(Parents’ Bill of Rights)

The board supports parents’ efforts to be involved in the district’s education programs.   This policy outlines the district’s efforts to educate parents and support parent involvement in response to the 2014 Parents’ Bill of Rights.

Parents have the right be involved in their minor child’s education, including directing that education.  Parents are encouraged to exercise their rights in conjunction with district guidance so as not to inadvertently impede their minor child’s compliance with federal and state mandated requirements – including requirements related to graduation.  Parents also have the right to review school records related to their minor child.

Parents generally have the right to consent prior to an audio or video recording being made of their minor child.  This right does not preempt the district’s right to make recordings (without specific parental approval) related to:

•  safety, general order and discipline

• academic or extracurricular activities

• classroom instruction

• security/surveillance of the buildings or grounds

• photo ID cards

 Parents have the right to receive prompt notice if their minor child is believed to be the victim of a crime perpetrated by someone other than the parent, unless law enforcement or DHS officials have determined that parental notification would impede the related investigation.  These notice provisions do not apply to matters which involve routine misconduct typically addressed through student discipline procedures.  School personnel will not attempt to encourage or coerce a child to withhold information from parents.

1. The district will promote parent participation at the site level with the goal of improving parent and teacher cooperation in areas such as homework, attendance and discipline.  This will be accomplished through activities such as:

•  Parent teacher conferences

• Back to school / meet the teacher nights

• District sponsored webpages with class information available to parents

• School newsletters

2.   The district will inform parents about their children’s course of study by disseminating this information:

• During annual enrollment

• In student handbooks

• On the district’s webpage

• Student Information System portal

Parents may review learning materials affecting their minor children’s course of study, including supplemental materials, by making a request through the building principal.

3.  Parents who object to a learning material or activity may withdraw their minor child from the class or program in which the material is used.  In order to withdraw a student, the parent must submit a written request, signed and dated by a parent, to the building principal.  Parents who choose to withdraw their minor child from a required class are responsible for making alternate arrangements for the child to earn credit for the class.

4. The district offers sex education in 7th grade.  Parents who object to their minor child participating in the district’s sex education program must submit a written notice, signed and dated by a parent, to the principal in order for their child to be excused from participation. Students who are not participating in the district’s sex education program will be permitted to study in the school library or office during sex education instruction.

5. If a teacher is going to provide instruction or presentations regarding sexuality in a course apart from formal sex education, the teacher will send written notice home to parents 7 days in advance of the presentation.  Parents who object to their minor child’s participation in such instruction may send a written request to the building principal to have the student excused from the presentation.  Any such student will be permitted to study in the school library or office during the presentation.

6. Parents may learn about the nature and purpose of clubs and activities which are part of the school curriculum by reviewing student handbooks and the district’s website.  The district’s extracurricular clubs and activities are also published in student handbooks, the district’s policy manual, and are available on the district’s website.

7. Parents have numerous rights and decision making responsibilities concerning their minor children.  To assist parents in meeting these responsibilities and to fulfill its obligations under the 2014 Parent Bill of Rights, the district has compiled the following information for parents:

1. The district provides sex education to students in 7th grade.  Parents may opt their student out of the district’s sponsored sex education program by following the procedures established in item 4 above.

2. Parents who are not residents of the district may enroll their minor children in the district’s schools in accordance with the district’s open transfer policy.  A copy of that policy is available in the superintendent’s office.

3. The district utilizes a number of resources to educate students.  Parents who object to an assignment based on sex, morality or religion may opt their minor child out of the assignment by following the procedures established in item 3 above.

4. A minor student is required to have (1) a current, up-to-date immunization record OR (2) a completed and signed state-approved exemption form on file with the district prior to the student’s admission to the district.  The exemption form shall specify that the student has received or is in the process of receiving the immunizations currently required by Oklahoma State Department of Health regulations, unless the exemption has been granted from the immunizations on medical, religious, or personal grounds or as otherwise required by law.  
   The immunization requirements shall be posted at the district’s website and in any notice or publication provided to parents/guardians regarding immunizations.  The state-approved exemption form is available at the Oklahoma State Department of Health website.

5. Students are required to meet certain obligations in order to be promoted to a subsequent grade, particularly with regard to learning to read.  Parents can learn about these requirements – including efforts the district will take in order to help students become successful readers – by reviewing the district’s policies on Reading Sufficiency Act testing, and student promotion.  Copies of these policies are available in the superintendent’s office.

6. Students are required to meet certain obligations in order to graduate from high school.  Parents can learn about these requirements each year during course enrollment.  This information is also available in student handbooks and on the Oklahoma State Department of Education’s website (www.ok.gov/sde/).

7. The district provides AIDS education for students in 6th, 7th, and 10th grades.  Parents may opt their minor student out of this education by submitting a written request, signed and dated by a parent, to the building principal.    Students who are not participating in the district’s AIDS education program will be permitted to study in the school library or office during the scheduled instruction.

