What does the new ESSA Law say about building staff capacity?
Please review the system and MCHS Family Engagement Policies below and comment on idea(s) you have related to building parent engagement. You can share what you currently do or something you would like to try.
80 Comments
steve
11/30/2017 10:06:03 am
I wished more parents would be involved, not only at home but at school as well. I think having a committee and or a plan to offer opportunities for parents to get involved is a great idea, I just wished that it involved more of helping us teachers with their kids, making sure assignments and grades were their responsibility, and helping in activities around the school.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 09:13:43 am
We do have the Parent Involvement Committee. If you would like to attend a meeting, please let me know! The more minds, the better.
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Matthew K Miller
11/30/2017 10:48:38 am
Parent/Guardian school involvement is the key to graduation and live successes. The more they are involved in their child's life the less concerns we would have with graduation rates and being a successful citizen in the community. Coming up with new ideas to have parents involved in the school and their child's life the less stresses teens would have to face on a daily basis.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 09:18:56 am
I couldn't agree more. Possibly discuss at the next PIC meeting - many times it is difficult for parents to help their child with high school content. Maybe give ideas of how parents could help emotionally support their child from a counselor's perspective. We do that in meetings, but brainstorm other ways to advertise.
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Becky Quast
11/30/2017 11:03:41 am
I think the PIC Newsletter is a great way to keep parents informed and encourage them to be involved. I kept reading about parent input and parent surveys, but I never see or hear the results. I would be very interested in knowing what the parents are actually saying when asked for input.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 09:20:13 am
I look forward to brainstorming ways to create what we discussed in lunch!
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Linda Dotson
11/30/2017 11:04:37 am
Understanding culture and family structure is important in building partnerships with parents. I would appreciate opportunities to "go a little deeper" in knowing that information, particularly for my most "at risk" students. SLDS gives a hint, but not the full story.
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Eric Weaver
12/1/2017 03:33:15 pm
Sometimes knowing more about the students helps us develop relationships with students which fosters a better learning environment for students.
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Katie Davis
12/4/2017 09:38:43 am
I absolutely agree, relationships serve as the foundation not only for my classroom,but also my program. It is truly what launches a great learning atmosphere.
Katy Sane
11/30/2017 11:21:20 am
I use the Remind app to contact and stay connected to several parents. This is easy and convenient for parents since it pops up like a text message. The only downfall is that MOST parents do not sign up for individual classes like the students do. I like the idea of the PIC newsletter, and I hope to be at the next meeting. If there were to be a monthly meeting for parents to attend, as optional, for teachers and administration to speak at, that would be great. This could allow parents to interact with us more and we could address many things such as behavior, grades, upcoming events, etc. This would also be a great community outreach opportunity.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 09:22:13 am
Becky Quast, Linda Dotson, and myself discussed some ways to incorporate some of the things mentioned. Looking forward to discussing at our next PIC meeting.
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Joshua Ensley
12/4/2017 12:37:02 pm
I use Remind with my students more than any other program or communication portal. The best way I've found to have parents involve is offer an incentive with the students at Open House before the year begins. I inform the students, and the parents if they are present, that if both the student and the parent sign up for the Remind class, the student will receive a complementary 100% quiz grade to kick off the year. I justify this by suggesting that if the student convinces the parent to sign up for the Remind, the student has demonstrated sufficient communication and reasoning skills, which are both vital to success in my class.
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Wendy Owens
11/30/2017 11:53:14 am
I think the newsletter has been a great addition to helping parents stay informed. Like Katy, I use Remind frequently. I like how parents can contact me through Remind as well. If I send a notification about homework, I will usually have a parent respond immediately.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 09:23:44 am
I have found Remind to be one of the best communication tools. Parents and teachers appreciate an easy, quick way to communicate.
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Dawlon Garrett
11/30/2017 11:59:40 am
Parental involvement is a key to student success and more opportunities for parents to become proactive is a good thing.
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Matt Harris
11/30/2017 12:05:18 pm
I feel that it would be better if Open House was after we have already started school. It seems that as the older the students get, the less and less the parents come to Open House because it is only meeting the teachers. If it was a few weeks into school, teachers and students will have already had the chance to get to know each other, and the meeting of the parents would be much more productive.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 09:28:29 am
Valid point. I have some things in mind that we are going to discuss at the next PIC meeting that would focus on parents getting an opportunity to hear the latest from teachers without actually coming to the school.
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Kip Williams
12/4/2017 09:40:57 am
That's an idea! I haven't heard of this, but think it could serve our older students extremely well!
