Section A. It’s Section A.
(Chris Utzinger): Thank you. Then a formatting question. Do footnotes need to be within the 1
inch margin?
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen. Yes they do.
(Chris Utzinger): And a final question. Could you expand a little bit on the definition of “legal
authority” related to an agency that oversees mental health in a given
community? What exactly are you meaning by “legal authority” with regards
to a mental health organization? That it be a government entity or …
Michelle Bechard: Yeah, I’m not so sure we - this is Michelle again - I’m not so sure we call it a
“legal …” Oh, we do call it a “legal authority.” Okay never mind. It’s going to
be your public - look on Page 16. If you look on Page 16 of the application …
it is the entity legally constituted to provide administrative control. I would
say for you (just) to contact your state mental health authority to identify what
that entity is.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 13
(Chris Utzinger): Thank you.
Michelle Bechard: Also note that on Page 16 the Web address that is listed to contact - or to
identify your state mental health agency is incorrect. And we have posted the
correct Web link on the Safe Schools/Healthy Students Web site.
(Chris Utzinger): Thanks.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of (Susanne Fields).
(Susanne Fields): Thank you. I’m from Columbus, Ohio. I have three questions, I believe.
The first one has to do with evidence-based strategies. I wanted to confirm
that, in general, you speak of programs and strategies as long as the programs
or the services are based on a well-defined theory or model. In other words,
we’re not confined to evidence-based programs.
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen. That’s correct.
(Susanne Fields): Okay, great. In kind funds. I know that they are not required. We are an
existing organization and have several programs in existence that would fit
into what I believe will be our grid, if you will, of strategies. If we list them in
the grant but they are not funded by the grant, we’re wondering are those
activities held to the same level of evaluation and reporting as are the funded
strategies?
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen again. Yes they are because they would have been read and
reviewed and considered as part of your comprehensive strategy.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 14
(Susanne Fields): Okay. Thank you. And I have one final question and it has to do with the logic
model template that you have provided us. Are we required to use that
template?
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen again. You are not required to use the template. It’s just one that
we strongly recommend.
(Susanne Fields): Okay. That’s it. And I thank you.
Operator: Again, if you would like to ask a question press star 1.
Your next question comes from the line of (Susanne Door).
(Susanne Door): I wanted to ask a follow-up question on parochial school participation. I
understand the preceding dialogue. My question relates to location of
participation. If there were an activity that was going to occur after school
hours would it be logical to presume that the parochial participants could join
at a public school site as opposed to duplicating the activity across two sites?
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen. That would be acceptable.
(Susanne Door): Thank you.
Operator: At this time there are no further questions.
Karen Dorsey: Okay, we will hold for a moment.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of (Anita Spangler).
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 15
(Anita Spangler): Yes, I have a couple of questions. First, when it talks about the 10% of the
total budget can be used to support costs associated with security equipment,
personnel, (unintelligible) to improve safety, is that a total 10%? Like if you
had a resource officer, would that be included in that?
Michael Wells: The determination of whether the resource officer’s expenses would be
included in that 10% has to do with what the job description and duties of the
resource officer are. If that officer would be there for particularly security
issues then that salary and any support for that position would be under the
10%. If the security officer or SRO is going to be used to present prevention
curricula or other kinds of interactions with students that are not strictly
security issues then that portion of that salary would not have to come under
the 10%.
(Anita Spangler): Okay. Also, one of the things that we were thinking about is replacing some of
the hardware on the doors. Would that also, the 10%, cover the labor that it
would cost to do that?
Michael Wells: Yes.
(Anita Spangler): Okay. And is it 10% can be used for security cameras and another 10% can be
used for other, like personnel, or is it 10% as a whole?
Michael Wells: It’s 10% as a whole that could be spent for that particular year’s budget on the
security equipment, personnel, and issues that you described.
(Anita Spangler): Okay. Thank you. Also, after school activities like chess, choir, drama, art,
you know, things like that -- are they appropriate to use with young children?
Would that fit under the student behavior social and emotional support?
(Unintelligible) okay (unintelligible)?
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 16
Michael Wells: It would actually depend on, first of all, what your needs assessment says that
is needed in your community around addressing these absolute priorities of
reducing violence and substance abuse and so forth, and how those activities
you’re talking about would fit into your total strategy of addressing those
needs and gaps.
