Whitesburg Elementary
School
2014-2015
Parental Involvement
Plan
Revision Date
September 29, 2014
WHITESBURG ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
2014-2015 School Parental Involvement Plan
Revised: (10-07-13)
PART I: GENERAL EXPECTATIONS
School: __Whitesburg Elementary School___ District/LEA: __Carroll County Schools_
In support of strengthening student academic achievement, each school that receives Title I, Part
A funds must develop jointly with, agree on with, and distribute to, parents of participating
children a written parental involvement policy, agreed on by such parents, that contains
information required by section 1118 (b)(1) of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of
1965 (ESEA) (school parental involvement policy). The plan establishes the school’s
expectations for parental involvement and describes how the school will implement a number of
specific parental involvement activities, and it is incorporated into the school’s plan submitted to
the local educational agency (LEA).
The school will adhere to the following as required by law:
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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 parental involvement policy and the joint development of the
schoolwide program plan under section 1114(b)(2) of the Elementary and Secondary
Education Act of 1965 (ESEA).
Update the school parent involvement plan periodically to meet the changing needs of
parents and the school and distribute it to the parents of participating children and make
the parental involvement plan 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 the
ESEA in an understandable and uniform format and including alternative formats upon
request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.
If the schoolwide program plan under section 1114 (b)(2) of the ESEA 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 parental involvement and will carry
out programs, activities, and procedures in accordance with this definition:
Parental involvement means the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and
meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school
activities.
PART II. DESCRIPTION OF HOW THE SCHOOL WILL IMPLEMENT REQUIRED
SCHOOLWIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT PLAN COMPONENTS
1.
Whitesburg Elementary School
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 involvement in the decisions regarding how funds for
parental involvement will be used.
Whitesburg Elementary School will involve all parents of Title I students in the development of
the WES Title I Plan. Parent input is given in numerous ways at Whitesburg Elementary School,
and all parents are given opportunities to participate in Title I. There are parent representatives
on both the School Leadership Team and School Council. These two committees provide an
avenue by which parents can present ideas and share both positive comments and suggestions
for growth. Input is also solicited at the meetings for the development and revision of
Whitesburg Elementary School’s School Improvement Plan and Title I Plan. Several parent
meetings are scheduled with the purpose of providing an overview of the School Parent
Compact, Parental Involvement Plan, and Title I Plan. Parents then work with teachers and
administrators providing input and suggestions in the development of all documents. Copies of
the documents are made available in the school office, the Parenting Center, and on the school
website. Parents are invited and encouraged to review and make suggestions for improvement
and rate the documents’ effectiveness at any time. The
Annual Title I Parent Meeting was held on September 16, 2014 in the school cafeteria. Parents
were informed of the meeting in a variety of ways. To encourage parent attendance, dinner was
served. At the meeting, parents were familiarized with the Schoolwide Title I Plan, the Parental
Involvement Plan, and the School Parent Compact. They were invited to give further input and
provide additional suggestions. Information regarding Title I Parental Involvement funds was
also provided. Parents were encouraged to provide suggestions in how these funds will be used
to better meet their needs and the needs of their students. Parents comprise the school’s
Parent/Teacher Organization (PTO), with elected parents serving as officers of the organization.
Parents are given the opportunity to present ideas and comments at PTO meetings. In addition,
parents are given the opportunity to offer ideas and input in writing on parent surveys.
2.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will 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, the parents’ requirements and the school parental
involvement plan, the schoolwide plan, and the school-parent compact.
Whitesburg Elementary School will hold an Annual Title I meeting on September 16, 2014, at
6:30 PM. At this meeting, parents and other stakeholders will be provided with required
information regarding the Title I program. The information provided includes: the results of
CCRPI, performance on state assessments, the qualifications/requirements to be considered
and function as a Title I school, and a description of the school’s curriculum and assessments.
The meeting will provide an avenue in which parents, faculty, and staff can review the WES Title
I Plan, School Parent Compact, and Parental Involvement Plan and provide input into the
revision of the documents. The meeting will be well publicized and all parents will be invited in
order to ensure a large parent representation.
3.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will take the following actions to offer a 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 parental
involvement.
Whitesburg Elementary School holds Title I meetings at different times in an effort to meet the
varying needs and schedules of our parents. Title I meetings are announced in a variety of
formats including newsletters, the school website, School Messenger, the school sign, social
media, and flyers in order to ensure that all parents are informed of and invited to attend the
meetings. Every effort possible is made to eliminate parental involvement barriers for parents
desiring to participate and provide input. Our school counselor, school social worker, and
administrators are available to make home visits to those parents that are unable to provide
their own transportation to attend the scheduled meetings.
