January 27, 2009
Dear County and District Superintendents and Charter School Administrators:
ONLINE PUBLIC UPDATE FOR SCHOOLS-COUNTY-DISTRICT-SCHOOL WEB APPLICATION
We are pleased to announce our new Online Public Update for Schools (OPUS) – County-District-School (CDS) Web application. This application was created to allow local educational agency (LEA) staff to routinely view and update basic LEA descriptive and contact information that are part of the California Department of Education (CDE) CDS database. This information includes school and district names, addresses, administrative staff contact information, Web addresses, etc. Updates to the CDS database previously submitted on paper or through e-mail may now be submitted online by an authorized LEA staff member using the OPUS-CDS Web application.
CDS Coordinator
Each county and/or district superintendent should designate a CDS coordinator responsible for ensuring that CDS updates and corrections are submitted to the CDE through the OPUS-CDS application. The CDS coordinator will need access to an Internet browser to use the OPUS-CDS application. For your convenience we have assigned your California Basic Educational Data System (CBEDS) coordinator to the CDS Coordinator role, as CBEDS coordinators often work with school status issues. If you wish to assign a different CDS coordinator or update any of the CDS coordinator information, please update the CDS coordinator information as described below.
Your LEA user name and password are printed on the enclosed 2009 OPUS-CDS Coordinator Information Survey. Use your User Name and password to make updates to your CDS coordinator information on the CDE OPUS-CDS Web page at http://www3.cde.ca.gov/opuscds/. Note: Only county and district superintendents will receive the survey.
Charter Schools within a LEA
The OPUS-CDS application is designed for LEAs to administer the submission of changes for their schools, including all charter schools authorized by the district. Charter school personnel are responsible for working closely with their district’s CDS coordinator to ensure all site information is up-to-date.
California Public School Directory Annual Update Process Using OPUS
As part of the annual public school directory update process administered by the CDE, LEAs will also use the OPUS-CDS application to verify LEA CDS data and to submit updates for changes to the California Public School Directory. LEAs will receive additional information about the annual update process in March 2009.
OPUS-CDS Availability
The OPUS-CDS application will be available for use on February 4, 2009, on the CDE OPUS-CDS Web page at http://www3.cde.ca.gov/opuscds/.
In an effort to transition to paperless updates, we strongly encourage LEAs to submit their changes through the OPUS-CDS application. During this transition, we will continue to assist LEAs with urgent CDS change requests received by phone or e-mail.
Once an update has been submitted, it will be processed in the order it was received by CDS administrative staff. Depending on staff workload, simple school name and address changes should be approved and posted in one to two business days, whereas more complex changes may take longer. Updates to charter schools or educational option schools will require approval from appropriate program office staff before changes can be made.
If you have any questions regarding this subject, please contact the CDS administration at 916-327-4014 or by e-mail at CDSadmin@cde.ca.gov.
Sincerely,
JACK O’CONNELL
JO:ks
Enclosure
cc: California Basic Educational Data System Coordinator
1430 N Street
Sacramento, CA 95814