Frequently Asked Questions

If the item/material purchased will be used in the future (outside of COVID), that’s a cost you’ll build into your rental fees. That entire cost would not go into this year’s cost. Instead, you should attempt to amortize that cost over the predicted lifetime of the purchased item. 

Additionally, it is important to consider the percentage use of the item/material that will be dedicated specifically for outdoor school and factor that into your cost calculation. For example, if you are a provider and 80% of your business is dedicated to outdoor school, but the remaining 20% of the time your shelter is used for a summer camp, make sure the cost is appropriately charged to outdoor school versus the overall business model. 

The other key consideration (for audit reasons) is that if the item/material is built into what you’re charging, make sure you are accurately accounting for the cost for each school that you are working with.

However, if you choose to rent that item instead, you would report the entire cost of the rented item in that year’s costs.  

As always, feel free to reach out to us if your cost calculation is challenging to determine and we are happy to work with you. 

Yes, there are state ordinances that restrict the use of masks while sleeping statewide. We do not recommend wearing a mask while sleeping, nor does the state recommend that. 

Vaccination is highly recommended, but it is up to your school to interpret that guidance from the state. If your school is not firm on requiring vaccination of your contractors and you are still a little unclear, you can reach out to ODE for clarification on what their guidance says. 

The OSU Outdoor School program cannot recommend contract language to sites or providers. Feel free to contact Friends of Outdoor School, who might have some resources that would help you in this area.

We recommend the sites have costs (such as hiring employees, cost to clear winter brush for the spring, etc.) built into their contracts so that, in case of a cancellation, the site will be reimbursed for those costs.

In terms of loss of business, that is not something that we have authority over with Measure 99 funding. 

The OSU Outdoor School Program cannot recommend contract language to sites or providers. Feel free to contact Friends of Outdoor School, who might have some resources that would help you in this area.

In terms of being evaluated by legislators, that kind of practice would likely not be deemed reasonable and prudent. If the facility reservation is canceled with reasonable notice, it would be difficult to justify this type of funding practice to legislators. 

This year’s application will allow current 7th graders to apply who missed this past year (2020-21) for this year’s fall 2021 and spring 2022 applications. 

In the fall, you will still have the flexibility of not going to outdoor school programming consecutively. After the fall term ends, you will need to go in consecutive days to qualify for funding.

When you apply for funding, it does not matter if it is residential or non-residential. Funding is dependent upon the length of programming per day. 

If you have to reduce capacity and that incurs a cost of providing the service to the district, that is the cost you would charge per student for the district.

The baseline is not a cap — it’s a guide. If your costs are above the baseline, it means you will need to provide more explanation or detail behind those costs (e.g., the outdoor school programming is a combination of in-person and CDL).

If our process is similar to the process implemented in 2019-2020, the strategy implemented is declared as part of the outdoor school reporting process.  And while the reports are submitted by the district or ESD and for all of the schools participating within their purview, the district or ESD must complete a report for each school, so the response strategy can differ for each school in the districts or ESD's purview.  If a single school implements multiple response strategies, please contact us at outdoorschool@oregonstate.edu, so that we can modify your report as necessary.

Yes. There is a lot of flexibility in how districts and providers want to make outdoor school happen. Outdoor school programming and content must still meet Measure 99 requirements, so please don't hesitate to contact us at outdoorschool@oregonstate.edu should you have questions regarding your COVID-modified CDL or in-person/non-residential programming.

The content and structure of outdoor school is defined by Measure 99 and providers and districts are accountable for holding to these requirements regardless of the format of outdoor school. The Outdoor School Advisory Committee recommends to the Extension Service Director the minimum number of hours required for an outdoor school program to be funded using Measure 99 funds.

Seventh graders are eligible for all of these response strategies. If you have yet to apply, you'll see a place to include your count of 7th graders on the application form.

The lessons/activities put together to comprise a COVID response strategy outdoor school program must meet the requirements of the Measure 99 outdoor school legislation, AND it should include as much of the typical outdoor school character as possible.

For the zoom example specifically, the answer is no. We cannot share the OSU license.  However, the OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program will do what we can to assist districts and providers in their quest to develop COVID-responsive outdoor school programming.  We strongly advise that all providers/sites and districts plan your programs thoroughly and in advance of your expenditures, contact the outdoor school program staff with an estimate of costs for which you plan to request reimbursement, so we might review and approve them.