(Anita Spangler): Okay. And is there a list available for research-based programs that are
appropriate for very young children like K through 3?
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen. I’m not aware of anything. I would suggest that you use one of
the search engines on the Internet such as Google or contact one of the
national organizations that deal with early childhood to see if they have
suggestions.
(Anita Spangler): Okay. I have one more question. Can this be used to buy computers? Like
we’re thinking about an alternative placement and, for kids that are getting
behind on their credits because they’ve been in trouble, to buy computers
where they can access online classes.
Michael Wells: The kinds of materials that you need to support the activities with the grant
would be an allowable expense and if computers are needed to support grant
activity then that would be fine. You wouldn’t want to use - or propose to use
grant funds simply to provide missing computers or computers in areas where
you don’t have them if they weren’t directly related to the grant activity.
(Anita Spangler): And this was just going to be like in an alternative setting where kids that
were in trouble could come and work on the computers to do their online
stuff.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 17
Michael Wells: It would still depend on whether or not those activities were a part of your
strategic plan and that you were doing evaluation on those activities and then
if you needed computers to support that then that would be an allowable
expense.
(Anita Spangler): Okay.
Michelle Bechard: This is Michelle. I think it’s hard for us to answer that question without being
able to see your overall strategy and see how it fits, so. In and of itself we
can’t give you an answer - you know, a yes or no answer to it.
(Anita Spangler): Okay. That’s all I have.
Michelle Bechard: Okay.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of (Heidi Janecki).
(Heidi Janecki): Yes, on Page 42 of the program announcement it talks about grantees being
required to participate in any evaluation of the program - any national
evaluation. And my question is, whether these national evaluations include
asking students about their own drug and alcohol use.
Michael Wells: Yes, they often do.
(Heidi Janecki): Okay, thank you.
Man: I had one more question.
Michelle Bechard: Okay.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 18
Man: In Element 4, we would like - we were wondering if we could use a plan for
intervention program for behaviorally at risk elementary students. When we
looked through the packet it looked like programs were listed in Element 1 but
this really deals with the emotional issues of the child.
Michelle Bechard: I think it’s - if you’re proposing to use it for Element 3 and you can see the
connection I don’t see any problem with that. (I mean) …
Man: Thank you.
Michelle Bechard: Yeah, I don’t see any problem.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of (Gretchen Bean).
(Gretchen Bean): Hi, this is (Gretchen Bean) calling from the University of New Hampshire. I
have a question about indirect costs. I’m not certain that the school district has
indirect costs but I know that some of the organizations that we’re partnering
with have an indirect cost rate, for example, evaluation, people who may be
providing the evaluation whether it’s the University or whether it’s another
local evaluator. Do we need to submit documentation of that federally
negotiated DHHS rate at the time of application if it’s going to be a contracted
service?
Michelle Bechard: This is Michelle. The answer is no. However, the school district might ask you
to provide that, but, no, it’s not - you’re not required to submit that as part of
the application.
(Gretchen Bean): Okay.
Michelle Bechard: For contractors.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 19
(Gretchen Bean): Right.
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen. If an award is made all budget items and costs are reviewed to
make sure that they are allowable, reasonable, and necessary. So, post-award
we may require some additional information on indirect or administrative
costs that a contract might include.
(Gretchen Bean): Okay. And let me ask you another (as) just sort of a follow-up question for
that. Our indirect cost rate for federally funded programs is, I don’t know, it’s
like 46% but when we work with some other local foundations - you know,
we usually just sort of do whatever the indirect cost rate is for the organization
in which we’re providing the research capacity for.
Karen Dorsey: Okay.
(Gretchen Bean): So, if the school district doesn’t build in an indirect cost rate in the initial
proposal what indirect cost rates would be considered reasonable for our
contractors?
Karen Dorsey: It’s difficult to say until we see an actual itemized budget.
(Gretchen Bean): Okay.
Michelle Bechard: You can, as a contractor, you can certainly build in an indirect cost rate less
than what your negotiated rate is. There’s nothing preventing you from doing
that.
(Gretchen Bean): Right. Right, and we frequently do that.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 20
Michelle Bechard: Right.