4.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will take the following actions to provide parents
of participating children the following:
 Timely information about the Title I programs;
 Description and explanation of the curriculum in use at the school, the forms of
academic assessments used to measure student progress, and the proficiency
levels students are expected to meet;
 Opportunities for regular meetings, if requested by parents, to formulate
suggestions and to participate, as appropriate, in decisions relating to the
education of their child, and respond to any such suggestions as soon as
practicably possible;
Whitesburg Elementary School will use a wide variety of communication methods to inform
parents of Title I program meetings, work sessions, and activities in a timely manner. These
methods include, but are not limited to, newsletters sent home in a required Weekly Folder, the
school website, grade level/classroom websites, student agenda, School Messenger, the school
sign, social media, and flyers. Parents will be afforded the opportunity to request and attend
parent conferences with faculty and staff members. The School Parent Compact will be
discussed during conferences with the opportunity for feedback related to revisions or concerns.
In order to assist parents in understanding the state standards, academic achievement
standards, assessments, and ways to monitor their child’s progress, Whitesburg Elementary
utilizes Curriculum Night, parent/teacher conferences, Instructional Calendars, and a system
produced goals and objectives booklet. All parents are provided a link to the Georgia DOE
website in order to enable them to explore the standards, curriculum maps, and framework
documents. Weekly grade level newsletters also inform parents of standards, concepts, and
skills that students are currently learning. PTO meetings are an additional method by which
Whitesburg Elementary School provides parents with information regarding curriculum,
assessments, and proficiency levels necessary for meeting state standards. Prior to the
administration of high stakes tests, such as the Georgia Milestones and End of Year
Assessments, teachers from each grade level present information describing the assessment
and its scoring. In addition, a comparison of CRCT proficiency levels and Georgia Milestones
proficiency levels was presented at the Annual Title I Meeting in order to make parents aware of
the varying expectations of the two assessments. Whitesburg also provides parents with
needed materials in order to assist them in helping their children. These include, but are not
limited to, manipulative kits for math, magnetic letters, flash cards, practice sheets, access to
OAS from home, Infinite Campus, grade level instructional calendars, and Title I “Building Better
Bulldogs” Family Events (Curriculum Night (9-16-2014), Road to Success for Kindergarten (9-92014), Homework 911(Winter, 2015); STEAM Night (Nov., 2014); Literacy Night (Winter, 2015);
Destress the Test (Spring, 2015) etc.).
5.
Whitesburg Elementary School
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 the means by which the school and parents will build and
develop a partnership to help children achieve the State’s high standards.
At Whitesburg Elementary School, we strive to encourage, support, and facilitate a strong
relationship between home, school, and community in which combined efforts will enable us to
attain the goal of improving the educational opportunities for our children. Keeping this goal in
mind, a series of meetings is scheduled for July 15, 2014, in which parents, teachers, and
administrators will jointly work together to develop the School Parent Compact. Meetings are
scheduled for 10:00 AM and 6:00 PM to make them more accessible to all parents. Those
parents that are unable to attend the meeting and that would like to have input may email or call
Carol Turner, Assistant Principal to share ideas. A draft of the compact will be provided to
parents at our annual Open House on August 5, 2014, so that parents may review the compact
and make suggestions for revisions.
6.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will build the school’s and 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:
A.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will provide assistance to parents of
participating children, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following,
by undertaking the actions described in this paragraph –
 the State’s academic content standards;
 the State’s student academic achievement standards;
 the State and local academic assessments including alternate assessments;
 the requirements of Part A;
 how to monitor their child’s progress, and
 how to work with educators
A Curriculum Night is held at the beginning of each school year to introduce parents to their
child’s curriculum, expectations, and assessments for the upcoming year, including state and
national academic achievement standards. Whitesburg Elementary School’s Testing
Coordinator (Assistant Principal) and the Principal make available to parents the individual
student results of state assessments and the school’s overall performance on those
assessments. The school also shares data and information through the School Council and
PTO to inform parents and to obtain suggestions of ways to improve all areas. Assessment
results are made available at local School Board meetings, which are open to the public, and by
accessing both the system and school websites. Whitesburg Elementary School also houses a
data room in which assessment information is posted for easy parental and community access.
