E Registration Guidance

You will have to register on grants.gov to submit a PEP application this year. Here is our guidance document to help you through the process of registering.

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We have put together this document to guide you through the process of registering you and your district electronically so that you can meet the requirement of submitting your PEP proposal electronically this year. This guide may not be comprehensive, but it is going to be as close as we can make it.

Please make sure you complete this process by June 25th. It will take two or three days for you to receive your approval, so do not wait until the last minute to get this done. If you need information from your district or need someone there to complete it for you, please make sure they understand the urgency behind completing this task on time. In the case where I have linked you to a website, hit CTRL and then click on the link and it will take you where you need to go. Here are the steps:

1. Go to the Grants.gov "Get Registered" site HERE. At this site you can get more details on the registration process if you need

2. Click on the "Organization Registration" link -- This will take you to a new page that has 5 steps you will need to complete. These five steps are not included on this page, so reference the links and information I am including you here.
STEP 1: Obtain DUNS Number. You should already have one. If you provided to us on your District Information Sheet, reference it there. If you still need one, you can apply for it HERE.
STEP 2: Register with CCR. You will need the EIN you provided us on your District Information Sheet. The engine will take you through several screens. Make sure you complete the information accurately. The DoEd will try and contact with the information you provide them with. You can access this step HERE.
STEP 3: Create a Username and Password the same day you complete Step 2. Make sure you write this information down so that you can use it when it comes time to submit. Access this step HERE.
STEP 4: Your e-Business Point of Contact (E-Biz POC who is usually your Business Manager) at your organization must login to Grants.gov to confirm you as an Authorized Organization Represenative (AOR). Please note that there can be more than one AOR for your organization. In some cases the E-Biz POC is also the AOR for an organization. Complete this step HERE.
STEP 5: Track your Grants.gov status. You need to make sure your application goes through. You cannot use a paper application this year, so this is a very important part of the application process. You can access the tracking piece HERE.

3. If you get frustrated and just need some help, feel free to contact Grants.gov at 800.518.4726. They are open 7 days a week, 24 hours a day.

December Update

Here we are into the final push for your data collection. Remember that you will need to get me all of the data --  not only the MVPA data but also the fitness testing results -- from your students by the end of January. You should be well into your collection efforts at this point.

Just as an update, the DoEd is accepting new applications for PEP this year. The deadline they have published for application submission is in late May, so there is still plenty of time for you to get me the name and number of districts you would like to suggest that we work with. Please let me know soon so I can get them added to my list soon. I am about half-way to filling it up.

I am taking the family down to Dallas during the week of Christmas, so I will be reachable only via phone. If you have any questions for me during the Holiday Break, please let me know and I will be happy to help you as I will have my laptop with me.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

November Update

Alright, the last couple of weeks have been just about crazy. I will try and give the Reader's Digest version of the events.

I finished out my trainings in North Dakota the week of November 16th with a drive out to Williston from Grand Forks. For those of you who are unfamiliar with North Dakota geography, it is about five hours from the eastern to the western borders of the state. The exciting occurrence on that trip was I hit an eight point in the middle of the night on my drive back to Grand Forks. The car was alright and as a matter of fact I have not heard from the rental car agency to get the information on how much damage there was. There was no way the deer survived, but he did manage to disappear in the switch grass at the side of the road. I am positive he expired sometime that night.

I came back Thursday morning and Friday morning the family and I took off to a week's vacation to California. For the first two days we went to Legoland, which I highly recommend to you if you have children under 8. The rides are great for that age demographic and the park is economical when compared to other amusement parks in southern California. Josh had a blast, as evidenced here:

A 6 year old driving their own car? Believe it.

We stayed at the Residence Inn in Oceanside and loved the property. I highly recommend that you stay here, even when going to Disneyland. We stayed in this property for four nights and the breakfast alone was worth the stay. It must have saved us at least $25.00 per day to stay here. The Fairfield across from Disneyland was nice, but the total lack of amenities makes this property somewhat unappealing. The Residence Inn was in a quiet neighborhood, which was conducive to my running. The hills in Oceanside were challenging but fun.

On day three we went to the beach in Oceanside. I loved this time and only wish we could have spent more time there. I would love to rent a home there on the beach this summer and just relax for a month. I think that would be so much fun. I told Karen she could bring the scrapbook stuff and I would train in the a.m. and hit the beach all afternoon. Here is a pic of Josh and I playing in the surf...