(Gretchen Bean): Most, well, almost, all the time, do that with most of our local funding. But
just with, you know, in terms of developing our judgment initially to put into
the larger grant wanted to know - you know, get some guidance on the
indirect cost rate (unintelligible).
Michael Wells: That would be directly related to your negotiations and discussions with the
school district which we would not be a part of.
(Gretchen Bean): Okay. And so in the budget that we submit at this point for evaluation, for
example, it would just be the amount of money, total amount, that we think
that we’re (building in) for evaluation, 10% of the budget costs for example.
And …
Michael Wells: Right. You would need to determine in submitting that budget what the actual
cost would be. And if you’re planning to include indirect costs as a part of that
that would need to be in your budget. But the exact rate of that indirect cost
you would negotiate with the school district.
(Gretchen Bean): But up front right now or … Because we’re not tied at this point to being the
contractor because that would be a post-award activity.
Michael Wells: The fact is that what we will award grants based on the amount that’s
requested in that budget and if you decide later that you’re going to be seeking
additional cost there will not be any additional funds to cover it.
(Gretchen Bean): Right, right. No, we were (unintelligible) figure that out up front.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 21
Michelle Bechard: But you’re also saying that you don’t know if you’re going to be the
contractor …
(Gretchen Bean): Right, right.
Michelle Bechard: (Unintelligible).
(Gretchen Bean): So if we put in, let’s just say, 7% of the budget for evaluation and then
described, you know, what that would cost but wasn’t really specific about the
percentage that would be an indirect cost rate because we don’t know we that
evaluator is at this point.
Michelle Bechard: Yeah, I would give your best guess at whether - just assuming perhaps that
you would be the contractor what would it cost you to provide the evaluation
service that’s needed. And if the site were to be awarded then I think that’s
something else that can be negotiated. If there are changes … The only thing
that can’t be negotiated is once the award is made that’s what the school -
that’s the amount the school district has to work with. We …
(Gretchen Bean): Okay.
Michelle Bechard: … can’t award more funds because they realized that it’s going to cost more
than what they thought.
(Gretchen Bean): Okay. So the bottom line it’s final but some of the internal lines can be moved
around once - negotiated once the award has been made.
Michelle Bechard: Yes. And if you were to - if the school district was to receive an award they’d
be given instructions on how to do that.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 22
(Gretchen Bean): Okay. Fantastic! Thank you.
Oh, I have another question actually about funding. We are also looking at an
SRO position and you’ve already answered my questions about the 10% of the
budget but the local police department wanted me to just double check that
there is - while we’re trying to - (unintelligible) planning for sustainability the
city government would be uncomfortable making that commitment that it
would be sustained beyond this grant period at this point. My understanding is
that there don’t need to be any assurances of that but I just needed to double
check that.
Karen Dorsey: This is Karen. That’s correct. There is no requirement that you assure that the
SROs will be sustained after the grant - after the grant ends.
(Gretchen Bean): Okay, fantastic. And I have one last question. One of the things that we’re
looking at in this area is we just recently had legislation passed that students
are not able to drop out of high school until they are the age of 18 so it’s
putting additional sort of stress, that’s not quite the right word, but, on schools
to think about how they’re delivering education and making alternative forms
of education more widely available. One of the things that we’ve been looking
at is a twilight program for students who, there’s about, I don’t know, about
100 students or so who could possibly benefit from sort of an after school
model of education where they may do some apprenticeship in work during
the day and then take classes in the afternoon. My reading of the proposal is
academic support is not permitted through this grant. Is that correct? So
classroom teachers supporting classroom teachers?
Michelle Bechard: That’s another tough question to answer. I think academic support in and of
itself, the answer is no. If it’s tied into that overall strategy and that’s not the
only focus then, you know, depending on how it’s designed it could be. Just, I
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 23
think - as long as you’re not looking at it as a stand-alone, you’re providing
academic support or instruction, if that’s what it is, the answer’s no. It
depends on how it’s designed, I think.
(Gretchen Bean): Okay.
Michael Wells: It also depends on what your objectives are and how that relates to your
assessment …
(Gretchen Bean): Yeah.
Michael Wells: … and, you know, if you’re working with kids who have, for instance,
problems with juvenal services or they have behavior problems …
(Gretchen Bean): Yeah, exactly.