Parents are invited to study the data and offer input for school improvement. Informational flyers
are sent home with the assessment results to assist parents with understanding data and their
child’s performance and achievement level. The flyers are sent home with CogAT results,
standards based report cards, GKids results, Georgia Milestones Test results, and any other
assessment in which it is deemed necessary. On September 16, 2014, a school level annual
Title I meeting was held in the school cafeteria. All parents were invited using a variety of
methods. At this meeting, the requirements of Title I, Part A were shared with the parents.
Parents were also given an opportunity to provide feedback and suggestions for the 2014-2015
Parental Involvement Plan. Weekly communication regarding student progress is maintained
through the use of the Weekly Folder, student agenda, email, and teacher/parent notes or
phone calls. Various opportunities are provided throughout the school year in which parents,
teachers, and students interact to explore the curriculum. Suggestions for extending learning
from school to home are provided. Title I family night events provide a platform in which parents
and teachers can openly discuss and formulate ways in which they can work with one another
to ensure the success of the students. Our parent coordinators suggest and organize
experiences in which parents can work with the educators in the school to assist with learning
activities and tasks. The School Parent Compact also provides a means by which a positive
working relationship is forged between teachers in parents to assist students in meeting the
state standards.
B.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will provide materials and training to help
parents to work with their child to improve their child’s achievement, such as literacy
training and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement, by;
Whitesburg Elementary is fortunate to have a part-time Parent Coordinator to supervise our
parenting Center. The school parent coordinator assists parents and staff to provide the
logistics of parent workshops, school activities (Curriculum Night (9-16-2014), Road to Success
for Kindergarten (9-9-2014), Homework 911(Winter, 2015); STEAM Night (Nov., 2014); Literacy
Night (Winter, 2015); Destress the Test (Spring, 2015) etc.), and also guides parents in the
process of accessing the Georgia Department of Education website, Infinite Campus, and
Georgia’s Online Assessment System. Whitesburg Elementary School will implement a series
of parent homework help workshops through face-to-face sessions held on September 9, 2014
and in the winter of 2015. Whitesburg Elementary School has a Parent/Volunteer Resource
Center. Its purpose is to provide resources for parents, as well as, foster parental involvement
through volunteering efforts. Parent volunteer orientation sessions are provided so that new
parent volunteers are better equipped to give support in the school.
C.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will provide training to educate the teachers,
pupil services personnel, principal, 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 school, by:
The Whitesburg Elementary School staff has undergone training in the area of parental
involvement, understanding poverty, and various other techniques to ensure that staff is aware
of the need and benefit of parental input and involvement. Whitesburg Elementary School and
its community partners work together to encourage a smooth mesh between school-based
programs, outside entities and parents. Whitesburg retains a relationship with the Kiwanis Club,
4-H Club, Boy and Girl Scouts, Pathways program, and the Whitesburg Care Fund. We also
maintain a relationship with the Community Foundation of West Georgia/Backpack Program, the
Whitesburg Public Library, Whitesburg United Methodist Church, Tanner Vision Screening, Mt.
Pleasant Baptist Church, and the Mobile Dental Van/Help a Child Smile. Collaboration with
these programs and others encourages parents to approach the school with whatever needs or
assistance they or their children may desire. Parent coordinators from Whitesburg Elementary
School attend trainings at which they gain expert knowledge and information. The parent
coordinators will then provide an informational session with faculty and staff in which they will
share ideas and insights into the value of a positive, productive relationship between school and
home. They will also provide examples of strategies in which they can assist the school in
meeting its goals for student achievement.
D.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will, to the extent feasible and appropriate,
coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head
Start, Even Start, Home Instruction Programs for Preschool Youngsters, the Parents
as Teachers Program, and public preschool and other 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:
Parental involvement at the system and school level are a coordinated effort among Title I, Early
Intervention Program (EIP), Special Education, and the Georgia Pre- Kindergarten program
whenever appropriate and feasible. Prior to the beginning of the school session, the PreKindergarten teacher at WES organizes an orientation session for the parents of her students.
