GENERAL REQUIREMENTS

Tunica County School District will implement programs, activities, and procedures for the involvement of parents which must be planned and implemented with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children. This consultation will be organized, systematic, ongoing, informed, and timely.

RESERVATION OF FUNDS

A. Tunica County School District will reserve at least one percent (1%)of its Title I,Part A allocation to implement parental involvement activities if the total Title I, Part A allocation is more than $ 500,000.

B. Parents of children receiving services will be involved in the decisions regarding how reserved funds will be spent for parental involvement activities.

WRITTEN POLICY

Tunica County School District shall develop jointly with, agree with, and distribute to parents of participating children a written parental involvement policy. This Parental Involvement Policy shall be incorporated into the district's plan. Tunica County School District will:

A. Involve parents in the joint development of the District Title I plan and process of school review and improvement.

The District will recruit parents as team members to give input to the development and review of the District Title I plan and to include parents in the process of school review and improvement under Section 1116.

The District will include parents on the District Advisory Committee providing input into ways parents can become partners in education and provide recommendations for school improvement.

B. Provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist participating schools in developing, planning, and implementing a comprehensive parental involvement program.

Tunica County School District will utilize Title I staff, District Staff, parent surveys, and Parental involvement materials from the Mississippi Department of Education to assist Parent Liaisons, Administrators, and Teachers in formulating their written policies and to plan a comprehensive home-school parental involvement program.

C. Assist Title I schools in developing strategies to involve parents in the activities at the schools.

Tunica County School District shall inform parents of school activities via newsletters, newspaper, district website, meetings, and other means of communications.

D. In an effort to improve student achievement, maintain strong school/family/community partnerships, and build capacity for strong parental involvement, Tunica County School District:

(1) shall help parents understand the National Education Goals, state content and performance standards, state and local assessments, Title I requirements, how to monitor progress while participating in their children's education, and how to work with educators toward children's improved performance.

(2) shall provide materials and facilities to train parents, teachers, pupil service personnel, principals, and staff to work with each other and work with parents as equal partners by increasing the capacity for strong parental involvement.

(3) shall educate teachers, pupil services personnel, principals, and staff with assistance from parents on how to reach out to communicate with, and work with parents as equal partners.

E. Avoid program duplication and ensure uniformity in student learning by coordinating and integrating parental involvement strategies with other parental involvement programs:

(1) shall coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs/ activities with Head Start, PTO programs, State-run preschool programs, and other agencies as appropriate.

will provide opportunities for parents, instructional staff, and other agency representatives to meet, plan, and discuss appropriate services and curriculum strategies for students.

(2) shall involve the local community based organizations and businesses to form partnerships through communications and interactions. The involvement of these organizations and businesses in working with the District to foster parental involvement could take the form of:

• Phone calls to local businesses to donate prizes for parenting meetings to encourage parents to attend meetings.
• Volunteer tutors/mentors from various organizations and businesses.
• Recruit community members and solicit community support.
• Provide for a healthy dose of recognition (e.g. prizes, awards, certificates, for both parents and students.)
• Have community persons participate in reading programs with elementary children.
• Have community persons speak at parent meetings and workshops and,

(3) shall conduct other activities, as appropriate and feasible, such as parent resource centers.

In addition, the parent involvement program will be coordinated and implemented by the Title I staff and district staff. Parent resource materials will be available to assist parents with school to home instruction. The parental liaisons will assist school staff in making contacts within the home environment, implementing home to school programs to reinforce classroom performance, and coordinating parent activities at the school and parent resource centers.

F. Provide Accessibility

(1) shall ensure, to the extent possible, that information is sent home in a language and format that parents can understand.

The District may employ, if funds and qualifying personnel are available and applicable, an instructional assistant to directly assist parents whose primary language is not English. Home visits may be conducted in an effort to establish a rapport with the family to determine how best to respond to the unique needs of the family. Every effort will be made to communicate with these parents in their primary language. Additionally, parents and community members who share the family's primary language, will be utilized to better communicate and respond to the needs of these families.

(2) may involve parents in the development of training for teachers and other staff to improve instruction.

(3) may allocate funds for release time and/or substitutes for teachers to conduct in-home conferences if parents notify them that they are unable to attend conferences.

When a parent has been identified as unable to attend conferences, a referral must be completed by the teacher and given to the school's principal. The principal will then request a home visit to this parent by the teacher, parent liaison, school nurse, or other appropriate staff member. During this home visit, information from the classroom teacher and professional staff will be given to the parent. A report of this home visit will be filed and made available to the school's principal and appropriate professional staff member(s).

(4) shall adopt and implement model approaches to improving parental involvement.

The District may choose from the following approaches to improve Parental involvement:
• Parents as Teachers
• Parent Volunteers in the Schools and Classroom
• Open House
• Parent Meetings
• Check Out Materials from the Parent Centers
• Parents as members of district/school committees

(5) shall provide other such reasonable support for parental involvement activities under this section as parents may request.

Tunica County School District shall provide other reasonable support as parents request through:
• Telephone contacts
• Surveys
• One-on-one contacts (face-to-face)
• Parent Meetings

(6) shall ensure that each school provides a parent/school/student compact which describes the partnership needed for children to achieve the state's high academic standards. The compact shall be developed jointly with parents and reviewed/revised at least annually to best meet the needs of students.

(7) shall conduct with the involvement of parents an annual evaluation of the parental involvement program, policy content and effectiveness, and parent compact to determine necessary actions to increase parent participation, and to identify barriers of hard-to-reach parents who are economically disadvantaged, disabled, limited-English, limited literacy, or of any racial or ethnic minority background.

The District will conduct, at the end of each school year, an evaluation with parents of participating children in order to determine the effectiveness of the parental involvement program and policy. Planning for the future  development program/policy will be determined by the compilation of data.

(8) shall utilize the results of the annual evaluation to design strategies for school improvement and revise, if necessary, the parental involvement policies and parent compacts.

Tunica County School District shall utilize the results of the annual evaluation to:

• Revise policies, if necessary.
• Increase the scope of the policy/program.
• Assist schools in developing strategies to involve parents in activities at the schools.

(9) shall ensure that each school within the district jointly develops its own parentalinvolvement policy with the involvement of parents. The school policies will be reviewed and if necessary, revised, at least annually.

(10) Each school within the district shall abide by the guidelines of this policy.

This policy will be jointly reviewed and revised with parents at least annually.