MPS Certified Community Partner Criteria/Expectations

All MPS Certified Community Partners must commit to the following expectations:

Contracts: Agree to have a community partnership contract in place for each type of program offered (required regardless if money is exchanging hands).

Background Checks: Conduct criminal background checks on all paid or volunteer staff who have direct contact with MPS students in accordance with MPS policy and applicable state/federal laws including but not limited to Minn. Stat. Sections 299C.61-.64; Minn. Stat. Section 123B.03; 42 U.S.C.Section 5119a and 42 U.S.C. Section 14501-05 .

Insurance:  Maintain a minimum level of Liability Insurance for the entirety of partnership with the District. All new partners must submit a copy of their Certificate of Liability Insurance as part of the initial contract process.  Partner is required to notify the District a notice if the coverage is canceled. Insurance requirements are:

• minimum $1.5 million in commercial general liability insurance per occurrence
• MPS is named as an additional insured party
• MPS is a certificate holder

Data Privacy: Comply with all MPS policies and state/federal laws regarding student data privacy, including the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act, Minnesota Statute Chapter 13, and The Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA).

Data Access:  Agree to follow MPS processes for accessing existing data from the District. This includes not asking school staff for student-level data and utilizing MPS standard Release of Information forms for all individual student data needs.  Please visit our Data & Evaluation page for more information. Key points include:

• Any partners wanting access to individual student data must use the MPS standard Release of Information (ROI) form to ask for parental consent.  
• Partners cannot conduct any observations, surveys, focus groups, or individual interviews with students or collect demographic information directly from students during the school day unless they have received approval via the Outside Research approval process (fees apply). ​Partners who work with students before/after school hours many conduct surveys, focus groups or individual interviews with students.

Photo/Video/Media Release: Agree to follow Guidelines for MPS Community Partners re: photo/video release which includes using the MPS consent form template.  Please allow up to 2 weeks for approval.

Grants: Agree to obtain approval from the Resource Development and Innovation (RDI) department prior to applying for external grant funding if work will take place on MPS property with MPS students, or if organization will require student data from MPS for program evaluation/reporting purposes.  Understand that data may be subject to a fee. Unless agreed to in a contract or MOU, MPS is not required to provide any data to organizations for grant reporting purposes.

Curriculum Vetting: Agree to obtain approval from appropriate MPS department/staff for any curriculum used during the school day.  Pleas allow 6-8 weeks for this process.

General: Understand that MPS will revisit community partnership agreements on a regular basis for alignment to MPS priorities, to assess progress on goals and objectives, and to determine if modifications are needed.