All partner programs operating in School District of Philadelphia (“the District”) schools must have a fully-executed legal agreement in place with the District covering their work in schools. Recurring, school-based partner programs can efficiently satisfy that requirement by completing the School Partner Agreement (SPA).
The SPA utilizes a template scope of work and non-negotiable terms and conditions. We are not able to allow negotiation of the terms and conditions contained in the SPA. If your organization’s legal counsel wishes to negotiate terms and conditions with the District, you will need to work with your program office or school contact to prepare a Memorandum of Understanding with the District’s Office of General Counsel.
SPA COMPLETION PROCESS
Partner programs can submit the information that is required for their scope of work via a web-based form (linked below). It will only take about 10-20 minutes to complete the form. The Office of Strategic Partnerships (OSP) will review that information and prepare a digital version of the SPA via Docusign.
Once the information has been reviewed and approved, partner programs will receive a digital version of their SPA for e-signature, along with guidance about the other required documentation that must be submitted prior to beginning work in schools (e.g. submission of background clearances and insurance documentation). For a more detailed description of the SPA process, please consult the flowchart at the end of the page.
IMPORTANT DEADLINES
If your program is slated to begin in Fall 2023, you must complete the SPA and submit your insurance and clearance documentation as soon as possible to ensure that your materials will be reviewed and approved before your program start date. Late submissions may result in delayed programming.
Programs that are non-compliant with the requirements will have their SPA terminated.
If you have any questions, please contact the Office of Strategic Partnerships at partnerships@philasd.org.
If you have reviewed the guidance and would like to proceed with preparing your SPA, please click the button below.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
In addition to a binding legal agreement with the District, we encourage partners to develop a Site-Specific Collaboration Plan (“Collaboration Plan”) with each school they are partnering with. The Collaboration Plan is an opportunity for school staff and partners to establish a shared vision for the partnership and clarify partner and school expectations.
For more information about the Collaboration Plan, and a template of the plan, please click here. We recommend that you download the document and open it in Adobe Acrobat to access the fillable PDF and signature function.
If you would like to see an example of the SPA, including the terms and conditions, click here.
Partners will still have the option of collaborating virtually with schools. If you are planning to implement virtual programming in collaboration with one or more schools, we strongly recommend putting a SPA in place to prepare for this. As outlined in our guidance for approved partners providing virtual support to schools, each principal will be responsible for determining whether to continue with virtual partnerships at their school this fall. Partners will not be authorized to begin a virtual program with a school until they have the support of the principal(s), a legal agreement in place with the District and have submitted all required insurance and background clearance documentation to the appropriate offices at the District.
If your program will not be operating during the school day and you will not need to rely on school principals/staff to play a substantive role in coordinating/implementing your program, you may not need a legal agreement with the District for your virtual programming. If you are unsure if your program needs an agreement, please feel free to reach out to our office at partnerships@philasd.org.
Click here to view the Virtual Programming Protocol
Last modified: August 10, 2023
