• IMPORTANT: Form 486 Filing Deadline – October 28, 2001
• CIPA Primer Available on E-Rate Central Web Site
• Additional Information on SLD Web Site
• New York State E-rate Training Sessions in November
• New Address for E-Rate Central

The following is a summary of the E-rate News for the Week of October 1, 2001, prepared by E-Rate Central. Official SLD news appears in the “What’s New!” section of the SLD’s Web site . Additional and archived information appears elsewhere on our Web site .

IMPORTANT: Form 486 Filing Deadline – October 28, 2001

Please excuse this repetitive warning, but this is important.

Under FCC rules, any E-rate applicant awarded funding in Waves 1-6 must file an associated Form 486 (which includes the requisite CIPA-compliance certification) by October 28, 2001. Since this date falls on a Sunday, the effective postmark deadline for a Form 486 is really October 27.

Any Wave 1-6 applicant who misses the Form 486 deadline will not be funded for any PY4 discounts on services received before the Form 486 is submitted. This could mean the loss of discounts on four months or more of services extending back to July 1, 2001.

CIPA Primer Available on E-Rate Central Web Site

Since neither the FCC nor the SLD has established specific criteria for meeting next year’s CIPA requirements for an Internet safety policy, many applicants are seeking guidance regarding the key elements of a CIPA-compliant policy. Our suggestions are included in a CIPA policy primer that was published on our Web site this week .

The primer, entitled “Internet Safety Policies and CIPA: An E-rate Primer for Schools and Libraries,” summarizes the CIPA Internet filtering and policy requirements, provides a model of a very basic two-page policy, and addresses the following four guidelines for CIPA compliance:

• The policy should apply to both minors and adults.
  
  
• The policy should specify use of an Internet filtering mechanism.
  
  
• The policy should emphasize staff responsibilities in supervising online activities by minors.
  
  
• The policy should address the NCIPA issues for minors.
  

The primer also discusses additional policy components, not required by CIPA, that schools and libraries may wish to incorporate in a more expansive policy.

Additional Information on SLD Web Site

• The SLD posted the following two sets of additional reference materials on its Web site .

  Sample copies of four types of SLD letters – the Form 470 Receipt Notification Letter, the Form 471 Receipt Acknowledgment Letter (“RAL”), the Funding Commitment Decision Letter (“FCDL”), and the Form 472 BEAR Approval Letter.

• The presentation slides from the SLD’s recent two-day training session for state coordinators.

New York State E-rate Training Sessions in November

As we have done in previous years, E-Rate Central will be holding half-day E-rate workshops for New York State applicants this fall. The preliminary workshop schedule is provided below. Updates, locations, and registration information are posted on the New York State section of our Web site. Please note that security practices at some locations will require pre-registration.

Nov. 9 – New York City (2 sessions)

Nov. 13 – Albany

Nov. 14 – Syracuse

Nov. 16 – Buffalo