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ALDERDICEK
11/30/2017 12:29:06 pm
In favor of more parent involvement. Like Coach Harris' idea (above) on Open House.
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Shelby White
11/30/2017 12:46:50 pm
I think our school is headed in the right direction concerning parent involvement. Our monthly newsletters on the back of report cards have been very informative for both parents and students. I wish there was more ways we could reach the parents of our Hispanic population. I have a hard time contacting non-English speaking parents, and I hate to always ask Mrs. Oakes and Mrs. Bruce to call and translate. I think we should focus some of our attention on this student group especially with all of our newcomers this year.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 09:31:02 am
It is so difficult to communicate with our non-English speaking parents. That is something we can brainstorm at our meeting.
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Josh Hensley
12/4/2017 08:57:04 am
I agree that our school is headed in the right direction. One of the problems, however, is that parents never see the newsletter because students hide their report cards for their parents. It seems that every time I make a parent contact, the parent is surprise that their child is struggling in my class. I always say, "Did you not look at the report card?" Most do not even know when the report cards are sent home. It may be a good idea for the school to give incentives for having the report card signed by the parent and returned the following week to ensure the parents see the grades as well as the newsletter.
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Keri Blackwell
12/4/2017 09:21:40 am
In addition to what Mrs. White and Mr. Hensley has said above, maybe we could send out a School Way notification when report cards are going out so that parents will know to be looking for it. Also, it might be helpful (at least for the counseling office) if we had a form letter written in Spanish where we could plug in the class and grades that the student is struggling in and be able to mail it home. This could be a way for us to notify our Spanish speaking parents regarding their child's grades and if this grade is endangering their graduation status
Terri Lynch
11/30/2017 01:05:22 pm
Parental involvement is so crucial for student success. There is so little that teachers can do without the support of parents.
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Hannah Harris
11/30/2017 02:24:22 pm
Parent involvement is crucial to bridging gaps in student learning. It can help with attendance, grades, behavior, etc. I think the newsletter is a good idea to help keep parents informed; I also think the use of social media is key. In a society that is so connected to the internet and cell phones, this is a great way to encourage and influence parents to be more actively involved in their child's academic career.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 09:33:13 am
I agree! Social media has become a valuable communication tool.
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Jeff Williams
11/30/2017 02:35:19 pm
Updating parent contact info would help a bunch.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 12:33:42 pm
I agree - check out the comment I left for K. Parrish. Same topic.
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Kim Parrish
11/30/2017 02:45:17 pm
I think using sites like Remind has helped tremendously. I do still have trouble contacting parents verbally, though. Usually, its because we have outdated contact information,parents are working, or there is a language barrier. It would be nice to actually talk to them. Sometimes messages in texts or emails don't translate as well as a good, old-fashioned conversation.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 10:23:13 am
Many times the traditional, good, old-fashioned strategies are the best! I have also found it difficult to speak with parents when the information is not updated. After investigating as to why, we have found that parents go for long periods without minutes on their phone, they no longer have a cell phone, or have moved from where their land line was. Many times the counselors or social worker have to go to the home to get updated info. Let us know if you have a problem.
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Chad Thornton
11/30/2017 04:01:39 pm
In one of my past schools, in addition to the open house and other items that have all been mentioned, each content area had a night in which the content area teachers hosted an event focused on their content. Science teachers one year did a variety of experiments based on the different content areas of science in order to show parents the types of things that are done in the classroom today. English teachers had a murder mystery for the students and parents to solve.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 11:50:15 am
Those sound like great ideas! In previous years, we have hosted parent nights specific to departments, but experienced the same outcome - less participation than desired. The PIC are going to explore an idea that may help.
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Brittney Adams
11/30/2017 04:05:33 pm
I think parent involvement is the key to student success! I believe the use of remind in the classroom has helped us very much! I think it may be beneficial to have an "open house" type afternoon in the year for parents to come in and talk to teachers. At open house, we do not know the students and do not have much to say to the parents except for supplies, expectations. It would be beneficial if we could get the parents back in here after the year has started.
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Wade Owens
11/30/2017 04:08:15 pm
In the construction program parent involvement is key, not only for fundraisers but also it is necessary to have parental involvement with all the skillsusa after school activists. The more that parents are involved the easier and more successful are CTSO 's will become.
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Bill Steele
11/30/2017 04:13:59 pm
I concur with Wade, it is far easier to have students involved in skillsusa if the parents are involved. With cost of participating, the number of competitions, and the community service projects that we do, having the support of the parents is paramount. If nothing more than making sure that students are picked up and are there on time.
