Parental Involvement Policy for Talladega City Schools

On Friday (Sept. 23), we will be sending home a short letter from Doug Campbell regarding a proposed parental involvement policy for the school system. In the letter, he invites your written input. This invitation extends through Sept. 29. You may send input to the central office or send it to the school and we will forward it. The letter states that the proposed policy is on file at the school. We are posting here to make it more easily accessible to more parents:

District Title I Parental Involvement Policy

The Talladega City Schools agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

The Talladega City Schools will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). Those programs, activities and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.

Consistent with section 1118, the school district will work with its schools to ensure that the required school‑level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of section 1118(b) of the ESEA, and each include, as a component, a school‑parent compact consistent with section 1118(d) of the ESEA.

The Talladega City Schools will incorporate this district wide parental involvement policy into its LEA plan developed under section 1112 of the ESEA.

In carrying out the Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school district and its schools will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency, parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children, including providing information and school reports required under section 1111 of the ESEA in an understandable and uniform format and, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.

If the LEA plan for Title I, Part A, developed under section 1112 of the ESEA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school district will submit any parent comments with the plan when the school district submits the plan to the State Department of Education.

The school district will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the 1 percent of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent of the one percent reserved goes directly to the schools.

The school district will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement and expects that it’s Title I schools will carry out programs, activities and procedures in accordance with this definition:

Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two‑way,

and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring-

that parents play an integral role in assisting their child's learning;

that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child's education at school;

that parents are full partners in their child's education and are included, as appropriate, in decision‑making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child;

the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA

The Talladega City Schools will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its district-wide parental involvement plan under section 1112 of the ESEA:

· Use the district’s Federal Program Advisory Team ( At the current time there are six schools in the Title I Program and each school will have at least one parent representative. These parents will serve as a point of contact for parents, and will work with the local schools to ensure that parents receive information in a timely manner and have input into the development of this policy.)

· Have schools conduct surveys

The Talladega City Schools will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of the ESEA:

• Encourage all schools to form PTAs or PTOs or other parent groups that can be used to respond to issues of interest to parents.
• Require schools to provide parents with current information regarding school policies, and practices.
• Require schools to provide parents with current information regarding students and school performance data. (solicit parent input and feedback).
• Schools will train staff and parents to be collaborative partners (that share decision making in areas such as policy, curriculum, budget, school reform, school improvement and safety).

The Talladega City Schools will provide the following necessary coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance:

• The Director of Federal Programs or his designee will work with Principals to provide over site, coordination of services, and technical assistance in the areas covered under this section.
• When applicable the district will conduct workshops and/or provide in-service and other support at the request of Title I funded schools.
• The District will use the coordination of funds to contract with a school interventionist and a parent family counselor.
• The District will bring in state department resources on an as needed basis.
• The district’s advisory team will be utilized as a resource to help review, monitor and discuss parent involvement issues.

The Talladega City Schools will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies in Part A with parental involvement strategies under the following other programs: [ Title IV, Technology, Special Education, Gifted, and Head Start programs], by:

• Using a Federal Program Advisory Team
• Contracting with a school interventionist (liaison between home, school and outside agencies)
• Employing a school nurse
• Contracting with a licensed family counselor

The Talladega City Schools will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background). The school district will use the findings of the evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary (and with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.

• A Survey or questionnaire will be administered as a part of the evaluation process. (Parents will be asked to participate in the evaluation.) The principal of each participating title one school will be responsible for data collection and the tabulation of results. The District’s Advisory Team will also be used to review the data collected and to provide feedback.

The Talladega City Schools will build the schools' and parent's capacity for strong parental involvement, in order to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school involved, parents, and the community to improve student academic‑achievement, through the following activities specifically described below:

The school district will, with the assistance of its Title I, Part A schools, provide assistance to parents of children served by the school district or school, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the actions described in this paragraph –

·the State's academic content standards,

·the State's student academic achievement standards,

·the State and local academic assessments including alternate assessments, the requirements of Part A,

·how to monitor their child's progress, and

·how to work with educators

• Schools will conduct workshop(s) on content standards, achievement and assessment as needed. Schools will be required to address these topics at one or more of the following events: PTA/PTO, Open House or Parent Conferences

The school district will, with the assistance of its schools, provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children's academic achievement, such as literacy training, and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement,

• Publishing a Web Site
• Establishing A family Resource Center
• Budgeting funds at the school level for purchasing materials
• Encourage PTOs or PTAs to offer workshops

The school district will, with the assistance of its schools and parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff, in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners, in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and schools, by:

• Provide collaborative partners training to teachers and staff with a focus on shared decision making in areas such as policy, curriculum, budget, school reform, school improvement and safety.

The school district will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parents as Teachers Program, and public preschool and other programs, and conduct other activities, such as parent resource centers, that encourage and support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children, by:

• Contracting with a school interventionist (liaison between home, school and outside agencies)
• Employing a school nurse
• Contracting with a licensed family counselor
• Distributing parenting information at parent-teacher conferences
• Hosting awareness activities at school
• Public Service Announcements via Newspaper and Radio

The school district will take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and parent‑ programs, meetings, and other activities, is sent to the parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand:

• The District will use the state department’s online program to ensure that parents receive documents in the appropriate format.

PART III ADOPTION

This District Parental Involvement Policy has been developed jointly with, and agreed on with, parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs, as evidenced by the district’s advisory team signature page on file.

This revised policy was adopted by the Talladega City Schools on ________________ and will be in effect for the period of three years. The school district will distribute this policy to all parents of participating Title I, Part A children on or before _______________.