The director's Cut

Vicki Kibodeaux

DR. VICKI KIBODEAUX

Federal Programs Specialist

Dr. Vicki Kibodeaux is a former teacher, academic coach, curriculum specialist, and federal programs director who has served in Mississippi schools for twenty-five years. A National Board Certified Teacher in Adolescent Generalist, Dr. Kibodeaux received her Ed.D. in Educational Leadership from the University of Southern Mississippi with an emphasis on professional development. Dr. Kibodeaux has had extensive training in professional development through Southeast Eisenhower Regional Consortium (SERC) @ SERVE with a focus on developing skills to provide staff development in mathematics and science. She has successful experience in leading teachers in effective instruction, unit lesson planning, and assessment writing. Most recently, Dr. Kibodeaux has spent the last five years working with federal programs. She has extensive experience with consolidated federal programs applications, Title III grants, McKinney-Vento Homeless grants, amendment writing, schoolwide planning, school improvement plans, and monitoring of such programs. A life-long reader, Dr. Kibodeaux enjoys reading when she is not enjoying the company of her five grandchildren. In addition to these pleasures, she holds several leadership roles in her church. Dr. Kibodeaux is married and has 3 sons, one daughter, and one son-in-law.

A New School Year – What Now?

It is hard to believe the new school year is here.  Many school districts have already started!!!  The summer has flown by! The beginning of the school year is hectic for principals and Federal Program Directors.  I know I have to try and walk a delicate tightrope in getting out the information and reminders of

Read More »

Lessons from a Monitoring Visit – Part 2

Last month I shared a few lessons learned from a monitoring visit.  In that blog, I discussed procedures and documentation that could prevent a monitoring finding on indicator H-1.  This month, I  want to continue that discussion since there has been a change in the procurement thresholds.  During this past legislative session, the Mississippi Senate

Read More »

Lessons from a Monitoring Visit Part 1

The Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is finishing the FY22 monitoring on FY21 documentation.  After spending time with districts going through monitoring and working with them as they receive their reports, I would like to share some feedback that would better help the rest of us as we prepare for future monitoring visits from MDE.

Read More »

Are Federal Program Procedure Manuals Really Necessary?

Are federal program procedure manuals essential?  As much as I hate to say it, the answer is yes.  The procedure manual for federal programs is addressed at conferences and during every monitoring visit.  The next question is, what does the procedure manual include?  The manual should consist of the procedures undertaken by the federal programs

Read More »

Reallocations, Equitable Services, Needs Assessments, Schoolwide Plans…..Overwhelming?

It’s January, and if you are like so many other Federal Program Directors and me, I’m sure you are feeling overwhelmed. We have FY22 and ESSER II reallocations, equitable service diligent search, comprehensive needs assessment surveys, and now FY22 schoolwide plans to be completed within the next month or so. Overwhelming????  Yes!!! So how are

Read More »

Maintenance of Equity

Welcome to Federal Programs where there is always something new! 😉 The MDE introduced maintenance of equity (MOEquity) to us this month.  MOEquity is a provision brought to us by the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARP Act).  The State departments and LEAs must show MOEquity as a condition of receiving ARP ESSER funds.

Read More »

Supplement Not Supplant and Maintenance of Effort

I learned today that the supplement not supplant (SNS) provision no longer applies to Title I district-level budgeted expenditures.  Federal program directors were initially told SNS applied to Title I schools, not district-level costs, since LEAs had to provide a methodology for funding schools.  Maybe I missed it along the way, but I did not

Read More »

Are Your Schools Comparable?

Many of us are now in the process of determining if our schools are comparable.  In Mississippi, we use a comparability workbook provided by MDE to complete the process.  Even though MDE hosted a helpful technical assistance, questions often arise once one starts on the project.  Due to Covid, this is another year for which

Read More »

Contact Dr. Kibodeaux

Skip to content