Washakie County School District #1

2.40 DISTRICT-WIDE PARENT INVOLVEMENT POLICY

Washakie County School District #1 believes that engaging families in education is essential to student success. The intent of the district is to involve parents as "partners" in every aspect of their child's education by providing varied parental involvement opportunities for all families. The following outline is in compliance with statutory requirements and in accordance with the philosophy of nurturing parents toward recognizing and fulfilling that responsibility.

Part 1: General Expectations

Washakie County School District #1 agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

The school district will put into operation: programs, activities, and procedures for the involvement of parents in all of its schools, consistent with Section 1116 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Programs, activities, and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.
The school district will work with its schools to ensure that the required school-level parent involvement policies meet the requirements of ESSA, Section 1116(d) and will include a school-parent compact.
The school district will incorporate this district-wide parental involvement policy into its Local Education Agency (LEA) plan.
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, by providing information and school reports in an understandable and uniform format in a language parents understand. (Note: Consideration is to be given not only to the language that parents understand, but their “level of literacy”. The intent is to consider that parents may not be fluent in reading even their first language, let alone their second language, English).
If the LEA plan for Title I, Part A is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school district will include any parent comments with the plan when the school district submits the plan to the State Department of Education.
The school district will involve parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions concerning the expenditure of one percent of Title I, Part A funds, reserved for parent involvement, and will ensure that not less than ninety percent of the one percent reserved goes directly to the schools with priority given to high-need schools. (Note: This bullet does apply to Title I schools only).
The school district expects that all schools will carry out programs, activities, and procedures, as governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement:

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;
parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child's education at school;
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; and
any additional appropriate activities are implemented.

Part 2: Implementation of the Policy Components

Washakie County School District #1 will implement the following district-wide parent involvement policy components:

Washakie County School District #1 will:

Inform parents of limited English proficient children of how they can be involved in their children's education and be active participants in helping their children attain English proficiency, high achievement levels in core academic subjects, and meet state standards, including notices of regular meetings in a language and level of literacy they are able to understand.
Inform parents of limited English proficient children, identified for participation or participating in a Title I, Part A-funded language instruction educational program under Titles I and III of ESSA, of the following:

reasons for the identification,
level of English proficiency,
methods of instruction,
how the program will help the child, and
other relevant information.

Inform parents of a child, also identified as having a disability, as to how the language instruction educational program meets the objectives of the child's individualized educational program (IEP).
Provide a separate notice to parents of a child identified for participation in the program to inform them of the progress their child has made toward the annual, measurable, achievement objectives.

Washakie County School District #1 will:

Have documentation available showing progress in carrying out parental involvement responsibilities.
Disseminate the results of the yearly progress review of each school to parents, teachers, principals, schools, and the community.

Washakie County School District #1 will:

Encourage active participation in planning and participation in student achievement activities.
Provide coordination, technical assistance, and other support in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance.

Washakie County School District #1 will coordinate with Head Start and other entities carrying out early childhood education programs in line with ESSA, Sec 1119 (a-b) to:

Develop and implement a systematic procedure for receiving records regarding such children, transferred with parental consent from a Head Start program or, where applicable, another early childhood education program;
Establish channels of communication between school staff and their counterparts in such Head Start agencies or other entities carrying out early childhood education programs, as appropriate, to facilitate coordination of programs;
Conduct meetings involving parents, kindergarten or elementary school teachers, and Head Start teachers or, if appropriate, teachers from other early childhood education programs, to discuss the development and other needs of individual children;
Organize and participate in joint transition-related training of school staff, Head Start program staff; and, where appropriate, other early childhood education program staff; and
Linking educational services provided by such local educational agency with the services provided by local Head Start agencies.

Washakie County School District #1 will:

Conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation/survey of the content and effectiveness of the parent involvement policy in improving schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (especially those parents who are economically disadvantaged, disabled, limited in English proficiency or literacy, or of ethnic/racial minority background).
Use the findings of the evaluation/survey about its parent involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement.
Revise its parent involvement policy with the involvement of parents, if necessary.

Part 3: Additional Discretionary Parent Involvement Policy Components

Washakie County School District #1, in consultation with its parents, will remain open to include the following activities to build parent capacity for involvement in the school system to support student academic achievement:

Involve parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators;
Provide necessary literacy, math, and/or technology training for parents;
Assume financial responsibility for reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parent involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in Title I, Part A and/or IDEA school-related meetings and training sessions;
Provide training for parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;
Arrange meetings/conferences at a variety of times during the school year, making additional arrangements for those parents who are unable to attend during the designated times.
Investigate and implement appropriate strategies to improve parent involvement.
Provide reasonable support for parent involvement activities.