Parents are provided with necessary information to ensure that their children encounter a
smooth transition as they enter an organized school setting. At the end of the year celebration
for Pre-Kindergarten students, parents are provided with additional information to prepare them
for the expectations and rigor of kindergarten the following school year. Parental involvement
through community participation occurs through the use of business partners and various local
organizations. The representatives of the previously listed programs meet throughout the
school year to plan and implement parental involvement activities, which are done on a systemwide and school basis depending on the specifically chosen activities. Whitesburg Elementary
School has a Parent/Volunteer Resource Center designed to provide resources for parents, as
well as, afford parents the opportunity to become actively involved in the improvement of the
school and enhancement of student learning. Parent volunteer orientation sessions are provided
so that new parent volunteers are better equipped to give support in the school.
E.
Whitesburg Elementary 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 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 primary language of students at Whitesburg Elementary School is English. Our school has
a small population that speaks Spanish. To meet the needs of these students and their families,
all official forms for the school system are available in Spanish and other languages upon
request. Translator services are provided by the school system for meetings with non-English
speaking parents. Newsletters and instructional calendars are written in parent friendly
language and are available in necessary translations.
F.
Whitesburg Elementary School
will provide other reasonable support for
parental involvement activities under section 1118 as parents may request, by;
Assistance is provided to parents in varied areas and in varied ways to best
assist them in better understanding their child’s education.
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Student agendas, which include the system calendar, board policies for
attendance, administration of medicine, student’s code of conduct, and
transportation rules and expectations, serve to improve communication
between parent and school. They also ensure consistency in information
received by all parents. School agendas offer a method by which
teachers and parents can communicate daily to provide assistance and
important information to parents regarding their child’s education.
 Frequent parent meetings are held to involve the parents in decision
making regarding dress code, attendance, study skills, learning
strategies, Title I requirements, and student behavior.
 Annual evaluations are sent home to parents in the spring of each year to
gather feedback on parent involvement within each school. This data,
along with input from PTO and School Council, is used to monitor the
parent/school policies and compacts. Updated results of annual school
surveys are provided by way of posted test results, school newsletter, the
school data room, and PTO meetings.
 Whitesburg provides many additional supports to families including
“Gateway” meetings for parents of third and fifth graders, a parent
coordinator for parents of Kindergarten through 5th grade students, and a
school resource officer.
 Whitesburg Elementary School has a positive working relationship with
the middle school that our students will attend. Through this relationship,
we provide an orientation for students and their parents, as well as, joint
activities between schools to facilitate a smooth transition for our fifth
graders and their parents from an elementary to middle school
environment.
All of these strategies help to ensure that parents at Whitesburg Elementary feel
welcome and informed and that they also know that Whitesburg Elementary School
recognizes them as an integral component in the education of their child.
PART III. DISCRETIONARY SCHOOL LEVEL PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT
PLAN COMPONENTS
Indicate which of the following discretionary school level parental involvement plan components
the school will implement to improve parental involvement.
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If requested, Whitesburg Elementary School will provided resources to pay reasonable
travel expenses to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and
training sessions. Parents are advised to call the school and speak with the parent
coordinator. The parent coordinator will make the necessary arrangements.
In order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their child’s education,
many school meetings are scheduled at a variety of times during the day and/or
evening. For example, opportunities to review and provide feedback to both the
School-Parent Compact and the Parental Involvement Policy were scheduled at
various times throughout the day to provide an opportunity for all parents to attend no
matter what their work schedule. The school social worker, counselor, and/or assistant
principal are available to conduct in-home conferences with participating children and
parents who are unable to attend conferences at school. Parents that require this
service are asked to inform their child’s teacher and/or the parent coordinator. Once
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the need is established, the social worker, counselor, or assistant principal will make
necessary provisions.
Whitesburg Elementary School is fortunate to have community-based organizations
and businesses, including faith-based organizations, that wish to support our school,
its students, and its parents in parental involvement activities. Our community and
business partners include: Amazing Grass, Consolation Baptist Church, El Loco
Mexican Grill, Georgia Power Plant Yates, Home Depot, J Bo’s Barbecue, Lee Fixture
and Construction Company, Marine Corps League, McDonald’s, Mt. Pleasant Baptist
Church, North Georgia Turf, ValuTeachers, Whitesburg BP, Whitesburg Christian
Church, and The Whorton Agency. Our local public library provides opportunities for
on site field trips and educational experiences throughout the year. Our Kindergarten
students and their parents make a visit to the library and are encouraged to acquire
library cards for themselves and their children. The library continues to provide
opportunities throughout the summer to encourage students to read, write, and explore
science, math, and social studies. Local faith-based organizations provide take-home
care packages each Friday. Local businesses, such as Georgia Power, provide food
for families to encourage their attendance at Title I family night activities.