BOARD AGENDA MEMORANDUM
SUBJECT:
Title
Approve Amendment No. 1 to Agreement No. A4257R, with the Santa Clara County Office of Education for the Environmental Education and Student Assessment Project, a Safe, Clean Water and Natural Flood Protection Program FY 2019 Priority D3 Restore Wildlife Habitat Partnership Funding Agreement.
End
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Approve Amendment No. 1 to Agreement No. A4257R between the Santa Clara Valley Water District and the Santa Clara County Office of Education retroactively extending its term and modifying the Project scope due to COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Body
SUMMARY:
On May 14, 2019, the Santa Clara Valley Water District (Valley Water) Chief Executive Officer approved and executed a partnership Agreement with the Santa Clara County Office of Education (SCCOE) in the amount not-to-exceed $50,000 to support the Environmental Education and Student Assessment Project (Project) (Attachment 1). The Project would enhance creek and bay ecosystems by engaging students in Santa Clara County through environmental literacy and education curriculum in partnership with the Morgan Family Foundation. The Project would comprehensively assess the disparities of environmental education throughout the county to better serve the higher-need school districts.
To date, the SCCOE has invoiced and been paid the amount of $6,414.87 for the Environmental Literacy analysis and report deliverable of the Project. The findings identified in the analysis and report showed that environmental education was implemented by individual teachers based on their specific interests, instead of through a district-wide or school-wide program as expected when the original scope was conceived. Therefore, the subsequent deliverable of creating a database of underserved environmental literacy areas was no longer feasible and not the best use of the remaining partnership funds.
As a result of the report findings, in May 2020 SCCOE requested the Agreement be amended to modify the scope of work and extend its term to allow sufficient time to complete the revised scope. Staff recommends the Agreement term be retroactively extended (the original Agreement expired in June 2020) for 30 months, to December 31, 2022. Like many other partners, SCCOE’s timely performance has been delayed and may be further delayed, due to the restrictions and impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting State Emergency Services Act, the Governor’s Emergency Declaration related to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Governor’s Executive Order N-29-20, and Order of the County of Santa Clara Public Health Officer dated March 16, 2020. The transition of schools from in-person to virtual settings, plus the uncertainties around the re-opening plan, has impacted teacher participation in outside educational programming.
Valley Water staff worked with SCCOE to identify a more effective and suitable scope of work for the remaining $43,585.03 of the partnership funding amount. The modified scope proposes developing workshops to train a cohort of teachers to deliver environmental education programs in their classrooms. This scope is scalable and can be implemented in person or virtually, making its performance feasible with the uncertainties of the COVID-19 pandemic in terms of when in-person classroom learning may resume.
In order to ensure continuity of the term of the Agreement and that SCCOE receive the benefit of the partnership Agreement to provide funding for the revised Project, staff recommends approval of Amendment No. 1 (Attachment 3) which would retroactively extend the term of the Agreement through December 31, 2022.
FINANCIAL IMPACT:
None. Amendment No. 1 is a no-cost time extension and scope revision.
CEQA:
The recommended action does not constitute a project under CEQA because it does not have potential for resulting in direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical changes in the environment.
ATTACHMENTS:
Attachment 1: Agreement A4257R
Attachment 2: SCCOE Amendment Request
Attachment 3: Amendment No. 1
UNCLASSIFIED MANAGER:
Manager
Marta Lugo, 408-630-2237