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Marco Burgueno
11/30/2017 05:57:53 pm
Parent involvement is important for all students but especially for those at risks kids. I like the ideas that Steve and Matt put forth earlier about parent responsibility and open house.
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Ruth Brooker
11/30/2017 07:15:40 pm
All of these sound like great ideas! The more parents are involved, the more positive the outcomes are! I know we hate to have more added to our plates as teachers and parents ourselves, but I think it might be beneficial to add like an open parent night mid way through the year. It could be like an open conference with all the teachers in their rooms available for parents to come in and ask questions about anything. Keep it casual and open for conversations between teachers, students, and parents.
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Jessica House
12/1/2017 07:55:46 am
After recently joining a Parent Involvement Committee meeting, I believe that we here at MCHS do actively reach out to parents and value their input, opinions and contributions. Our staff does a great job at fostering that relationship. With the addition of the New Comer's Academy and a rising EL population, I would like to see a heightened effort to involve the parents that feel limited by the language barrier by identifying parents and other stakeholders that are bilingual that can help us reach out to this community.
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Summersa
12/1/2017 07:57:28 am
Good information- it looks like MCSS and MCHS are both making progress toward increasing parent involvement. I think the PIC here is a great help as well and the implementation of the newsletter.
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Aleatha Plott
12/1/2017 08:36:12 am
The newsletter is a great idea and has been helpful. If there was some sort of food involved with meetings-cookout, etc.-more might come.
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Morrow
12/1/2017 12:31:36 pm
Previously, we have provided food, but in the past few years the gov. said that we cannot use Title funds to buy food - unfortunately.
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Angie Greeson
12/1/2017 08:56:07 am
I also think that a couple of open houses during the school year would be a good idea. If everyone is invited and they know that all the teachers will be there, I think parents are more likely to come and ask questions and check on their child's progress.
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Kayla Aiken
12/1/2017 08:56:40 am
Having parent involvement is important for student success in my opinion. Sending home newsletters, information from meetings and other things will allow the parents to feel involved and will also encourage them to stay up to date on their involvement with their students education.
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Jake White
12/1/2017 09:00:04 am
I agree with Jeff that we need parents to update their information so it is correct on Infinite Campus. It is hard to reach some parents when phone numbers and emails have not been updated. It is often times our most at-risk students.
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Ginger
12/1/2017 09:52:35 am
As a parent, I believe that parent involvement is essential in creating both a productive school system, as well as a productive student. Children who have parents who are actively engaged in their child's education do better in school.
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Scott moat
12/1/2017 09:57:33 am
It is a challenge to get parents actively involved in their students education through the high school years. The newsletter is a vital tool to get parent information happening at school and ask for their input. As mentioned in earlier posts, parents must relay updated contact info in order for us to help them.
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David Anthony
12/1/2017 10:25:31 am
Parent involvement makes a great partnership. Often misinformation gets fed to a parent about grading, assignments, and feedback. Creating a channel to connect to parents that was more often used would help build more community at MCHS. The stereotype that any parental communication is just for the sake of negative responses can push people out of trying.
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C. Wheeler
12/1/2017 10:37:43 am
I use remind/email/ phone calls for parent communication. I would like a whole lot to not have to play phone tag with so many parents.
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Jennifer Plemons
12/1/2017 10:56:47 am
I think the Parents knowing as much as possible helps them in the involvement process. Putting things on Facebook, Twitter, and whichever other social media pages does inform the parents and keep them more involve.
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Andrew Bowen
12/1/2017 11:43:45 am
I like that 1% of Title I is spent on parent involvement. Moat things in need of improvement usually are helped by funding. Our Parent Newsletter costs ink, paper, and time. I'm appreciative of thise who work to improve our overall school's parent involvement.
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Avery Hamilton
12/1/2017 12:15:53 pm
One idea for parents to get more involved could be to have a half day every month in which parents can come in and discuss academic progress.
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Lisa Oakes
12/4/2017 06:03:51 pm
I like the Avery's idea of having a half day every month in which parents can come in and discuss academic progress. At my old school we had parent/teacher conferences in November after the first grading period was over(8 weeks) which consisted of a am work time for teachers and conferences started at 3:30 and went until 8 pm. There were so many slots open to each grade level for parents to come in every half hour to speak to teachers. Each teacher sat at a table in the gym so parents could see if teachers were busy with other parents. We spoke with parents a second night during the following week after a school day. Scheduling was done by various means of social media/email/phone calls to the main secretary who had the master schedule just filled in the slots. She would email teachers the master schedule once 2 days before and again the day of with any changes.
