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The Hamilton County School Board, in compliance with PL 107-110, the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001, Part A – Improving Basic Programs Operated by Local Educational Agencies, Sec. 1118, Parental Involvement – A Home-School Partnership, establishes the Local Educational Agency (LEA) expectations for parental involvement and describes how the LEA will implement a number of specific parental involvement activities.
I. The Title I Program District administration and staff provide and/or assist the Hamilton County Schools implementing the Title I Program with the following:
A. Involving parents in jointly developing the LEA’s local plan under section 1112 in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116;
B. Providing the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic and school performance;
C. Building the school’s and parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement;
D. Coordinating and integrating parental involvement strategies under Title I, Part A with parental involvement strategies;
E. Conducting, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parental involvement policy in improving the academic quality of the programs served with the Title I, Part A funds, including
1. 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;
2. Using the findings of the evaluation to design strategies for more effective parental involvement;
3. Revising the LEA’s parental involvement policies; and
4. Involving parents of schools served under Title I, Part. A.
F. Each school, to the extent practical, builds personal ties, between our schools and parents by the inclusion of the following meetings, activities, parental development workshops:
II. The School District of Hamilton County promotes and supports active family involvement in the learning process for the purpose of improving student achievement. To this end, parent and family involvement in education is defined as home-based and school-based activities including parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, and collaboration with the community. Each type of involvement is valuable, and each has an impact on students, teachers, and the parents themselves and leads to highest student achievement. The School District of Hamilton County and all schools within its boundaries, in collaboration with parents and community members, will establish programs and practices that enhance parent involvement and reflect the specific needs of students and their families. The Board supports the Superintendent as he/she directs the development, implementation and regular evaluation of a comprehensive and coordinated parent involvement program in each school. School based efforts will involve parents at all grade levels in a variety of roles.
III. The Board further supports the Superintendent as procedures are designed for the development, implementation, and regular evaluation of a comprehensive and coordinated Districtwide program to involve parents in District level decision and practices.
IV. General Expectations
The District in its Districtwide Parental Involvement Policy must establish its expectations for parental involvement in accordance with section 1118(a)(2), ESEA. The Hamilton County School District agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:
A. The School District 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.
B. Consistent with section 1118, the School District will work with its schools to ensure that the required school level parental involvement polices meet the requirements of section 1118(b) of the ESEA, and include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with section 1118(d) of the ESEA.
C. The School District will incorporate the Districtwide Parental Involvement Policy into its LEA plan developed under section 1112 of the ESEA.
D. In carrying out the Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements, to the extent practical, the School District 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, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practical, in a language parents understand.
E. 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.
F. The School District will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the one percent (1%) of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent and will ensure that not less than ninety-five percent (95%) of the one percent (1%) reserved goes directly to the schools,
G. The School District will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and expects that its Title I school 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 leaning and other school activities, including ensuring
1. That parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;
2. That parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;
3. 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 if their child;
4. The carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESEA.
V. Description of How the District Will Implement Required Districtwide Parental Involvement Policy Components
A. The Hamilton County School District will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its Districtwide parental involvement plan under section 1112 of the ESEA:
1. The District will reconvene the Districtwide Parent Advisory Council to solicit input into the parent involvement policy.
2. The Council will meet at least monthly to review and update the policy.
3. The Districtwide policy will be incorporated into the Hamilton County School District Title I Plan.
4. The School Board meeting and workshop will be advertised prior to the meetings.
5. During the School Board workshop or meeting, parents will have an opportunity to address any dissatisfaction with the Title I Plan.
B. The Hamilton County School District will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of the ESEA:
1. Each school will organize a School Advisory Council (SAC) made up of a majority of parents.
2. The School Advisory Council will serve as the decision making body of the school.
3. The council will meet quarterly to develop, review and offer suggestions for improvement of the School Improvement Plan.
4. The council will review data, discuss strategies implemented, and evaluate progress made by students.
C. The Hamilton County School District 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:
1. The District Federal Programs Coordinator and Parent Liaison will meet monthly and at other times as deemed necessary with principals to provide technical assistance for parent involvement activities.
2. The District e-mail system will be utilized and updated to provide technical assistance.
3. The District Federal Programs Coordinator and Parent Liaison will visit Title I participating schools to offer assistance and support of parental involvement activities.
4. The District will allocate professional development funds to Title I schools to assist schools in attending state conferences and regional workshops.