8. Parents have the right to review student test results related to their minor student.  Parents may review the results of classroom exams by contacting their child’s teacher.  Parents may review the results of state-wide testing by contacting their child’s building principal.

9. Qualifying students have the right to participate in the district’s gifted and talented program in accordance with the district’s policy regarding the program.  A copy of the policy is available through the superintendent’s office.

10. Parents have the right to review teachers’ manuals, films, tapes or other supplementary instructional material if the materials are being used in connection with a research or experimentation program or project.  In order to review these materials, the parent should contact the building principal.

11. Parents have the right to receive a school report card.  Information regarding these report cards will be provided through school publications, but a copy of the actual report card is available in the superintendent’s office.

12. Students are required to attend school regularly, and the district is required to notify parents of any student absence unless the parent has already contacted the school to report the absence.  The district will send a written notice to parents if their minor student appears to be in danger of exceeding the maximum allowable number of absences and will notify the district attorney and the parent if a child may be considered truant.  Parents may contact the child’s principal for additional information regarding student absences.

13. Parents have the right to review the district’s courses of study and textbooks.  Arrangements for this review can be made through the building principal.

14. Students may be excused from school for religious purposes provided the parent contacts the building principal to request such an absence.

15. Parents have the right to review all district policies, including parental involvement policies.  Copies of these policies are available through the superintendent’s office.

16. Parents have the right to participate in parent-teacher organizations.  Information regarding these groups will be made available during activities such as enrollment, schedule pickups and back to school night.  Parents who wish to have additional information regarding these groups can obtain more detail through the principal’s office.

17. Parents may opt out of selected district level data collection related to state longitudinal student data system reporting.  Parents may not opt out of necessary and essential record collecting.  Parents may file an opt out request through the superintendent’s office.

18. The district will not procure, solicit to perform, arrange for the performance of, perform surgical procedures or perform a physical examination upon a minor student or prescribe any prescription drugs to a minor student without first obtaining a written consent for the proposed assessment or treatment.  The written consent will be effective for the school year for which it was granted, and must be renewed each subsequent school year.  If the assessment or treatment for which the written consent is provided is performed through telemedicine at a school site, and if the written consent is provided by the Parent and is currently effective, the health professional shall not be required to verify that the parent is at the school site.

19. The district will not procure, solicit to perform, arrange of the performance of or perform an assessment for mental health therapy on a minor student without first obtaining consent of a parent or legal guardian of the minor. The written consent will be effective for the school year for which it was granted, and must be renewed each subsequent school year. If the assessment or treatment for which the written consent is provided is performed through telemedicine at a school site, and if the written consent is provided by the Parent and is currently effective, the health professional shall not be required to verify that the parent is at the school site. However, a student shall not be seen without consent.

20. A student shall not be vaccinated at school or on school grounds or receive a vaccine as part of the mobile vaccination effort without prior written authorization, including the signature of the parent or legal guardian of the student for the vaccine or group of vaccines to be administered during a single visit.  

Parents requesting information outlined in this policy should submit written requests for information through the building principal or superintendent’s office, as noted in the respective section.  Appropriate school personnel will either make the information available or provide a written explanation of why the information is being withheld within ten (10) days of the request.  Any parent whose request is denied or who does not receive a response within fifteen (15) days may submit a written request for the information to the board of education.  The board will include an item on its next public meeting agenda (or the following meeting, if time does not permit inclusion of the item on the agenda) to allow the board to formally consider the parent’s request.

OKLA. STAT. tit. 70 §1-116.2

OKLA. STAT. tit. 25 § 2001

OKLA. STAT. tit. 25 §2004, et seq.

OKLA. STAT. tit. 70 § 1210.191

O.A.C. 310:535-1-2 

(Title I, Part A Programs)

PART I. GENERAL EXPECTATIONS

The purpose of this policy is to establish the district’s expectations for parental involvement. [Section 1118(a)(2), ESSA.] The district agrees to implement the following statutory requirements:

1. The school district will put into operation programs, activities and procedures for the involvement of parents in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with section 1118 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), as reauthorized by the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. Those programs, activities and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation with parents of participating children.

2. Consistent with section 1118, the school district will work with its schools to ensure that the required school-level parental involvement policies meet the requirements of section 1118(b) of the ESSA, and each include, as a component, a school-parent compact consistent with section 1118(d) of the ESSA.

3. The school district will incorporate this district wide parental involvement policy into its LEA plan developed under section 1112 of the ESSA.

4. In carrying out the Title I, Part A parental involvement requirements, to the extent practicable, the school district and its individual schools will provide full opportunities 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 ESSA in an understandable and uniform format and, including alternative formats upon request, and, to the extent practicable, in a language parents understand.

5. If the LEA plan for Title I, Part A, developed under section 1112 of the ESSA, is not satisfactory to the parents of participating children, the school district will submit any parent comments with the plan when the school district submits the plan to the State Department of Education.