Michael Wells: … and part of the interaction involves some academic support then that would
fit in with your strategic plan. So that’s a different issue than simply setting up
tutoring programs for instance.
(Gretchen Bean): Right, exactly. Yeah. We’re sort of at this point thinking about - I wanted
some clarification on that because we were thinking about like what
components of the twilight program, for example, would fall outside of
academic instruction but it is targeting just those students that you indicated.
Thank you.
Karen Dorsey: Okay.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of (Sabrina Jones).
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 24
(Sabrina Jones): Hi, good afternoon. I have actually a couple of questions. My first one is in
regard to allowable costs for transportation. I came in on kind of the end of a
conversation. I think that someone had mentioned that. Uses for
transportation, particularly involved in evidence-based programs, the targeted
outreach program coined by the Boys & Girls Club, looking at being able to
move a large amount of kids within a diverse area to the points that offer those
services. A problem would be that we identified a need that kids aren’t staying
involved in the programs because there isn’t ample transportation to take them
in and out of their neighborhoods to these alternatives. So, I’m trying to figure
out if that’s an allowable cost first off.
Michael Wells: This is (Michael). Yes, that would be allowable under those circumstances.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay. The second one is regarding evidence-based programming. As I
mentioned, there’s things like Girls Inc. or, you know, life skills training that’s
evidence-based. What about programs that already exist particularly within
the area? Does there have to be some type of - for example, we do prom talks
and we work with the sheriff’s department and the commonwealth attorneys
to do talks with kids and elementary school teens on gangs and youth violence
because we’re finding that they’re recruiting now in our elementary schools.
But that’s not an evidence-based program. That’s really them taking the
initiative to have that conversation with the kids and what they should look
for. Are those type of programs allowed under this strategy?
Karen Dorsey: I would - this is Karen. On Page 21 we talk about choosing evidence-based
programs and there are a set of four questions there …
(Sabrina Jones): Okay.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 25
Karen Dorsey: … and while there are some programs that are not on the one of the lists but
it’s based on the theory or practice that is accepted I would recommend that
you provide documentation or support that address these four questions to
demonstrate that these kinds of activities do work for your community.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay, perfect.
Michael Wells: And I think, to emphasize one of the things that Karen said, it’s not important
just to use this in choosing your program or curriculum but it’s also important
to make sure that you explain why that was your choice and how these issues
are answered in your narrative because a lot of the folks who are reading this
may not be familiar with why that choice was made and it’s important to do
that.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay, perfect. The other question is I’ve been in contact - this is actually a
two-fold question regarding the private schools and equal participation for
them. The problem is we have quite a few private schools, not all of them go
from K through 12. We have some that go from 1 to 3, 7 to 10, there’s a lot of
different groups and there could be over about 100 groups within our
community that has some type of school. So, I’m trying to figure out what’s
the best way to choose them, and if we don’t hear back from them how do you
deal with that?
Karen Dorsey: In general, the idea is that you would contact those that are located in the same
geographic area that the school district is in …
(Sabrina Jones): Okay.
Karen Dorsey: … and your requirement is that you contact them and make an offer for them
to participate. If you don’t hear or they decline you’ve met the requirement.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 26
(Sabrina Jones): Okay. And my last question is, we are actually applying as a consortium, the
Partnership on Youth Violence Prevention. It involves seven different
jurisdictions. Two of them are large metropolitan areas. So as the primary
applicant we’re using those large metropolitan areas because there’s a lot
more proof of the problem, a lot of, you know, student behavioral issues, as
with the smaller counties who are participating in this grant but kind of the
application isn’t focusing on them specifically but there is a need for - there
the only - there’s one county that does not have any SRO in their school.
What I’m trying to figure out is if we’re having two main applicants be, for
example, Hampton and Newport News, how do we provide people that also
are involved in our partnership that aren’t necessarily in this application an
opportunity to take advantage of SRO, particularly from violence prevention
and not even from a security standpoint to start providing this class-action
training in the schools? Is that possible for us to be able to say, although these
two cities are applying for the application, there’s a rural county part of this
partnership overall who is in dire need of the SRO and the prevention training
that they do?
Karen Dorsey: I’m going to put you on hold for a minute.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay.