Absolutely! Please work with the Outdoor School program team when you have this sort of question/request moving forward. As more districts move to a distance or virtual learning platform for outdoor school, then those types of costs would be necessary to deliver that type of programming. Again, we'll be seeking recommendations from our Advisory Committee to clear a path to issue funding for that type of expenditure (outside of our current norm).

Districts have ultimate authority to decide on the needs of and what is best for their students.

The OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program will reimburse districts per the terms of their contract/agreement with their provider.  So, if the provider's contract requires cancellation 30-days prior to attendance to reduce the originally estimated headcount, and the district/school calls to reduce their headcount two weeks prior to attendance (because of COVID-19 directives or just general lowered attendance per family concerns), then the provider should bill the district for the originally estimated headcount (full headcount), regardless of how many students attend. If the provider needs to change the originally contracted program, the provider will need to work with their contracted districts to come up with an alternate plan that works for both the district and the provider. We know there will be a lot of compromises and adaptations between districts and providers to get through this season, and we encourage this as much as it can fall in line with the OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program's response strategy options.

Providers and districts expect parents to sign specific forms prior to their children participating in outdoor school. Can or will districts do this while school is closed? This is a question between providers and districts, so we encourage providers and districts to add this to your list of items requiring clear and frequent communication.

Yes. Our current COVID strategy allows for CDL and in-person, so different schools can still do those different options in the fall. 

Not yet. We're still waiting for an Outdoor School guidance from the Governor's Office.

As written, Measure 99 permits the OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program to fund each student for only one outdoor school experience.  

No. We've associated our existing baselines with varying levels of CDL programming.  You can find our latest baseline values on the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) page for Applications and Reporting. 

That is an option, but it would be up to the district to coordinate it.

You do not need to re-apply. Work orders for your spring application should be going out very soon. 

Thanks for asking!  We're still working that one out ourselves!  We'll update this response when we have an answer, but it might be a while!

The OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program office team would be very surprised if the OHA doesn't issue some sort of guidance for the reopening of outdoor schools, specifically given the Governor's forwarding of those guidance documents to the Oregon Department of Education (ODE). The recommendations drafted by Friends of Outdoor School (with the assistance of a statewide network of supporters), combined with ODE's understanding of school districts and their operations, should produce a solid set of guidelines. However, if the OHA chooses to not release an outdoor school reopening guidance, the OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program would place the responsibility for safe attendance of outdoor school at the district level.  Each district would decide upon the outdoor school format they feel is safe and prudent for their students.  Assuming all districts select outdoor school formats that meet state and federal COVID safety guidelines, OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program would do our best to support those districts in whatever programming format they feel is best.

If districts move to all remote programming, that's when the OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program (with recommendations from our Advisory Committee) will consider modifications to our funding model, in particular, the definition of "outdoor school". While we know that traditional, residential outdoor school is extraordinarily important and transformational. We're willing to accept that some form of outdoor school is better than no outdoor school, so we accept that it might look different for a year, and we'll support other options for districts to pursue, including but not limited to the remote learning opportunities that we worked on last spring. And there's a lot more we can do if this is going to be the normal for this year. Given the potential for this change, if there are specific needs that you have, at the provider, site, or district level, to navigate these potential changes, please add your needs and ideas to our google document so we might be prepared to support your need. 

Because the Governor has not yet issued guidance regarding the reopening of outdoor schools, we strongly encourage all outdoor school stakeholders to provide us with your ideas and needs on this document.

The OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program thinks it's wise for districts and providers to plan for both on-site and distance learning outdoor school experiences. While there's still a chance of traditional outdoor school programming at some point in the 2020-2021 academic year, some families might still choose to keep their students at home. Districts and providers who are creating alternative outdoor school experiences, as well as our Outdoor School program team, are going to have to be very innovative and really think outside the box on how we're going to reach every student. Please use the link in the question above to let us how we can help and support you in developing these innovative programs. The outdoor school community can share a lot of the resources that were created this past spring, and we're all going to need to be incredibly flexible and creative in what we develop for this coming academic year. We're certain this is something that the community is able to do and do well, particularly with the pending guidance.

If you are considering modified outdoor school programming (e.g., virtual programming), we recommend that you start by visiting our Modified Programming for 2020-2021 page, which provides information about program implementation logistics and instruction/pedagogy.

The OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program website has outdoor school resources for use by formal and non-formal educators at standard, in-person outdoor school experiences, and we gathered and created resources for use by formal and non-formal educators and parents (in English and Spanish) during and after the COVID-19 spring 2020 school closures.  We've also started gathering outdoor school resources created districts and providers across Oregon (with a form at the bottom for contributing your materials), and finally, we've begun collecting resources for parents and educators related to Social Justice.  We intend to continue to add to each of those collections. In addition, Friends of Outdoor School is also gathering resources through their provider/site network. Please join the Friends of Outdoor School google group (linked through their COVID resources web page) where you can share ideas, information, and resources: https://www.friendsofoutdoorschool.org/spring-2020-ods-updates. There are all sorts of good stuff in this google group, so please join and contribute.

We continue to encourage all districts to apply for funding now, and then it will be easy for us, after the guidance comes out, to make modifications to your application/work order to reflect a program that will meet the district's needs and keep their students safe. In addition, following receipt of an outdoor school reopening guidance from the Governor's office, the Outdoor School program office will work to establish reasonable options for outdoor school and present these options to our Advisory Committee to receive their recommendations for temporary changes to the definition of outdoor school, as well as the outdoor school funding structure. Obviously, an in-person, three-consecutive-day experience will not work for those districts that implement remote-only learning, so we need to make these modifications and make them very clear to our districts and providers. 

Yes.  The purpose of the "up to 60%" reimbursement strategy is to encourage districts to work with providers to find a mutually agreeable solution on programming that will keep the provider's staff engaged, and give the district programming/lessons/supplies that can be used in lieu of the canceled outdoor school experience.

Start-up dates (the dates by which you will be ready to resume programming) can and should be communicated effectively and frequently by providers to districts. We understand that every program and district has different needs, which is why the OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program cannot communicate a statewide message regarding when or how outdoor schools will restart.

As indicated in our Response Strategy Letter, providers can work with their contracted district to charge "UP TO 60%" of their originally invoiced price If they provide curriculum, lessons, kits, or run a day program at the schools in lieu of an overnight option. Providers should charge less if they are sending activities to the school rather than providing an at-school visit. The 60% provides the district, as well as the provider with room to work out the best solution for you both, understanding the district's needs and the resources or capabilities of the provider.

Yes, but these 7^th graders will be the lowest priority for funding in 2020-2021 and will only be funded AS FUNDS ARE AVAILABLE.  If there are 5^th graders who cannot attend outdoor school in 2019-2020 because of COVID-19 related cancellations, their funding (as 6th graders) will be prioritized in 2020-2021. Following Measure 99's intent will be our first priority, but remaining funding (if there is any) would be utilized for the 2020-2021 7^th graders impacted as 6th graders by COVID-19 2019-2020 cancellations. We won’t know where we stand fiscally until all 2019-2020 reports and all 2020-2021 applications are complete. We know this is not ideal but we cannot over-commit the limited funds (or overall outdoor school capacity of the state) until we have the 2020-2021 5^th and 6th-grade attendance numbers and total available budget.

Yes.  If your 2020-2021 Application requests funds for 7th graders (only those for whom their 6th grade outdoor school experience was canceled due to COVID-19), the outdoor school experience that the 7th graders receive must fall within the minimum of 3 consecutive days, and the maximum of 6 days, 5 nights.

It’s very possible that high schools will no longer allow high school volunteers to participate in outdoor school this spring. Districts and providers might attempt to use parent chaperones, but we understand how difficult it can be to recruit working adults on such short notice.  If you are unable to recruit parent chaperones, you may not have enough supervision to actually run your outdoor school program. The OSU Outdoor School program understands this challenge, unfortunately, we really can’t predict what high schools will do, nor do we have the resources to support districts or providers in solving this problem.  If your program finds a unique solution, please contact us at outdoorschool@oregonstate.edu to let us know how it worked, and we can share your creative ideas with other districts/programs in need.

The OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program can only ask that you make a decision that is best for your organization and we encourage you to work with your districts. District/providers would be guaranteed any cancelation rates as listed in your contract or up to 60% as negotiated with the district.

No.  That should be the goal, but there are many options the District and provider could work out that would be appropriate for reimbursement of up to 60% of the originally estimated costs.

Yes - but 2020-2021 funding is not guaranteed for those students who will be 7th graders in 2020-2021. The OSU Extension Service Outdoor School program will prioritize funding to 2020-2021 5th and 6th-grade students.  If, after funding the 2020-2021 5th and 6th-grade students, funds remain, we will do what we can to fund (partially, or ideally fully) an outdoor school experience for those 7th-grade students who were not able to attend outdoor school as 6th graders because of COVID-19 cancellations.

Yes.  Under Response Strategy 2, Districts can submit invoices for costs that are non-recoverable and included in our Budget Categories and Fiscal Policies document.