School Parent and Family Engagement Policy Piqua City Schools

2023-2024

Annual Review Date: May 11, 2023

In support of strengthening student academic achievement, Piqua Central receives Title I, Part A funds and must jointly develop with, agree upon with, and distribute to parents and family members of participating children a written parent and family engagement policy that contains information required by section 1116(b) and (c) of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). The policy establishes the school’s expectations for parent and family engagement and describes how the school will implement a number of specific parent and family engagement activities, and it is incorporated into the school’s plan submitted to the district.

Piqua Central agrees to implement the following requirements as outlined by Board Policy 2261.01. If you would like to know more or view any district policy, feel free to visit the Piqua City Schools webpage at www.piqua.org to find a link to all the District’s Board policies.

● Involve parents, in an organized, ongoing and timely way, in the planning, review and improvement of programs under Title I, Part A, including the planning, review and improvement of the school parent and family engagement policy and the joint development of the targeted assistance or schoolwide program plan.

● Update the school parent and family engagement policy periodically to meet the changing needs of parents and the school, distribute it to the parents of participating children and make the parent and family engagement policy available to the local community.

● Provide full opportunities, to the extent practicable, 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 ESSA in an understandable and uniform
format, including alternative formats upon request and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.

● If the schoolwide program plan under Section 1114(b) of ESSA is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, submit any parent comments on the plan when the school makes the plan available to the local educational agency.

● Be governed by the following statutory definition of parent and family engagement and carry out programs, activities and procedures in accordance with this definition:
o Parent and family engagement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring:
▪	Parents play an integral role in assisting their children’s learning;
▪	Parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their children’s education at school;
▪	Parents are full partners in their children’s education and are included, as appropriate, in

decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their children; and
▪	Other activities are carried out, such as those described in Section 1116 of ESSA.

●	Jointly Developed

Piqua Central will take the following actions to involve parents in an organized, ongoing and timely manner in the planning, review and improvement of Title I programs, including opportunities for regular meetings, if requested by parents, to formulate suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the education of their children and respond to any such suggestions as soon as practicably possible.

● Piqua Central will utilize its Parent Advisory board to review, plan and improve Title I programs. The Parent Advisory board will meet twice yearly and will work to review Title I programs.
● All parents will be advised of the meeting dates of the Parent Advisory Board and are welcomed and encouraged to participate in the Title I Parent Review process.
● Parents are encouraged to provide input concerning Title I programming throughout the school year. Parents may contact the school directly to express their ideas concerning programming.
● All parents will have access to the Piqua Central online Title I Parent Survey. This survey will also provide parents with an opportunity to offer input concerning Title I programs. This is in response to parent input that indicated that parents are more likely to utilize an online survey to provide feedback. This survey will be shared with all parents.

●	Annual Title I Meeting

Piqua Centralwill take the following actions to conduct an annual meeting, at a convenient time, and encourage and invite all parents of participating children to attend to inform them about the school’s Title I program, the nature of the Title I program, parents’ requirements, the school parent and family engagement policy, the schoolwide plan, and the school-parent compact.

● Piqua Central will hold its annual parent meeting before the end of the first quarter each school year.
● All parents are encouraged to attend this annual Parent Meeting. This will be held during Family Reading Nights and via Online virtual meetings. Parents will have access to a recording of the Annual Title I Meeting.

●	Communications
Piqua Central will take the following actions to provide parents of participating children the following:
o Timely information about the Title I programs;
o Flexible number of meetings, such as meetings in the morning or evening, and may provide with Title I funds, transportation, child care or home visits, as such services relate to parent and family engagement; and
o 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 Parent and Family Engagement will be available to all parents.
● Parents may access the Parent and Family Engagement Policy on the Piqua Central website. Parents may also request a printed copy of the policy by contacting Piqua Central.
● The Parent and Family Engagement Policy is available in multiple formats as needed, and can be provided to parents in a language that they understand.
● The Parent and Family Engagement Policy will be reviewed on an annual basis and be reviewed with the involvement of parents and family members.
● Communication is critical if we are going to work together to help your child. Communication about school and

district rules, policies and procedures can be found in the Student-Parent which is distributed to every family within the first week of school. Parents will be updated regularly about school activities through classroom newsletters, building newsletters, district calendars, through distribution of flyers, using the “Instant Connect” phone message system and utilizing Class Dojo to send information directly to all parents. School newsletters will also be available through the district’s website. Parents will be informed regularly about their child’s progress through quarterly progress reports. These progress reports include academic as well as social and behavior information. Parent Teacher Conferences are conducted in fall and winter and on an as needed basis.

●	School-Parent Compact

Piqua Central will take the following actions to jointly develop with parents of participating children a school-parent compact that outlines how parents, the entire school staff and students will share the responsibility for improved student academic achievement and how the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the state’s high standards.

● The Parent Advisory Board at Piqua Central will work to develop the School-Parent Compact. ● Parent input from the Piqua Central Online Parent Survey will be used to help develop the
School-Parent Compact.

●	Reservation of Funds (only applicable to districts with Title I allocations of $500,000 or more) Piqua Central will take the following actions to 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 parent and family engagement is spent by:

● The Parental Advisory Board will, after reviewing the Title I parental involvement budget, provide suggestions for ways to involve parents.
● Parents will also have the opportunity to help plan and execute parent involvement activities.

●	Coordination of Services

Piqua Central will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement programs and activities with other federal, state, and local programs, including public preschool 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:

● Piqua Central will continue to work with its business and community partners to help establish and strengthen parental support mechanisms.

●	Building Capacity of Parents
Piqua Central will build the parents’ capacity for strong parent and family engagement to ensure effective involvement of parents and to support a partnership among the school and the community to improve student academic achievement through the following:
o Provide parents with a description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of academic assessments used to measure student progress and the achievement levels of the challenging state academic standards;
o Provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s achievement, such as literacy training and using technology (including education about the harms of copyright piracy), as appropriate, to foster parent and family engagement; and

o Provide assistance to parents of participating children, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following:
▪	The challenging state’s academic standards;

▪	The state and local academic assessments, including alternate assessments; ▪	The requirements of Title I, Part A;
▪	How to monitor their children’s progress; and

▪	How to work with educators to improve the achievement of their children.

● Title I teachers will be available for conferences, meetings, and commenting on progress reports and grade cards as necessary. The staff will utilize community resources to help provide information to parents – this can be done through referrals to the Parent Mentor program and referrals to our school counselor who can help assist families in finding resources.
● Parent-oriented meetings and engagement activities will be scheduled throughout the year.

● Parents are encouraged to reach out to teachers and other school personnel to help find access to any needed materials or information.

● Building Capacity of School Staff

Piqua Central will provide training to educate teachers, specialized instructional support personnel, principals and other school leaders, and other staff, with the assistance of parents, in the

value and utility of contributions of parents and in how to reach out to, communicate with and work with parents as equal partners, implement and coordinate parent programs, and build ties between parents and the school b

Piqua Central will provide other reasonable support for parent and family engagement activities under Section 1116 as parents may request by contacting the building principal.