Background

Purpose

Plan

Fairmont has a very active parent support organization. The PTA serves as the center of parent activity and involvement. Each general meeting features various student groups, sessions about each aspect of the school, parent projects and staff member spotlights. The first general meeting each year is the school’s open house. This meeting is so well attended that it is a great opportunity to discuss the Title I program and other unique features of the school. Ms. McGill, the principal, also serves on the PTA Board and meets monthly with that group. Two parents from that board serve on the school’s site based decision team and on the school’s climate committee. Additionally, community members and parents are represented on each component of the School Improvement Planning Team. An ESL parent, Maricela Fuentes, and a parent of a student with disabilities, Christine Wolff are included on the site based team and the school improvement team.

Fairmont begins the year with three orientation meetings. One meeting is in the morning, one is in the afternoon and one is at night. These times help our families with varied work and transportation schedules. The purposes of the meetings are to give valuable information to parents about the functions and procedures of the school. Parents are able to visit the rooms and ask specific questions of staff members. Additionally, we provide a valuable time of open dialogue for questions and concerns. Teachers are able to give parents tips on making the year a success. The school sends a very informative monthly newsletter that contains articles such as "Title I- News That You Can Use" and "PTA News" with information and interpretations of achievement progress. Throughout the school year parents are encouraged to be a part of the school’s many parent involvement activities. Some of the family involvement activities include:

Fall Family Picnic

Breakfast with Santa

Grandparents’ Day

Valentine Banquet

Bingo for Books

Mother-Son Sock Hop

Book Fair

Young Author’s Day

Field Day

Heritage Days

Fall Festival

Spring Fling

Art from the Heart’

Family Summer Reading

Families are the core part of the school’s improvement process which includes various committee assignments for input, home to school programs, home-school visits, parenting tips, and extended learning opportunities. Fairmont currently has more than 125 students who take advantage of after school programs. Another 50 to 75 students stay in the school’s Educare program. Fairmont has an overwhelming participation in all after school events. More than 350 parents attended the September 13^th Open House, Title I and PTA meeting. This meeting also served as an opportunity for Ms. McGill to give information about the school’s programs, including Title I. Parent and community volunteers are an everyday part of the learning environment at Fairmont. The school partners with several community groups to benefit the students. These organizations include: Boys Club, Girls, Inc., Coalition for Kids, Boys to Men, Girlfriends, America Reads, Foster Grandparents, Communities in Schools, Science Hill Service Learning Organizations, and several ETSU honor organizations, Appalachian Christian Village, Northside Hospital, ETSU and Milligan College of Education.

Fairmont’s community survey is summarized above. The school’s family engagement plan includes monthly family activities at the school, as well as opportunities for parenting and learning extensions. The school’s goal for family engagement addresses each of the system’s policy requirements. This plan includes collaboration with stake holders, outreach activities and family education.

Fairmont’s school web site contains information about the school that includes: Title I policies, reading lists, staff information, links to achievement information and updated school news. As a part of our orientation at the beginning of the year, we have a one page table or chart summarizing the concepts students at each level are expected to learn about at each grade level. Each classroom produces classroom newsletters weekly with learning goal features. Additionally, we have summer and after school programs that allow the families to be involved in using the library and the school’s computer lab. Last summer over 30 different families used the library on a regular basis.

Fairmont celebrates the achievements of our students often. We involve parents in the hosting of academic achievement assemblies for grades 1-5 at the end of each report card period. We recognize academic achievement, attendance, citizenship and character, improvement and those who have achieved specific learning goals in math and reading. Fairmont rewards classes each time they have seven consecutive days of perfect attendance. Some of the class rewards are: ice cream parties, pizza parties, sock hops and special field trips.

Wendy Hughes, our Family-School Coordinator, makes many home visits and follows-up on attendance and health concerns. Our school rewards attendance and also helps families to encourage promptness and good attendance. Our attendance usually leads the system in over 96% each year. Some months our attendance is 97%. Ms. Hughes and our Guidance Counselor, Laura Henderson, coordinate efforts to link some of our needy families to help and support organizations like Salvation Army, Interfaith Hospitality, Dawn of Hope, Frontier Health, and other health organizations. They both visit homes on a regular basis and communicate progress to the support organizations.

Fairmont has one of the most involved parent groups in the city. Our meeting attendance usually exceeds our seating capacity. We have two parents and one community member on our site based decision team. We have at least one parent and a community member on each of the School Improvement Teams. We have involved Chris Wolff, the parent of a special education student, on two of our committees. Additionally, Ms. Rhonda Miller, a kindergarten parent, is a member of the system-wide Family and Community Advisor Council.