Parent Involvement Policy

The staff at our school site, with the support of state and federal programs such as Title I and School Improvement, seeks to involve parents in an effective home-school partnership in order to provide the best possible education for our students. These parent involvement activities are integrated into the school master plan for academic accountability. Elements of this policy include:

1. Regular Communication with Parents:

In order to build consistent and effective communication between the home and the school and to train teachers and administrators to communicate effectively and in a timely manner with parents, regular communication will include the following:

Teacher Welcome Letters
Regular School Newsletters
Annual School Calendar
Special Event/Reminder Notices
Six-Week Report Cards
Twice Yearly Parent Conferences
Family Academic Fairs
School Assemblies (Parents Invited)
Parent-Teacher Compacts
Student Activities featured in school newspaper
Interim progress reports for all students

Title I Parent Meetings:

Annual Title I Meetings will be held to inform parents of the school’s participation in the program and to explain its requirements and parent’s right to be involved. Parents are encouraged to help organize, plan, and review, the Title I programs for improvement purposes. Regular School Site Council and PTA meetings provide opportunities for parents to formulate suggestions that the school site will consider.

2. Parent Training:

These are opportunities to help parents develop skills to use at home that supports their children’s academic efforts & social development. They provide parents with techniques and strategies that they may utilize to improve their children’s academic success and to assist their children in learning at home. A Parent Needs Assessment survey is conducted at the first Parent Night and some of these activities may include:

Math Skills/Games
Reading Skills/Games
Science Fair
Writing Skills
Helping with Homework
Community Resources
District Standards & Assessment
Homework

3. Parent Support:
A. Homework:

As per board policy, homework is assigned each school night and serves a number of purposes: to practice and extend classroom learning, to develop responsibility and work habits, and to provide parents an opportunity to interact with their children and their education. Parents can support the school and their child’s success by helping with homework in the following ways:

Help your child get organized. Remind him/her to bring home the necessary materials: binder, pencils, paper, etc.
Agree upon a regular study time and stick to it.
See that your child has a regular, suitable study place, with good light, plenty of room, and no distractions (TV, phone, family noise, etc.)
Ask to see what your child has done each night and that it is returned to the teacher.
Show interest in what he or she does at school.
Contact the teacher if your child has difficulty understanding an assignment.

Our goal is to help your child reach grade level standards and beyond.

B. Citizenship and Student Behavior:

Students are to display good citizenship in the cafeteria, on the playground, on the bus for field trips, and in the classroom. Staff and parents should work together to help children understand the meaning and importance of good citizenship and how to be a polite child. Specific rights, rules, and responsibilities regarding student behavior are detailed on the Student Rights and Responsibilities page of the Student/Parent Handbook. Each student is provided with a copy of this handbook at the beginning of each school year.

C. Parent Visitations:

A wonderful way to show your child you are interested in his/her life at school is to visit the classroom, and the school welcomes any parent who wishes to help or simply observe. The following visitation guidelines will help minimize disruption of the class:

Schedule your visit with the classroom teacher and school office in advance.
Leave younger children at home.
The day you visit, stop by the office to sign in as a visitor and receive a visitor's badge.
When in the classroom, do not engage the teacher in conversation that would prevent her/him from supervising and interacting with the students.
Before leaving campus, please check out through the office.

D. Parent Participation

Parents are urged to involve themselves in one or more school or district committees. These committees meet to plan for student activities and academic programs, to discuss parent and staff concerns, to approve categorical program budgets, and to enhance parent understanding and skills. Notices about meetings and of the activities listed below will be sent home regularly. Parents wishing to participate may contact the school office to volunteer, or, can normally just show up at the announced time and place.

Parent Teacher Association– Plans student activities and raises funds for the "extras" needed at the school sites.
School Site Council – Determines school improvement goals and prioritizes budget expenditures for some categorical programs.
English Language Learner Advisory Council (ELLAC) – Assists in planning the program to serve English Language learners at the school site and explore opportunities for all students to learn English. The district ELLAC helps set district English Language Learner program goals and plans for the spending of extra funding provided by the state for this purpose.

Other opportunities for participation include:

Family Academic Events
Monthly Programs and Assemblies
Health Fair
School Site Activities
School/Classroom Volunteer
Daddy Day Care

Parent/Teacher Association

All parents are encouraged to join the Parent/Teacher Association. Notices will be sent home with students prior to meetings.

Parent/Teacher Conferences

Conferences are held with parents of all students in grades pre-kindergarten through grade six. Parents are requested to meet with teachers formally twice per year --- at the end of the first and fifth reporting periods. However, parents may schedule appointments through the office or with individual teachers any time during the course of the school year.

A teacher shall schedule one or more conferences with the parent(s) of a student if a student is not maintaining passing grades or achieving the expected level of performance, classroom disciplinary concerns persist, or the student is a potential retainee. Conferences with parents of potential retainees will be conducted throughout the year for documentary purposes as well as to keep the parent abreast of the student’s progress.

PowerSchool (Parent Portal)

What is Powerschool Parent Portal? Our student management system, Powerschool, allows parent access. This is a feature of these Powerschool student information system that provides parents immediate access to grades, assignments, and attendance records in an effort to facilitate and improve communication between home and school.

Parent Volunteers

From time to time, the school may select volunteers to assist the staff and students. Volunteers must follow all of the rules and regulations of the school to the same extent as employees of the school and any additional rules or directives required. Volunteers must sign in at the main office each day before beginning their assignments. Please be advised that both federal and state law requires criminal history background checks for all school volunteers.

While their services are appreciated, volunteers must adhere to the following guidelines:

Language:

    1. All conversations must be positive in nature and in tone.

Discipline Management:

    1. Discipline management should be limited to positive reinforcement. Physical punishment is never allowed.
    2. Severe disciplinary concerns should be referred to the teacher.

Volunteer appreciation recognition requires a minimum of 20 hours of service, not inclusive of routine classroom observations, monitoring, or conferencing in regards to his or her own child.