kathie...I know where you are coming from, this all was started when we were going through the national pta involment assessment and i needed the schools report card, i also received our district policy. I was not really out to help anyone just look at, the one mom just came into mind. I guess my concern is that our policy is so outdated and i know there are classes that have NO parents in there at all ....all year long. I guess i just want to make sure that our school is living up to the title one, nclb and by our school alone that is not the only area that we seem to be failing in. As far as a program like yours I have been told that I can set up volunteering guidelines, match volunteers to needs, keep log hours, etc HOWEVER no contact with TEACHERS and we can not put volunteers in classrooms, that area is off limits. We can not even offer to help as far as room parents , etc. I felt good with what I can do and in the fall we will kick off a huge pr on volunteering outside of classrooms. hoping that it lightens up the fact that parents are not wanted in the classrooms. I feel alittle down that i even know the outdated policy, and for the record my principal thinks i should approach the district about updating it. She has been pushing me to pursue it more....so that helps some. I guess does any of this really make a difference??/

"reasonable access to the staff, opportunities to volunteer, participate and to observe in the classroom" Is that the part you mean? I agree with everything you said about how you don't really know what's going on unless you are in the classroom. Also, it would seem that there would be a place for parents in the younger grades, say k - 2. My point is that legally I think it's too broad a statement,"reasonable access." The school could take that to mean once a year. just my interpertation. In Pennsylvania, we also have state standards and then specific district policies - that's a better place (for me) to look to see how our schools interpert the federal rules.

We do not have title one at our school so I am not familiar with that. Here's the thing though, the more you push the administration because they're not satisfying a law, the less apt they are to work with you.

Why not try a structured program of help similar to the one I mentioned? This worked really well for our school. What we did was first got an okay from the principal, and then She talked to the teachers about it at a staff meeting. We had a contact person (like a liaison) for each classroom who in turn worked with the teacher to find a time for a small (like 3 or 4) parents to come in and read or be read to or help with writing skills by the children. It worked because the teacher was in the drivers seat, letting us know what would be helpful for her/him and the students and we parents got to get in the classroom.

I admit that this is most likely not the answer to the one parent you were trying to help out but I don't know how reasonable it is for a teacher to work around that person's schedule. Something I do maybe twice a year is I go and sit with my 5th grade son during his lunch time. It's pretty uncommon but my son actually likes it and I get to hang out with his friends for a little.

I do know where you are coming from and I hope that you can get some more constructive suggestions from other posters.

kathie...the parent in question just thought it would be nice if she could go in once a month and read to the kids. You know how you get to know your kids class mates is by being involved at school. Our school has very little"known" volunteer options and that is what we are working on. OUr school/parent compact is based on titlte one requirements and like the nclb site DOES say that parents are given opportunities to volunteer in classrooms... some teachers at our school does not allow this. I am not talking about running free from room to room , I am talking about lining up a visit or observation. As part of above reference it states that parents are allowed that right. Our compact also says that, so if a teacher allows no help even with a couple of weeks notice then title one and NCLB is not being enforced. I truly realize that classrooms need structure, but what if a parent has to work nights and then only chance they get is to volunteer once a month in a classroom.please Read the post again because the wording is: allow parents the opportunities to volunteer and participate in THEIR CHILD"S CLASS and observation of classroom activites. we are talking opportuinities are not being offered by certain teachers, even when parents ask they are told no.

It looks to me like this part of the NCLB law is saying that parents must be involved and some money must be set aside for parent groups. (I think they should have a two sentence translation for every section)

Nothing is stated there about parents actually being in the classroom. I'm assuming that there's more to a parent wanting to read in a classrom then what you're saying here. Because one can always read to their child at home, right? We do have a committee that helps out in the k-2 classrooms. Mostly made up of parents of those students and they work together closely with the teachers and read or help the students with writing - whatever the teacher needs. I think they go in twice a month. It was changed after my child was that age, so I'm not sure about how often.

I cannot imagine a policy written saying that parents can pop into a classroom to observe at any time. We have parent visitation day in the fall where parents can attend their chlds class. That's fairly disruptive and it's a planned visit day. I know I was suprised in our school when I found out that parents aren't needed in the classroom except for some parties and the above mentioned group after first grade. However, there are MANY volunteer opportunities where you can still feel involved and see what's going on - it's different. At least that's how it is at my child's school.

thanks guys, i will look into that section a little more. It just feels that our school does not do some of these things and I have problems with that. I will be meeting with our assistant superintendent about this and see if there are answers that i truly don't see. I wasn't out to change anything but when I saw our board policy it truly disgusted me.As far as venting hey we all need to do it=) I am hoping that I get some answers and that it will clear up my "misperception" It all started just because i requested a copy of our school report card....now well....you know

hi Pals,
The specific section of NCLB that deals with Parent Involvement and Title I funds is Section 1118. I don't know if you read that particular part or started to swim when you saw all of it(I did the first time I saw it! [img]smile.gif[/img] )

Parents are actively involved in the development of a written plan and must be agreed on by the parents.
Moneywise, no less than 1% of all grant monies must be used for parent involvement activities and the parents must be involved in deciding how these funds are used. These funds can be used for child care, home visits and even transportation if it will enhance parental involvement.
Each school must invite parents to an annual meeting to inform of NCLB's requirements, including parent involvement. They also must be involved in the planning, implementation etc of the programs including the parental involvement portion.
Parents are to receive timely notices of these programs, a description, the tests that are used to evaluate progress, and told what levels the children are expected to meet.
Parents can request regular meetings to work on suggestions and the school must provide for them and to respond to those suggestions ASAP.
Schools are required to provide assistance to parents in understanding requirements, provide materials and training to parents to help them improve their child's grades.
Annual parent/teacher conferences, frequent reports on children's progress, reasonable access to the staff, opportunities to volunteer, participate and to observe in the classroom. Some of the above things were already required in Title I compliance and have been laws since the 1960s. But the definition of Parental Involvement being "regular, two way, and meaningful communication between parents and the school under the act" was added to NCLB (formerly ESEA)
That's some of it but pretty much in a nut shell...
Did that help or did I confuse you more??