School Parental Involvement Policy
Department of Education of the City of New York
PORT RICHMOND HIGH SCHOOL

Timothy M. Gannon, Principal


SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY


PART I GENERAL EXPECTIONS

NOTE: Each school level Parental Involvement Policy must establish the school’s expectation for parental involvement base upon the District Parental Involvement Policy. [Section 1118-Parental Involvement- (a) Local Educational Agency Policy- (2) Written Policy of ESEA]


Port Richmond High School agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

• The school will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of all parents of Title 1 eligible students consistent with Section 1118- Parental Involvement of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA). The programs, activities and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.

• In carrying out the Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school will provide full opportunities for the participation of parents with limited English proficiency (LEP), parents with disabilities, and parents of migratory children. This will include providing information and school reports required under Section111-State Plans of the ESEA in an understandable and uniform format and, including alternative formats upon request, and to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.

• The school will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A program(s) in decision about how the Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent.

• The school will carry out programs, activities and procedure in accordance with this 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;

 that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;

 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 of their child;

 the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in Section 1118- Parent Involvement of the ESEA.

PART II DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE SCHOOL WILL IMPLEMENT THE REQUIRED SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

NOTE: The School Parental Involvement Policy must include a description of how the school will implement or accomplish each of the following components. [Section 1118-Parental Involvement –(a) Local Educational Agency Policy-(2) Written Policy of ESEA] This is a “sample template” as there is no required format for these descriptions. However, regardless of the format the school chooses to use, a description of each of the following components below must be included in order to satisfy statutory requirements.

1. Port Richmond High School will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of the District Parental Involvement plan (contained in the RDCEP/DCEP Addendum) under Section 1112- Local Educational Agency Plans of the ESEA:
• Involve parents in discussions regarding the District Parental Involvement Plan at all PTA meetings
• PTA Executive Board members will be involved with District personnel through the Staten island Federation of PTA

2. Port Richmond High School will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under Section 1116- Academic Assessment and Local Educational Agency and School Improvement of the ESEA:

• Parent members of the school leadership team will participate in the annual PASS Review of the School
• Parents will be interviewed as part of the school’s Quality Review
• Parent surveys will be a vital part of the School’s Progress Report process




3. Port Richmond High School will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies in Title I, Part A with parental involvement strategies under the following other programs:
• Liberty Partnership Program
• Project Success Program
• NY Junior Tennis League Program


4. Port Richmond High School will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parent, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A program. The evaluation will include 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). The school will use the findings of the evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary (and with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.

• An evaluation will be conducted at 2 spring PTA meetings providing opportunity for parents to give feedback and suggestions on school improvement strategies. The survey will be the responsibility of the Parent Coordinator. The Parent Coordinator, along with members of the PTA Executive board will organize the parent feedback and present the findings to the principal for review and consideration. Parents will have the opportunity to provide feedback on topics such as: instruction, school-to-home communication, guidance services, academic intervention services and security. The evaluation component will also be addressed through the annual PASS visit conducted by parent members of the school leadership team.

5. Port Richmond High School will build the parents’ capacity for strong parental involvement, in order 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 specifically described below:

• The school will provide assistance to parents of children served by the school, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the action described in this paragraph –

 the State’s academic content standards;
 the State’s student academic achievement standards;
 the State’s and local academic assessments including alternate assessments;
 the requirements of Title I, Part A
 how to monitor their child’s progress and
 how to work with educators.

• The School will provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s academic achievement, such as literacy training, and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement, by:
 providing Parent workshops and courses dealing with computer training
 Special meetings with ESL staff designed to meet the specific literacy needs of parents of English Language Learners

• The school will, with the assistance of the district and parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals and other staff, in how to reach out to, communicate with and work with parents as equal partners, in the value and utility of contributions of parents, and in how to implement and coordinate parent programs and build ties between parents and the schools by:
 Providing teachers with professional development regarding the most effective techniques in involving parents through respectful conversations.
 Teachers will have daily access to phone messenger automated system to allow teachers to communicate with parents in a regular and easy manner

• The school will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, Even Start, Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parents as teachers Program and public preschool and other programs, and conduct and/or encourage participation in activities, such as Parent Resource Centers, that support parents in more fully participating in the education of their children by:
 Involving parents in the regular activities of the school
 Involving parents in the Student of the Month breakfast assemblies

• The school will take the following actions to ensure that information related to the school and parent-programs, meetings, and other activities, is sent to the parents of Title I participating children in an understandable and uniform format, including alternative formats upon request, and to the extent practical, in a language to parent can understand:
 school letters are translated and ELL students are provided with native language letters of school events
 Translation services information are posted in the school lobby in the appropriate native languages






Part III DISCRETIONARY SCHOOL PARENTAL INVOLEMENT POLICY
COMPONENTS


NOTE: The School Parental Involvement Policy may include additional paragraphs listing and describing other discretionary activities that the school, 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- Parental Involvement- (e) Building Capacity for Involvement of the ESEA:


Other activities may include:

• 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;
• in order 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 conference at school; This is accomplished by offering guidance services to parents during evening hours.
• The school is developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations through a number of involvement activities. These activities will bring together members of the local community in order to address the needs of individual students.


PART IV ADOPTION
Department of Education of the City of New York
PORT RICHMOND HIGH SCHOOL

Timothy M. Gannon, Principal



This policy was adopted by Port Richmond High School on 06/06/07 and will be in effect for the period of 2007-08. The school will distribute this policy to all parents of participating Title I, Part A children on or before October 1, 2007.





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(Signature of Principal)



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(Date)