The skyrocketed COVID-19 pandemic cases called for the government’s unexpected declaration of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) in the National Capital Region (NCR) plus “bubble,” which forced the private and government offices to limit physically reporting personnel and assign anew a skeletal workforce while the rest are on WFH.
Such does not exempt Parañaque City, which elbows its Schools Division Office (SDO) through the competent leadership of Schools Division Superintendent Evangeline P. Ladines to contemplate the possible means to normalize the office workflow despite the situation.
Hence, it took several heads and careful planning for the SDO to craft a Service Continuity Plan (SCP) which encompasses four salient parts: Stringent Compliance to Health and Safety Protocols, Enhancement of Work from Home Scheme, Digitization Process, and Delivery of Learning Resources and Technical Assistance.
Each salient part has a specific objective and identifies the activities, the responsible office/personnel concerned, the implementation status, the time frame, the resources needed, and the success indicators.
The first salient part, the stringent compliance to health and safety protocol, requires the Health Unit and DRRM of the SDO to continuously assess its personnel complying with the health and safety standards of DOH and IATF. The same measure is observed in the procurement of health and safety materials and in continuous improvement of office structure (HR, DPSU, and Supply) to mitigate the spread of COVID 19 among the SDO personnel.
The second salient part, the enhancement of work from home (WFH) scheme, requires the unit heads to conduct random audio or video call to SDO personnel in WFH and monitor their individual weekly plan and individual accomplishment report (IWAR), document accomplishment reports, comply with the e-attendance via QTime, establish security measures on the documents, materials, and equipment that the personnel brought home, and read-through the weekly work plan and IWAR for inclusion in the RPMS-IPCRF review.
The third salient part of the SCP, the digitization process, necessitates the SDO offices (OSDS, SGOD, CID) to design an alternative process flow to support the existing citizen’s charter. Processes operate online, such as loan application and verification, clearance, CAV, certification/certification of no pending case, and other issuances; digitization of forms for easy downloading from SDO website, utilization of team drive for data back-up, assignment of alternative signatories and enhancement of control mechanism on the usage of e-signature, enrichment of the processes in disseminating issuances such as memorandum, endorsement, and advisories.
Finally, the fourth salient part, the availability of learning resources and provision of technical assistance for all the schools, include activities such as procurement and replenishment of resources to schools, follow-up on the requisition of these learning resources from the LGU/LSB; monitoring and giving of technical assistance to curriculum implementation and utilization of learning resources; online and onsite monitoring and giving of technical assistance to all school operations and governance in the L & D services, monitoring of PPAs, enhancement of partnership, maintaining health and safety in the workplace, data generation, assessment of school building program, safeguarding health and nutrition program implementation, implementation of youth formation programs, and compliance of private schools to standards.
The collaboration stretched by HRD Specialist Rosie O. Rumbaoa, Division IT Officer Al C. Catchillar, Administrative Officer Salve D. Tesorero, Education Program Specialist Emerson Sabadlab, OIC-SGOD Chief Thelma F. Montiel, and CID Chief Bernardo N. Mascarina made possible the crafting of the SCP effected from April up to December 2021 upon the approval of Superintendent Ladines as recommended by OIC-Office of the Assistant Schools Division Superintendent, Dr. Violeta M. Gonzales. (by Reena G. Orquina)