Title 1 Family Involvement Plan

2023-24 Thurgood Marshall Elementary School

Thurgood Marshall Elementary School embraces the Seattle School District’s commitment to family involvement as a key to academic success.  In order to facilitate this, the school community has developed the following plan.

Mission:

Our teaching is rooted in research-based best practices where learning experiences are differentiated for the unique needs of all learners. We prioritize collaboration, compassion and building a sense of belonging through strong relationships.

Vision:

At Thurgood Marshall, we are Resilient, Empathetic, Accountable Lifelong Learners.  We embrace the responsibility of closing the opportunity gap so that our children will create a more just world.

Communication

We are committed to forming strong partnerships with our families.  One way we will do this is communication with families right from the start of the year.  Our teachers want to know: What are your hopes and dreams for your child?  What makes your child happiest?  When are you most proud of your child?  How does your child learn best?  We follow up those meetings with ongoing communication between teacher and parents and principal and school in many modes:

• Weekly e-mail sent to families by principal and weekly newsletters sent by each classroom teacher.
• Robocalls and texts translated into our major languages.
• Calls to individual families from our bilingual staff.
• Information from our Friends of Thurgood Marshall Elementary (FTME) parent group about ways to get involved at school and special events.
• FTME Community meetings and special presentations throughout the year.
• A highly professional staff of bilingual instructional assistants and an ELL Teacher who maintain regular contact with families by phone and face to face interactions.
• Principal Coffee Chats
• School wide family/school compact translated into our major languages (Vietnamese, Spanish, Somali). 

Most significantly, teachers and administrators are available by phone, email and in person.  Communication happens in multiple formats and languages, and what is always most important is that families feel safe and welcome in our school community.

Family Involvement in School Policies and Procedures

We recruit and encourage families from diverse backgrounds to be a part of our teams and committees.  Parents serve on the Building Leadership Team and on the Equity Action Teams to facilitate two-way communication between parents and the school.  Parents may serve on our hiring teams for new staff.

• Membership on the Building Leadership Team where major issues of educational policy and practice are decided around our school improvement plan, budget, and professional development.
• This year we are recruiting families interested in serving on our Positive Behavior Intervention Supports Team.
• Soliciting input at group meetings scheduled throughout the year, Principal Coffee Chats, PTA meetings, etc.
• We solicit parent input through surveys to be sure that we are hearing from a balanced representation of our school community on topics such as our homework policy, school lunch plan and school tech plan.

Communication of Title 1 Program Requirements

Thurgood Marshall Elementary’s outlining of the Title 1 program requirements and the rights of families will be held on September 21, 2023.  This evening meeting is widely publicized by classroom announcements, translated emails and texts, and in our school newsletter.

The agenda includes:

• Review of Parent Involvement Plan
• Plan for Academic Parent Teacher Teams and Family/Teacher conferences
• Family compacts
• How Title 1 Funds are Spent
• Title 1 Complaint Procedure
• PLUS – an overview of important curricular content and family connection activities.

Thurgood Marshall Elementary will hold regularly scheduled family – teacher conferences.

• November academic conferences which include soliciting families’ perspectives on their children as well as discussion of academic progress and social-emotional well-being.
• In addition to family – teacher conferences, Academic Parent Teacher Team meetings will be held at three times throughout the school year. These meetings will help parents understand important skills taught in their child’s class and how they can support growth in these skills at home.
• Parents participate in Student Intervention Team (SIT) meetings to help determine interventions for their children and IEP meetings when appropriate.
• Parent meetings throughout the year as requested by families, teachers or specialists working with the child.

When available, Thurgood Marshall Elementary will provide written reports of scores to families by:

• Distribution of MAP letters to families
• Distribution of WCAS Science and ELA/Math SBA scores
• WIDA reports sent to parents of children served by bilingual services
• Scores are also available to be viewed on students’ Source page.

All teaching staff at Thurgood Marshall Elementary School are Highly Qualified.

All new hires must meet Title 1 requirements.  Thurgood Marshall Elementary follows Title 1 guidelines in notifying families in the event of a long-term substitute if there is a need.

Community Events

At Thurgood Marshall Elementary, we have events throughout the year which include academic events, social events, performances, and educational nights.  Many of these, such as NAAPID (National African American Parent Involvement Day) are co-designed with our families.  Other examples include our grade level potlucks, Community Night, Parent Meetings, Academic Parent Teacher Team Meetings, music celebrations and many more.  Principal coffees are held throughout the year for families to have the opportunity to learn about school initiatives and share ideas and feedback.

• Parents serve as volunteers throughout the school (tutors, library helpers, chaperones, facilitators of before and after school programs, special events coordinators).
• Language support for families whose home language is not English.  This includes interpretation of conferences, student intervention team meetings, IEP meetings, and general conferences. We have staff on-site who are conversant in Spanish, Vietnamese and Somali.
• Tuesday Library Nights throughout the summer so that students have access to books all summer long! These are often combined with FTME meet-ups so families can connect.
• Parent involvement and leadership on the Building Leadership Team (BLT), Equity Action Team, PTSA executive board and more.   

This plan is available in the front office. 

Thurgood Marshall Elementary School has a strong commitment to parent involvement.  With a diverse linguistic, socio-economic, racial, cultural and ethnic community, our school strives to welcome, reach out to and include all families as equal partners.

SPS Complaint Procedure