PARENT INVOLVEMENT POLICY for LEXINGTON FOUR

Recognizing that the parent is the child’s first teacher, Frances Mack Primary School encourages our parents to participate fully in the education of their child. Frances Mack Primary strives to be welcoming to parents and make them feel a part of the school community. In 2002-2003 we won the Red Carpet School award for the positive manner in which we greet people coming into our school.

The best and easiest way to make parents feel welcomed is to be sure there is good communication between the home and the school. This is accomplished through our newsletter, The Mack Messenger, phone calls, home visits, newspaper and television stories, and even the signs in front of the school.

The Hispanic population at Mack has grown along with the rest of Lexington Four. A language survey is done when every child enrolls so we will know the appropriate way to communicate with parents. ESL classes are offered to both parents and students.

Parent members of the School Improvement Council represent the parents as a whole in contributing to the decisions being made at the school level. The parent-teacher organization at Mack coordinates the volunteers who do everything from assisting teachers with classroom duties to working at after school activities such as ‘Spring Fling’. The PTO also maintains a webpage on our school website.

Mack Primary abides by the Title One regulations for parent involvement

which include:

v     Developing the parent involvement policy jointly with parents and

distributing the policy

v     Not less than 1% of the Title 1 allocation will be reserved for parent

involvement activities including family literacy and parenting skills

v     Not less than 95% of the funds reserved for parental involvement shall be distributed to schools

v     Parents of children attending Title 1 school shall be involved in decisions regarding how funds are spent for parent involvement

v     Coordination and integration of parent involvement strategies with other

district programs such as First Steps

v     An annual evaluation of the effectiveness of the parent involvement policy

with input from parents to be used to design strategies for more effective parent involvement and revise the policy if necessary

v     A school-parent compact outlining how parents, students, and staff will share the responsibility for improving student achievement

Mack Primary is in its first year of school improvement. Parents were notified of that fact by letter. It was also explained that because the only other primary school in the district is in its second year of school improvement, choice would not be an optio