Karen Dorsey: Thank you for holding. This is Karen. We’ve had some discussion here and it
wasn’t really clear to us. When you talk about the members of the consortium,
are you talking about several different school districts or school districts and
maybe a county? It wasn’t clear who the members of your proposed
consortium are.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 27
(Sabrina Jones): The members of the consortium are from the law enforcement side as well as
the school districts and there’s six total from each of those agencies that
participate. So it’s a total of - together, it’s a total of seven law enforcement
agencies and six school districts.
Karen Dorsey: Okay. So, let me interrupt you for one second.
(Sabrina Jones): Sure.
Karen Dorsey: So, the eligible applicant here would have to be one of the LEAs.
(Sabrina Jones): Yes, and two of the LEAs are actually performing as the eligible applicant.
Karen Dorsey: No no. Only one can …
(Sabrina Jones): Oh.
Karen Dorsey: … be the eligible applicant that can be the lead.
(Sabrina Jones): Yes, yes.
Karen Dorsey: Okay.
(Sabrina Jones): We do have a lead.
Karen Dorsey: So the other five LEAs are members of the consortia, correct?
(Sabrina Jones): Yes, but …
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 28
Karen Dorsey: Okay, so then the other partners would be the law enforcement, juvenile
justice, and mental health entities that support those five and the lead LEA.
(Sabrina Jones): Correct.
Karen Dorsey: Okay. So, that would mean that in providing services to the students and
families that are in those five LEAs plus the lead.
(Sabrina Jones): Yes.
Karen Dorsey: So, who would be missing?
(Sabrina Jones): Well, what I’m saying is is that when we looked at all of the participating
people in the consortium everyone did not have identified needs and gaps that
would qualify under this application. So we went with the primary applicant,
particularly the larger metropolitan areas, who had assessed the needs and the
gaps and the services that they needed to cover within the application. The
other smaller localities did not have identified needs and gaps. But the only
thing that was mentioned from the other three - or, I’m sorry, the other four
smaller areas was that there is not an SRO in one of the jurisdictions. The rest
of the jurisdictions are not going to be a part of the application.
Michelle Bechard: Okay, then - and we were just - we were trying - let me just go back for a
minute.
(Sabrina Jones): Sure.
Michelle Bechard: Out of everyone that’s in your consortium, only two school districts are
working together to apply for a Safe Schools/Healthy Students grant …
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 29
(Sabrina Jones): Correct.
Michelle Bechard: … is that correct?
(Sabrina Jones): Correct.
Michelle Bechard: Okay. So, then the services that you select that become part of your
comprehensive strategy are for those two school districts in the areas that they
serve. If another school district - I mean, it’s not to be a piecemeal kind of
approach …
(Sabrina Jones): Exactly.
Michelle Bechard: So if another school district needs just an SRO but nothing else then they
really are not going to fit into this comprehensive strategy.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay. That’s exactly what I was asking.
Michelle Bechard: Okay.
Karen Dorsey: Yeah.
Michelle Bechard: Okay.
Karen Dorsey: So, it should be a comprehensive plan for every member LEA, not a cafeteria
approach that you’re offering a menu of activities and services and people can
pick and choose what they want.
(Sabrina Jones): Exactly.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 30
Karen Dorsey: That’s not the intent.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay. And, I think the last question was just referring back to the allowable
cost for transportation. Is there a maximum under that?
Karen Dorsey: There is no maximum but we will review, if an award is made, all costs
included in the budget to make sure they’re necessary, allowable, and
reasonable.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay.
Karen Dorsey: And we define reasonable as what a prudent person would spend on an
activity or a cost of an item.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay.
Michael Wells: And a good guide for that is what would be the rate that your district would
normally pay if it were not coming from a grant.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay. For example, contracted rates that they pay for school buses or vans or
whatever that is.
Michael Wells: Yeah. If there’s a per student or a per mile rate then that’s the rate you should
use as your basis.
(Sabrina Jones): Okay. Perfect. Thank you very much.
Karen Dorsey: You’re welcome.
Operator: Your next question comes from the line of (Kathy Burgess).
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 31
(Kathy Burgess): Hi. I’m from Charleston, West Virginia. And I wanted to ask - I’d like you to
speak to the MOA. It seems like it is in focus a signed agreement by partners
stating what they will do and then it seems to have a broader focus of how
we’re going to manage the whole thing. Could you speak to the breadth of the
MOA please?
