S-PRNT - Parent Involvement in Education

Parent Involvement in Education

The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Board of Education believes that parent and family involvement must be aggressively pursued and supported by our communities, in homes, schools/colleges/universities, neighborhoods, businesses, faith congregations, organizations and government entities by working together in a mutually collaborative effort. As such, the Board is committed to developing policies to effectively involve parents in schools and in their child’s education. N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.20(b)(3).

All parents/families and educators must make family involvement in education a priority; thus, the Board commits to providing support and coordination for school staff and parents to implement and sustain appropriate parent involvement.

Improved student achievement must be the equally shared responsibility and ultimate goal of parents, teachers, the school system as a whole, and the community at large. Thus, the Board commits to seeing that each school has effective volunteer programs to address student needs and commits to utilizing schools to assist students and families in connecting with community resources.

The Board commits that it will impact student achievement significantly by improving the quality and quantity of parent/family involvement. Consequently, the Board will provide guidance, support, cooperation, and the necessary funding to enable parents to become active partners in education.

1. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.25, the district shall display on the CMS website the following parental legal rights with regard to their child’s education:

a. The right to consent or withhold consent for participation in reproductive health and safety education programs, consistent with the requirements of N.C.G.S. § 115C-81.30 and Board policy A-CHE.

b. The right to seek a medical or religious exemption from immunization requirements, consistent with the requirements of N.C.G.S. §§ G.S. 130A-156 and 130A-157.

c. The right to review statewide standardized assessment results as part of the State report card.

d. The right to request an evaluation of their child for an academically or intellectually gifted program, or for identification as a child with a disability, as provided in Article 9 of Chapter 115C of the North Carolina General Statutes.

e. The right to inspect and purchase public school unit textbooks and other supplementary instructional materials, as provided in Part 3 of Article 8 of Chapter 115C of the North Carolina General Statutes.

f. The right to access information relating to the Board’s policies for promotion or retention, including high school graduation requirements.

g. The right to receive student report cards on a regular basis that clearly depict and grade the student's academic performance in each class or course, the student's conduct, and the student's attendance.

h. The right to access information relating to the State public education system, State standards, report card requirements, attendance requirements, and textbook requirements.

i. The right to participate in parent-teacher organizations.

j. The right to opt-in to certain data collection for their child, as provided in N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.65 and Board policy S-HLTH.

k. The right for students to participate in protected student information surveys only with parental consent, as provided in N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.65 and Board policy S-HLTH.

l. The right to review all available records of materials their child has borrowed from a school library as set forth in Board policy A-SLM (A-ILM).

2. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.30(c), the district shall provide to parents, students, and school personnel, at the beginning of each school year, a parent guide for student achievement that meets the following requirements:

a. Includes, at a minimum, the State Board requirements developed as provided in subsection (a) of N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.30 and all Board policies and Superintendent regulations related to parent involvement, pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.30.

b. Is understandable to students and parents.

c. Is provided in writing to the parent.

d. Is discussed at the beginning of each school year in meetings of students, parents, and teachers.

3. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. §§ 115C-76.20, 115C-76.25, and 115C-76.35, the Superintendent shall create a Regulation accompanying this Policy that creates processes to accomplish the following:

a. Inform parents of their legal rights and responsibilities with regard to their child's education.

b. Provide to parents, on an annual basis, the parent's guide for student achievement as set forth in section 2 above.

c. Allow parents to exercise their legal rights for their child’s education, as enumerated in N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.25(a) and Section 1 above.

d. Make the parental rights contained in in N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.25(a) and Section 1 above available to parents electronically or by displaying the information on the district’s website.

e. Provide links to parents for community services.

f. Establish opportunities for parental involvement in the development, implementation, and evaluation of family involvement programs.

g. Establish opportunities for parents to participate on school advisory councils and in school volunteer programs and other activities.

h. Provide for parental participation in their child's education to improve parent and teacher cooperation in areas such as homework, school attendance, and discipline that aligns with the parent guide for student achievement required by N.C.G.S. § 115C-76.30 and Section 2 above.

i. Require principals to effectively communicate to parents the manner in which textbooks are used to implement the school's curricular objectives.

j. Establish a process for parents to learn about the nature and purpose of clubs and activities offered at their child's school, including both curricular and extracurricular activities as defined by Policy S-STCL and S-XTRC.

4. Parental Requests for Information

A parent may request in writing from the principal of the school in which his or her child is enrolled any of the information the parent has the right to access, as provided in this policy. The Superintendent shall adopt a regulation for the process of parent requests for information under this policy, and shall include the following:

a. The process by which a parent may request the information from the Principal.

b. A principal, within 10 business days of receipt of the request, shall either (i) provide the requested information to the parent or (ii) provide an extension notice to the parent that, due to the volume or complexity of the request, the information will be provided no later than 20 business days from the date of the parental request.

c. If the principal (i) denies or fails to respond to the request for information within 10 business days, or (ii) fails to provide information within 20 business days following an extension notice, the parent may request in writing any of the information the parent has the right to access, as provided in this policy, from the superintendent, along with a statement specifying the time frame of the denial or failure to provide information by the principal.

d. If the superintendent denies or does not respond to the request for information within 10 business days, the parent may appeal the denial or lack of response to the Board of Education no later than 20 business days from the date of the request to the superintendent.