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Kassandra Martin
12/5/2017 10:22:44 am
I like this idea! Maintaining parent contact is important, and I like to try to help out with our Spanish speaking parents. However, it can be difficult with busy work days. Having a dedicated time to do so would be helpful.
Debbie Hahn
12/1/2017 12:21:06 pm
Parental involvement is essential to student success. We face great challenges with getting all parents and guardians to understand and value the importance of their involvement. I wish they could see that they can really make a difference! I agree with Matt Harris, Ruth Brooker, and Aleatha Plott. Parents may put forth more effort to visit us if we provide some incentives like food, fun, and school community fellowship.
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Drew Smythe
12/1/2017 01:11:01 pm
I use Remind for my classes and its a great way to contact parents. I also find it useful to have a Weebly for my classes where I can post important dates and resources for my classes. I also agree that having updated information on Infinite Campus would help.
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Anderson
12/1/2017 01:42:50 pm
Mr. Thornton's idea seems like an excellent way to breakdown the parent and school dichotomy that may exist for some parents.
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Dana Ford
12/1/2017 01:57:50 pm
It is encouraging to see so many people using apps like Remind. If you haven't used it in a while, there are some great features now...ability to attach PDF's and voice clips and even schedule out your messages. If you know you will have a test on January 10th (like Dr. Longmire), you can go ahead and prepare and schedule your reminder long before you need to send it. Perhaps we could create a staff list of Remind accounts and have it available for the parents or set up a booth at Open House just for them to sign up for teacher Remind accounts.
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Natalie Bruce
12/1/2017 03:12:34 pm
I think programs like remind and IC are helpful, and that social media is a great way to share information, but they are not true replacements for face-to-face meetings with parents. Maybe we could have a brief schedule pickup/meet the teacher before schools starts and another true parent info/open house night after the first month of school?
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Eric Weaver
12/1/2017 03:30:12 pm
Time is an issue. Or lack of time. As both a teacher and the parent of an active high school and middle school student I am sometimes stretched thin as far as the amount of events that can be packing into a week. I feel like if we piggy backed events together we could get more participation from parents. I understand that email and social media make things easier but parents still have to make priorities with their time. Title I events scheduled in conjuration with sporting events maybe? I don't know if that is the solution or not. Maybe it would just get the same parents involved that are already involved.
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Breann Dooley
12/1/2017 03:58:26 pm
Parent involvement can improve students' behavior, attendance, and achievement. Parents are often not involved because they don't know how to be. We need to make sure we are explaining communication strategies well in order to have participation and success with different types of communication. Maybe this can be done by offering "workshops" to show parents how to use the different communication methods we use. I also think that it would be good to have at least one method that EVERY teacher in the school uses so that parents are at least comfortable, familiar, and confident with that one particular method of communication for the 4 years their student is at MCHS.
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Randy Baggett
12/1/2017 05:19:06 pm
I agree with the comments on Open House being held after school has started, we would have more of an idea of how to respond to parent and student questions. Parent involvement if definitely one of the keys to student success. Like Wendy, I agree that the newsletter on the progress reports is a good idea.
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Zach Talley
12/4/2017 07:47:31 am
I use Remind and google classroom as well as emails and phone contacts to get parents acquainted with my expectations for students. Unfortunately, the students' parents whom we often need to reach the most desperately are those that are the least reachable. I know we have open-house for parents twice per year and with the new meetings maybe we will see greater parent involvement. Is there any way we could have a "Mid-year" Parent teacher conference day (I know that'd be hard with a 160 day calendar), but I feel like one whole day devoted entirely to parent-teacher-student interaction w/scheduled meetings for those most in need, might be a big help to everyone involved.
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Pam Puryear
12/4/2017 08:19:46 am
There are a lot of great comments about parent involvement and how it is keys to the student success. And it always seems like it is the parents of the good successful students that come to open house and other events. The key is to reaching the parents that really need to be seen and may or may not even have access to social media. These are also the parents that work all the time and can not come in for half day conferences.
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Josh Zeigler
12/4/2017 08:29:37 am
Parent involvement in schools is a very integral part of the school system. When parents, students, teachers, and the community are all on board and involved we can see a difference. One idea that we used at Mitchell was having a spaghetti dinner to discuss how parents can be more involved in their child's education.