So for days four and five we went to Disneyland. It was everything you would expect right before a major holiday. It was busy, but I thought manageable. We had a blast and would head back to the hotel about eight every night because all three of us were exhausted. The highlight of our time in Disneyland was when Josh decided he wanted to be "tough" and leave his hands up on one of the rollercoasters. That was supercool as a Dad.

He would tell you the Jedi Training he got was even better. Here is the photo of when he fought Darth Maul...

At the end of Day 5, the second day at Disneyland, Karen was just wiped. Everyone was to be honest, but Josh and I decided we would go on Indiana Jones later in the night. We got a couple of Fast Passes early in the day for return at 7:30. We dropped Karen off at the hotel and as tired as we both were from all day in the park, we hoofed it back to Disneyland. We went on Indiana Jones, the Car ride, the Buzz Lightyear ride, and the Jungle Cruise. Finally I think we both had enough and decided it was time to try and head back to the hotel to pass out. Amazingly enough, we started walking out just as the fireworks began and Josh was able to watch them from my shoulders while I walked out of the park. We made it back to the hotel just in time for the both of us to fall asleep.

Overall, the trip was amazing. I loved hanging out with the family without the cell phone for a couple of days. I was able to sprinkle in a couple of runs, eat some good food, and spend some time with the people who I haven't really seen in a couple of months because of travel for work. Now it is back to the grindstone and training for that little thing I have coming up May 1st!

Off to California

This week I will be in California with my wife and son. It will be really nice to hang out with them on vacation, even for just a couple of days. If you need to get in touch with me, I will have my cell phone with me the entire time and got authorization from the boss (thanks honey) to answer anytime someone calls. Please don't hesitate to call me on my cell for the entire week.

In the mean time, Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Just Finished in Mississippi...

So I just got out of the woods and onto a plane in Mississippi. I had a great time with one of my oldest friends, Spencer. We tried hard to find some turkey and failed and we did get into the deer. I found one I wanted to harvest and missed a 30 yard shot with my bow. Ouch...Regardless, we had a fantastic time, hunting, working his property, and catching up. He is a great guy.

I will be in Wisconsin for a training tomorrow and travelling on Tuesday. If you want to schedule a time to talk with me on Wednesday, I will be in the office most of the day and available to talk. There are a couple of you, my Project Directors, who I need to have a discussion with to make sure we are on course and will meet our deadlines. I am sure you are, but those deadlines have a way of creeping up on us if we don't manage them correctly.

In other news, word on the street is that the DoEd will be accepting new applications this spring. What does this mean to you? You know that AFS works solely on a referral basis, and I would love to talk with potential Project Directors in other districts that you would feel comfortable referring over to us. So, please take a couple of minutes and get me one or two names that I can contact and email them over to me when you get a moment.

In Mississippi this Week

So Hawai'i was a huge success, and you can check out my reports from the island at my personal blog here. This week I am in Mississippi to work with Choctaw County Schools. I will be in the backwoods in the northwest corner of the state looking for whitetail deer and turkey with a good friend of mine. So, if you need to get in touch with me this week, know that it will most likely be Monday when I will be able to get back to you.

Clairton City Schools Report

I just finished my training at Clairton City Schools. Clairton is in Year III of their implementation and is doing a good job at making sure they meet the goals they set through the Objectives that were originally proposed to the DoEd. Through a significant amount of support at the administrative level and leadership from within the PE Department, the district is well on its way to meet their stated expected outcomes.

This district is in a high poverty area. Perhaps when I say high poverty, you think that a lot of their students come from low income households. Outside of Chicago Public Schools, Clairton may have the highest percentage of students who come from this type of household. Student motivation is a challenge within this district. Motivating students to collect their MVPA data is a challenge here more than anywhere else I work with.

But the PE instructors may be near experts in student motivation. The district administration is committed to supporting the efforts of the PE instructors not only financially, but with the time and energy they require. Clairton rewards all students who submit their MVPA data during the scheduled weeks by hosting a huge pizza party at the end of the term.

Now I know, Coordinated School Health states you should not use food as a reward or punishment. In this case, this strategy may be the most cost efficient and effective way to get their students to submit their data on time. All students who attend the party are also provided with an entry into a drawing. For the drawing the district provides enough gift cards to local merchants that about half of the students walk away from the party with something in their hands.

Many of the ideas we use and strategies we recommend come from Clairton. We appreciate their efforts in making sure that their students are able to walk away from their program with an understanding of how to achieve and maintain a health-enhancing level of fitness.