5. The District Title I Parenting Liaison will visit schools weekly to assist with planning and conducting parent workshops at the school site and at the District parenting center.
D. The Hamilton County School District will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies in Part A with parental involvement strategies under programs such as the following: Head Start, Reading First, Even Start, Parents as Teachers, Home Instruction Program for Preschool Youngsters, and state operated preschool programs.
1. The District Resource Directory lists some of the many community support efforts to assist families in need. The directory is not all inclusive, but is updated regularly to reflect current organizations and centers which provide services to students and families. The directory is available as a reference document on the internet and hard copies are provided upon request by the School District of Hamilton County Chamber of Commerce Office.
2. Partnerships with Hamilton County School District and its schools, community agencies, businesses, faith based organizations, and governmental agencies are utilized to coordinate resources and provide comprehensive services to ensure full and effective parent/family involvement.
3. The District developed Parent Guide will provide additional resources and referrals for services in the school, District and community.
4. The District Federal Programs Coordinator and other federal program managers, Florida Learning Diagnostic Resource Services (FLDRS) and Pre-K Gateway Coalition collaborate on a quarterly and as needed basis to combine and coordinate resources and service for parents.
E. The Hamilton County School District will take the following actions to conduct, with the assistance and involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the parent involvement policy to improve the quality of the District Title I, Part A schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities. A focus will be geared toward parents of children who are economically disadvantaged, disabled, English Language Learners, or lack literacy skills. The school and District will use findings in the evaluation to improve the quality of parental activities and design strategies more effectively for parental involvement. If needed, the current parental involvement policy will be revised.
1. The evaluation instrument will be developed by the Districtwide Parent Advisory Council in an effort to solicit parent involvement.
2. The policy will be evaluated annually at each of the Title I participating schools during a School Advisory Council meeting.
3. The Chairperson of the SAC or principal’s designee will be responsible for conducting this evaluation.
4. Parents will have an opportunity and will be encouraged to complete an evaluation.
5. The evaluation instrument will be sent home to all parents to provide an opportunity to evaluate the policy.
F. The Hamilton County School District will build the schools’ and parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement, 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:
1. The School District will, with the assistance of Title I, Part A, provide assistance to parents of children served by the School District or schools, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the actions described in this program.
a. Topics
(1) The State’s academic content standards
(2) The State’s student academic achievement standards
(3) The State and local academic assessments including alternate assessments
(4) The requirements of Part A
(5) How to monitor their child’s progress
(6) How to work with educators
b. Action
(1) Newsletters
(2) School Advisory Council
(3) District Advisory Council
(4) Hamilton County School District Website
(5) Parent Resource Guide
(6) Family FCAT Night
(7) Community Outreach Program
(8) Florida Department of Education Website
(9) Parent-Teacher Conferences
(10) Parent Teacher Organization
(11) Family Reading Night
(12) Parent Workshops
(13) Parent Holiday Activities
(14) FACT Explorer
2. The School District will, with the assistance of its schools, provide materials and training, such as literacy training and using technology as appropriate, to assist parents to work with their child(ren) to improve their child(ren)’s academic achievement and to foster parental involvement.
a. Parent Resource Guide
b. Hamilton County School District Website
c. Community Outreach Programs
d. Families Building Better Readers
e. Florida Desk Reference
f. Parent Reading and Math Hands-on Workshop
3. The School District will, with the assistance of its schools and parents, educate its teachers, student services personnel, principals and other staff to reach out to communicate with and work with parents as equal partners, to value and utilize the contributions of parents, to implement and coordinate parent programs and to build ties between parents and schools.
a. Families Building Better Readers
b. Community Outreach Programs
c. School Advisory Councils
d. District School Improvement Committee
e. Strategic Planning Committee
4. The School District will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Prekindergarten, Prekindergarten Migrant/Homeless with Early Learning Coalition and other programs, and conduct other activities such as parent resource centers that encourage and support parents in full participation in the education of their children.
a. The Study Buddy with Brainchild
b. District Strategic Planning Committee
c. Book Give Away
d. Parent Fairs
e. K-Orientation
5. The School District will take the following action to ensure that information related to the school and parent programs, meetings, and their activities, is sent to the parents of participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternate forms upon request, and to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand.
a. Hamilton County student population is represented by eight percent (8%) ESOL/ELL students. The majority of these students are Spanish speaking students. The District uses District employed staff (liaisons and paraprofessionals) in the Limited English Proficient (LEP) and Migrant Programs to assist with translations into English and Spanish as appropriate. The District will continue to provide all necessary and appropriate service for ESOL students through the District and school personnel.