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Cliff Higgins
12/4/2017 09:11:38 am
Remind is a good way to get information out as well as social media. I do find it frustrating that kids and parents are continuously in contact with each other, will text/email/remind me about every possible issue imaginable. They live their lives on social media. But... when I send out something thru those methods, a percentage of students/parents will plead ignorance and use “not-knowing” as an excuse for not doing whatever they were supposed to do. I do wonder if access is an issue for some of our community
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Sandra Johnston
12/4/2017 09:27:04 am
I think what were doing with newsletters are great ideas. The more we can get the parents involved the more successful our students will be.
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Greg Linder
12/4/2017 09:49:27 am
I think we are doing a good job with remind and our social media posts.That gets the word out into the community about what is going on at MCHS especially the good things. However with parent involvement is the key to student success I think it may be better to have open house in the evening during the year for parents to come in and talk to teachers. At open house, we do not know the students or parents and is often just a meet and greet. I think it would be great if we could get the parents of failing students here after the year has started.
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Chad Stafford
12/4/2017 10:04:12 am
I agree with Coach Harris about the idea of having open house after school has started. I think that would allow us to answer questions that may arise after school has begun plus increase attendance at open house as well.
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Nancy Adams
12/4/2017 10:14:45 am
Parents need to be involved with their students. They need to provide them with that sense of security, responsibility, and performance expectations that many of our students are missing...I believe that we have strong projects in place that inform parents and students: Infinite Campus, Remind, Parent Newsletter, Twitter, etc.
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Chad Brewer
12/4/2017 10:25:48 am
Parent involvement is the key to success. We are taking the right steps providing these opportunities for our parents/guardians and that is all we can do.
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Delyn Lusk
12/4/2017 11:05:11 am
I think the PIC newsletter is great for parent involvement along with social media. The newsletter allows all parents to see how to become involved with the social media avenues, if they don't already know. I think a poll of the parents to determine what is the best way for them to get information would be useful.
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Carl Koneman
12/4/2017 11:45:32 am
Parent nights are great, but how many parents show up. We offer plenty of opportunities for parents to come into the school. Besides, parents who want to be involved can schedule a conference at any time. I think we should focus on ways to make involvement easier for the parent. Things like automatically generated weekly progress reports or automatically generated email when a student has a zero for an assignment, etc. As busy as life is today, the only way to involve all parents is to make it easier or "force it" on them.
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Joshua Ensley
12/4/2017 12:40:34 pm
I know that many parents of our students have trouble reading themselves, which I do not mean as an insult, so could we maybe entertain the idea of a potential video outreach produced by the faculty and/or students? I have 10+ years in audio and video production experience, so I will do whatever I can to help if we were to go forward with this idea. I believe NMHS does something like this, headed by Mr. Ellis, and I know that we have the capability to do the same.
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Morrow
12/5/2017 07:27:32 am
Actually, that is something we recently considered. I will speak with you about it in the near future. Good idea!
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Kassandra Martin
12/5/2017 10:09:01 am
I really like this idea. Would it be possible to do one in Spanish as well? This tends to be true of many of our Spanish speaking parents as well.
Nick Ross
12/4/2017 12:49:52 pm
I like to see opportunities for parents to come to their child's school and be involved. I also use Remind to contact parents and students, and while this is a great resource in keeping everyone informed, it can't (and shouldn't) replace the actual physical presence of the parents in the school building. These opportunities are used to create a relationship of trust between the teacher and parents, and helps shape the students' view of parental involvement in education.
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Kim Richards
12/4/2017 03:31:58 pm
I wish we could get more parent involvement. I have used the Remind and find that it is helpful. I think the parent newsletters help a lot.
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Lori Townsend
12/4/2017 03:39:49 pm
I think the parent involvement committee sending out the newsletter is one beneficial way of communicating with parents. I also think the district wide advisory board is a good idea in deciding how to distribute the funds.
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Kassandra Martin
12/5/2017 10:13:10 am
As I read this, my thoughts drift naturally towards our non-English speaking parents. It mentions that a certain percentage of Title I funds must go towards parent engagement. However, I believe I have heard in the past that these funds must not be used to pay for interpreters/translators (or food). What are the kinds of things for which the funds can be used?
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Morrow
12/6/2017 10:45:23 am
That is a good question - previously, our Title I funds have been used for resources, materials, technology to enhance academic achievement. This could be computers, teacher resources & supplies for classrooms, student computers, other technology, etc. There is a 1% set aside in which the money is for building family/community engagement. Previously, this could be parent communication tools such as SchoolWay, office supplies such as paper, envelopes, postage for parent flyers, handbooks, agendas, handouts, etc. Anything that involves community involvement in which there are associated costs.
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