School Year: 2024-2025

School: Moravian Falls Elementary School

Date Submitted: November 5, 2024

Policy Involvement

Describe your plan to involve parents in the development of this policy and how you intend to document their participation and feedback.

We welcome parent and family involvement and feedback! Moravian Falls Elementary School's Parent and Family Engagement Plan and information regarding our school's participation in and requirements of Title I and Parent's Right to Know will be presented during our Back to School Open House event and during Parent Advisory Team/PTO meetings. Parents are invited to attend quarterly Parent Advisory meetings at the school. Parent Involvement is documented by signatures on attendance sheets. Agendas and notes are provided in the school Title I documentation. These meetings are offered in the evening, after working hours, for the convenience of our stakeholders.

All information is provided in a language and format understandable to our stakeholders. If needed, interpreters are also present for support and clarification of any communication. The School Leadership/Improvement Team also has parent representation, and these meetings are held as open meetings monthly. Meeting information is printed on the school website. The School Improvement Plan is developed and monitored by the School Leadership Team. School Leadership Team meetings are held one Wednesday a month at 3:45 in the school media center. At times, and announced in advance, some School Leadership Team meetings may be held via Zoom. The District and School Title 1 Parent and Family Engagement Policies will be included and distributed in our annual Student/Family Handbook. Parents return a signed form stating that they have received this information. Parents may contact the school via phone or email at any time with feedback, questions, and suggestions.

Shared Responsibility for High Student Academic Achievement

Describe your plan to develop your school compact and gain meaningful collaboration with families.

The School-Parent Compact is a communication tool to support achievement for parents, school staff, and students. The Compact is an agreement on how each person (school staff, family, and student) will support each other in ensuring that the student is successful. The parent compact will be presented at our Back to School Open House event and during Parent Advisory Team/PTO meetings. During these times, we encourage feedback as we develop our Parent and Family Engagement Policy. Parents, students, teachers, and administrators are asked to review the compact and sign stating that they agree to follow the stated expectations. Parents are invited to schedule conferences with their child's teacher on a quarterly basis. Teachers are available to answer or address any academic concerns. Multiple curriculum/parent night events are planned to provide opportunities for parents to learn new ways to support their child's learning.

Building Capacity for Involvement

Describe how your school will provide programs to assist parents in building capacity to be involved in their child's education.

Moravian Falls Elementary School organizes multiple parent engagement nights throughout the academic year, focusing on curriculum and extension activities. These events aim, in part, to equip parents with the knowledge and skills necessary to effectively support their children's educational development at home. The school also sends out weekly calendars/newsletters that include upcoming dates and strategies to help students. Parents are encouraged to participate in school activities, including field trips, festivals (before and after school), spelling bee, etc.

Moravian Falls also conducts other grade-level specific informational meetings for parents such as Third Grade Read to Achieve Night and Kindergarten Fun Times. These meetings are planned throughout the school year. Classroom Celebrations, Fall Festival, Spring Fling, Spirit Nights and collaborative events with PTO are some of the other activities Moravian Falls conducts during the school year. Moravian Falls teachers and students also facilitate family conferences to provide opportunities for collaboration regarding the progress of the children. Events are advertised through Remind, monthly newsletters, weekly School Messenger phone and email messages, social media, and the school website. All information is translated and shared in Spanish as well as English.

Accessibility

Describe how you plan to make all of these programs accessible to all of the parents at your school.

Many of the programs offered at Moravian Falls will be scheduled in the evenings after work hours. Information regarding the scheduling of all events will be available on the school website, social media, and on Remind. Our school and individual classroom teachers utilize Remind as a messaging system to share information with individual students, classrooms, and the whole school. Our school also utilizes Facebook as a means of communication with families and the community. When necessary, paper copies of information are sent home with students. Our teachers will provide flexible scheduling for individual parent-teacher conferences. Moravian Falls also has an interpreter who attends meetings/conferences, makes phone calls, and translates all publications, agendas, and documents so that Spanish-speaking families have access to school information.

Funding

Describe how your Title I Parent and Family Engagement funds will be used to support these efforts.

Moravian Falls Elementary utilizes Title I Parent and Family Engagement funds to provide yearly mailings, informational handouts to promote student attendance, study habits, exceptional children services, and any other information for parents to help their students be successful. Copies of the student/family handbook are printed (and provided digitally through the school's website) for each family to inform families of the Parent Family Engagement Policy, and other procedures and information parents need to stay informed and involved in the school community. The Title I Parent Compact is printed for each family.

Monthly school calendars and newsletters will be printed and sent home with each student, to inform families of dates of events such as PTO nights and parent nights. Information and communication are also shared via Remind, the school website, and social media. Supplies are also purchased for take-home bags on our parent nights and for incoming kindergarten students' families to prepare them for beginning school in the fall. Moravian Falls additionally employs Parent Liaison to help with communication with parents: via phone, in-person conferences, social media posting, distribution and collection of School Newsletters, School/Family/Student Compact, Student Release of Image Permission Forms, Parent Night Sign-in Sheets, English/Spanish translations for parent letters, and other communications with families.

This document was collaboratively developed with our School Leadership/Improvement Team and the Parent Advisory Council. Every meeting with our parents is documented with an agenda and sign-in sheet. If you have any questions regarding any of the documentation mentioned in this plan, please contact Dr. Mike Weddington at 336-838-4077.