b. Translators are available to assist parents during workshops and meetings
VI. Discretionary Districtwide Parent Involvement Policy Components
A. The Districtwide Parental Involvement Policy may include discretionary activities that the School District, in consultation with its parents, chooses to undertake to build parents’ capacity for involvement in the school and school system to support their children’s academic achievement, such as the following discretionary activities listed under section 1118(e) of the ESEA:
1. Involving parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training;
2. Providing necessary literacy training for parents from Title I, Part A funds, if the school District has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for that training;
3. Paying reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;
4. Training parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;
5. To maximize parental involvement and participation in their children’s education, arranging school meetings at a variety of times, or conducting in-home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, with parents who are unable to attend those conferences at school;
6. Adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement;
7. Establishing a Districtwide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I, Part A programs;
8. Developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith based organizations, in parental involvement activities; and
9. Providing other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under section 1118 as parents may request.
B. Action
1. Include parents in decision making process for teacher training, advisory committees, and provide training in such areas as policy, curriculum, budget, school reform initiatives, safety, and personnel. Where site governance bodies exist, give equal representation to parents.
2. Enable parents to participate as partners when setting school goals, literacy training, developing or evaluating programs and polices or when responding to performance data.
3. To the extent feasible, allocate funds to assist with implementation of parent involvement activities to include transportation and child care costs to enable parents to participate in school related meetings and training sessions.
4. Provide training for staff and parents on collaborative partnering with other parents and shared decision making.
5. Arrange flexible scheduling, advertising and conducting town hall meetings at a variety of locations throughout the county to accommodate parents.
6. Sponsor a variety of meetings to provide parent/teacher friendly and interactive workshops or distribute information to assist parents in understanding how students can improve skills, get assistance when needed, meet class expectations and perform well on assessments.
7. Send immediate written communication to each school principal requesting the establishment of a School Advisory Council and Parent Teacher Organization chairperson and Joint Parent Organization members.
8. Encourage and facilitate various outreach approaches to get active parent participation in the decisions that affect students, such as School Choice, course selection, and individual personalized education plans.
9. The Parent Liaison and District Advisory Council will develop and help to implement strategies that will unite the efforts of teachers, parents, and other educators toward attaining the goal of increasing student achievement and school success.
10. The District Resource Directory lists some of the many community support efforts to assist families in need. The directory is not all inclusive but is updated regularly to reflect current organizations and centers which provide services to students and families. The directory is available as a reference document on the internet and hard copies are provided on request by the School District of Hamilton County and Chamber of Commerce office. Additionally, partnerships with Hamilton County School District and its schools, community agencies, businesses, faith based organizations, and governmental agencies are utilized to coordinate resources and provide comprehensive service to ensure full and effective parent/family involvement.
11. Provide understandable, accessible, and well publicized processes for influencing decisions, raising issues or concerns, appealing decision, and resolving problems.
12. Electronic school phone systems or prearranged telephone contact procedures may be used to contact parents at home.
13. Involve parents in setting student goals each year and in planning for postsecondary education and careers.
14. Provide opportunities for staff members to learn and share successful approaches to engaging parents in their child’s education.
15. Provide tools to assist parents with student learning.
16. Staff development and parent community training teaches the importance of demonstrating respect for families; the family’s primary roles in the rearing of children to responsible adulthood; and understanding the importance of sensitivity to cultural diversity.
17. The District Parent Liaison will help to provide a link between the home and school by organizing appropriate plans to keep the communication between the home and the school with the cooperation of principals and teachers.
VII. Adoption
A. The Districtwide Parental Involvement Policy has been developed jointly with, and agreed on with, parents of children participating in Title I, Part A program.
B. This policy was adopted by the Hamilton County School Board on _____ and will be in effect until revised or repealed The School District will distribute this policy annually to all parents of participating Title, I, Part A children. STATUTORY AUTHORITY: 1001.41, 1001.42, F.S. LAW(S) IMPLEMENTED: 1000.21, 1001.42, 1001.51, 1001.54, 1002.20, 1002.23, 1008.25, 1012.98 F.S. NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT OF 2001, P.L. 107-110
HISTORY: ADOPTED: 11/20/07 REVISION DATE(S): _______ FORMERLY: NEW
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Last modified: October 12, 2006 |
