INFORMATIONAL

The rollover to the Year 2000 is now just a few weeks away.  I am confident that the 
school divisions have undertaken a rigorous effort to identify and resolve Year 2000 
"millennium bug" issues.  Additionally, school divisions have given equal attention 
to the preparation and testing of Year 2000 contingency plans.  Agencies of the 
Commonwealth of Virginia continue their preparations and planning is under way to 
meet the reporting requirements specified by the Century Date Change Initiative 
Project Office (CDCI).  

Effective December 28, 1999, CDCI will begin manning a Year 2000 information center, 
called the Virginia Information Coordination Center (VICC).  This center will operate 
24 hours a day during the rollover weekend and the following week(s). State agencies 
will be required to report Year 2000 status through a Web-based system, that will be 
monitored and analyzed by the VICC, and the information will be  forwarded to the 
Governor's Office for reporting to the public and the federal government.  

For the purposes of reporting requirements, education has been established as a 
State-wide Critical Sector.  Child Nutrition, including the School Nutrition Program,
has been ranked by the federal government as a Critical Federal Program.  These two 
ratings require the Department of Education to provide regular reporting to the VICC
beginning on Friday, December 31, 1999, continuing through January 7, 2000.  

To report accurately the status of education and child nutrition programs, the 
Department of Education is requesting school divisions to notify the agency's Year 
2000 staff of any Year 2000 related events.   School divisions may either e-mail 
the department at doey2k@pen.k12.va.us (preferred method) or by fax at (804)371-8978.  Please indicate which school (or central office) has a Year 2000 problem, whether the facility is open, the impact of the problem, expected duration, contingency plan item invoked, and the name and telephone number of the contact person.  

This information will be compiled and provided to the VICC in summary form (school 
level status), and event information will be provided if requested.  As the Year 
2000 problem is solved, the school division should notify the department.  Without 
this information it will be impossible to identify for the Governor the true status 
of Virginia's education system.

The information flow through the department to the VICC and the Governor's Office 
must be timely.  It is important that school divisions prepare to check their basic 
infrastructure during the January 1 holiday weekend, to ensure readiness for school 
opening on Monday, January 3, or Tuesday, January 4. Reporting to the department is 
on an exception basis only.  Normal operational status will be assumed and reported 
for all school divisions unless Year 2000 problems are reported.  Year 2000 reporting 
should continue, as needed, beyond January 7, 2000, and the department will notify 
the school division superintendents via e-mail when the VICC has discontinued its 
operation.

It is very important that school divisions review their Year 2000 status, and if 
contingency plans are not complete, prepare and test them during these remaining 
weeks of 1999.  Valuable information on Year 2000 planning can be found at the 
President's Year 2000 Conversion Council (www.y2k.gov) and the US Department of 
Education (www.ed.gov/y2k).  For further information regarding the Year 2000 
reporting process, contact Dennis Weiss, Year 2000 Coordinator, at (804)225-2941 or 
e-mail to dweiss@pen.k12.va.us.

PDS/djw