Karen Dorsey: On Page 17 we have a bulleted list of those specific things that need to be
included in the MOA. But additionally, the understanding is that these
partners are supporting your comprehensive plan which is why there is an
attachment of a logic model that is basically a repetition of things that are
included in the narrative. So, combined together those two pieces make up the
MOA and that is what your partners are agreeing to support.
(Kathy Burgess): It seems like in the signature part of the MOA that that - where it says ... For
example, if I have an MOA by the law enforcement, are they to describe how
they are to be supportive of the design?
Michael Wells: You have one MOA that would describe how all of the partners, or each of the
partners, if you will, is going to support this activity and what sorts of things
they may be contributing or be taking responsibility for as a part of the
comprehensive plan. There’s only one MOA and all the different pieces talk
about these issues that Karen noted on Page 17.
(Kathy Burgess): Signature pages for them?
Michael Wells: At the end of the MOA you can have a signature page for everyone of your
partners all together. It’s not a matter of …
(Kathy Burgess): Individualized.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 32
Michael Wells: No. It’s not a matter of someone signing off on a particular portion of it.
Everyone will be signing off on the entire thing.
(Kathy Burgess): Oh, I see. So in essence, you provide another narrative of your design …
Michael Wells: Well, the …
(Kathy Burgess): … (unintelligible) everybody signs off.
Michelle Bechard: The logic -- this is Michelle. The logic model is more of a graphical
presentation of what’s in your narrative.
(Kathy Burgess): But …
Michelle Bechard: … I don’t …
(Kathy Burgess): … does the MOA have a lengthy narrative?
Michelle Bechard: No. As long as - the MOA needs to address certain things that I don’t believe
are completely in the narrative. So, again I think if you look at Page 17 …
(Kathy Burgess): I’m looking.
Michael Wells: The MOA has to do with what your partners are agreeing to …
Woman: Right.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 33
Michael Wells: … except in terms of their responsibility to carry out what you have been
describing in your narrative and what is summarized in graphic form in your
logic model.
(Kathy Burgess): Okay. Thank you very much.
Operator: You have a follow-up question from the line of (Nancy Langenfield).
(Nancy Langenfield): Just a point of clarification on private schools. We have a number of
schools, about 165 schools and 100 private schools, so that has budget
implications when we’re providing programs. If we’re providing a curriculum
and facilitators to assist with implementing the curriculum, I have two
questions.
One is, my understanding from the previous question is that we need to
provide both the facilitators and the curriculum-based program to all of the
schools who want to participate, correct?
Karen Dorsey: That’s correct. I mean, and they could come and join your training sessions.
There’s nothing that would preclude that.
(Nancy Langenfield): And if a participating school just wanted the curriculum and not the
training that goes with it …
Karen Dorsey: Again, they would have to be included in your entire comprehensive plan. So
they are signing on to support your comprehensive plan as described in the
40-page narrative and the logic model. So it’s not just about getting the
curriculum and the training, but it’s also participating in all of the other
activities for the other elements including the local evaluation.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 34
Michelle Bechard: This is Michelle. And I think it goes back - Karen gave an answer earlier that
this is not a cafeteria grant where people or organizations can select what they
want and ignore the rest.
(Nancy Langenfield): Right. I understand.
Michelle Bechard: Okay.
(Nancy Langenfield): Thank you. That clarifies it.
Operator: You have a follow-up question form the line of (Heidi Janecki).
Man: Yes, we had a question on the GRPA requirements regarding alcohol and
marijuana use in students. We kind of have two levels that we’re looking at.
Using a parks and recreation survey that’ll be city-wide and then using data
from our own substance abuse intervention program that students attend. And
we want to know how that would work into meeting those requirements.
Michael Wells: You would need to describe how those different data points and collections
would fit into your evaluation plan and then the readers would have to
determine whether or not that was sufficient evaluation for your strategic plan
that addresses those particular issues.
Man: Thank you.
Operator: You have a follow-up question from the line of (Susanne Door).