6. The school district will involve the parents of children served in Title I, Part A schools in decisions about how the 1 percent of Title I, Part A funds reserved for parental involvement is spent, and will ensure that not less than 95 percent of the one percent reserved goes directly to the schools. Section 3 – Page 116

7. The school district will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental involvement, and expects that its Title I schools 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, including ensuring—

A. that parents play an integral role in assisting their child’s learning;

B. that parents are encouraged to be actively involved in their child’s education at school;

C. that parents are full partners in their child’s education and are included, as appropriate, in decision-making and on advisory committees to assist in the education of their child;

D. the carrying out of other activities, such as those described in section 1118 of the ESSA.

8. The school district will inform parents and parental organizations of the purpose and existence of the parental information and resource center in the state, known as Parents as Partners in Education.

PART II. DISTRICT’S IMPLEMENTATION OF DISTRICT WIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY

The district will implement or accomplish each of the following components. [Section 1118(a)(2), ESSA.]

1. The district will take the following actions to involve parents in the joint development of its district wide parental involvement plan under section 1112 of the ESSA:

Annual reviews, evaluations, committee meetings, parent-teacher conferences

2. The district will take the following actions to involve parents in the process of school review and improvement under section 1116 of the ESSA:

Annual reviews, evaluations, committee meetings, parent-teacher conferences

3. The district will provide the following necessary coordination, technical assistance, and other support to assist Title I, Part A schools in planning and implementing effective parental involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance:

Annual reviews, evaluations, committee meetings, parent-teacher conferences

4. The district will coordinate and integrate parental involvement strategies in Part A with parental involvement strategies under the following other programs:

Head Start

5. The district will take the following actions to conduct, with the involvement of parents, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of this parental involvement policy in improving the quality of its Title I, Part A schools. The evaluation will include identifying barriers to greater participation by parents in parental involvement activities (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background). The school district will use the findings of the evaluation about its parental involvement policy and activities to design strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary (and with the involvement of parents) its parental involvement policies.

A year-end survey will be distributed from the building sites to the parents to complete and returned for compilation and analysis

6. The district will build the schools’ and parent’s 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. The school district will, with the assistance of its Title I, Part A schools, provide assistance to parents of children served by the school district or school, as appropriate, in understanding topics such as the following, by undertaking the actions described in this paragraph --

i. the State’s academic content standards,

ii. the State’s student academic achievement standards,

iii. the State and local academic assessments including alternate assessments,

iv. the requirements of Part A,

v. how to monitor their child’s progress, and vi. how to work with educators:

OSDE conferences and workshops, parent-teacher conferences, literacy night events, and back to school nights

B. The school district will, with the assistance of its schools, provide materials and training to help parents work with their children to improve their children’s academic achievement, such as literacy training, and using technology, as appropriate, to foster parental involvement, by:

Parent-teacher conferences and literacy events

C. The school district will, with the assistance of its schools and parents, educate its teachers, pupil services personnel, principals 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 schools, by:

Parent-teacher conferences, literacy events, parenting workshops, school newsletters

D. The school district will, to the extent feasible and appropriate, coordinate and integrate parental involvement programs and activities with Head Start, Reading First, Early Reading First, 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:

Providing information and encouraging participation in the above- mentioned programs

E. The school district 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:

Personal and automated phone calls, letters to parents, newsletters and websites will be used to communicate this information

PART III. DISCRETIONARY DISTRICT WIDE PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT POLICY COMPONENTS

The district incorporates as a part of its policy the following discretionary components:

1. involving parents in the development of training for teachers, principals, and other educators to improve the effectiveness of that training;

2. providing necessary literacy training for parents from Title I, Part A funds, if the school district has exhausted all other reasonably available sources of funding for that training;

3. paying reasonable and necessary expenses associated with parental involvement activities, including transportation and child care costs, to enable parents to participate in school-related meetings and training sessions;

4. training parents to enhance the involvement of other parents;

5. in order to maximize parental involvement and participation in their children’s education, arranging school meetings at a variety of times, or conducting in-home conferences between teachers or other educators, who work directly with participating children, with parents who are unable to attend those conferences at school;

6. adopting and implementing model approaches to improving parental involvement;

7. establishing a district wide parent advisory council to provide advice on all matters related to parental involvement in Title I, Part A programs;

8. developing appropriate roles for community-based organizations and businesses, including faith-based organizations, in parental involvement activities; and

9. providing other reasonable support for parental involvement activities under section 1118 as parents may request.

PART IV. ADOPTION

This District Wide Parental Involvement Policy has been developed jointly with, and agreed on with, parents of children participating in Title I, Part A programs, as evidenced by the minutes of the meeting in which parental involvement and the manner in which that would be achieved was deliberated.

The school district will distribute this policy to all parents of participating Title I, Part A children annually.