(Susanne Door): (Hello), thank you. Going back to the preceding question. We are applying as
a consortium with other school districts. I understand how one can’t pick and
choose, “I will do A but not C” in terms of the five prongs. However, the
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 35
needs of one set of districts may be different from the other. As long as the
prongs are all represented and there are initiatives across those areas I am
assuming that some differentiation in the activity would be acceptable.
Michael Wells: Differentiation in activities to address the elements is appropriate for it to be
individualized. It can be different from community to community. However,
each district that is a part of the consortium must address all the elements and
all the activity.
Michelle Bechard: And this is Michelle. I mean, as a consortia you’re not - be careful that it
doesn’t appear to be two separate comprehensive strategies which - and I
might be incorrect, but the way you’re describing it it almost sounds as if it
could possibly end up as (unintelligible). If you’re applying as a consortia you
are still applying with one comprehensive strategy.
Michael Wells: For everyone involved.
Michelle Bechard: Right. You’re evaluating it across the board, not evaluating it, you know,
school district by school district. So be really careful when you’re looking at
that.
(Susanne Door): Okay. We’ve had some preliminary meetings and there is significant overlap
in terms of activities.
Michelle Bechard: Okay.
(Susanne Door): However, on - there may be some differentiation I just was - okay, well, we’ll
have to work it out together.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 36
Michelle Bechard: Yeah, I mean - I think, if the differentiation is plugging in holes to make
everything more complete then that makes sense. If the differentiation is
because we want to go this direction versus the other school district that wants
to go in a different direction then I think you have some problems.
(Susanne Door): I think I would describe it as more of one particular district may have an asset
that the other one does not and that becomes a hole for one but not for the
other.
Michael Wells: Well that’s also if you’ve got one district in your consortium who is already
addressing a particular issue that the others are going to be addressing, you
can still include that in the program. You don’t necessarily need to drawn
down funds for that but you will need to include it in part of your plan and
part of your evaluation.
(Susanne Door): Okay. All right, thank you.
Operator: You have a follow-up question from the line of (Gretchen Bean).
(Gretchen Bean): Oh, I’m sorry. I think my question’s already been - it was just that last
question. Thanks.
(Michael Wells): Thank you.
Operator: At this time, there are no further questions.
Karen Dorsey: Okay, we’ll hold for a few minutes.
Operator: Again, if you would like to ask a question press star 1.
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 37
You have a question from the line of (Laura Bloomberg).
(Laura Bloomberg): Yes, thank you. I entered the call late so I apologize if this was (an
answer) specifically. I know it came up in an earlier call because I read the
transcript, but. We are looking at submitting a proposal from a consortium of
charter schools and so although they are all LEAs, in our state the total
number is quite a bit smaller than that bottom line of 5,000 students and as we
look at the comprehensive plan for these the budget that we think, you know,
responsibly and reasonably we would submit would be lower than the budget
amounts that we’ve seen previously in the applications that have been
accepted. What are the - you know, what is the likelihood that a relatively
small consortium, say, 1000 students would be an appropriate submission for
this?
Michelle Bechard: It is -- this is Michelle. It is (as) likely that you would be funded as a school
district that has 500,000.
Michael Wells: I am aware of one active site right now that K-12 has less than 400 students
that was funded as a single district.
(Laura Bloomberg): Okay. So there really is not a bottom line amount that - well, I mean, I’m
sure that you don’t want to, you know, fund more than people need but we
really, honestly, don’t responsibly think that we have a $750,000
comprehensive plan. We think we have more like a $500,000 comprehensive
plan. So that is an appropriate submission, correct?
Michael Wells: What we will be looking for is whether or not your budget is adequate to
address the plan that you have submitted and if your plan is adequate to
address the assessments - or the needs and gaps that were identified in your
assessment. If that’s less than the maximum then that’s perfectly fine and you
DB CONSULTING GROUP INC
Moderator: Karen Dorsey
02-14-08/12:30 pm CT
Confirmation #34783560
Page 38
shouldn’t put extra money in there just to reach the maximum. You should put
what you need.
(Laura Bloomberg): Sounds good. Thank you.
Operator: There are no further questions at this time.
Karen Dorsey: We’ll hold for another couple of minutes.
This is Karen. Seeing that there are no other questions we will end the call at
this time. And the next call is next Thursday, again at 1:30.
Operator: This concludes today’s conference call. You may now disconnect.
END
