Family and Community Engagement Plan

Family and Community Engagement Plan

The Rush Strong School faculty and staff recognizes that the involvement of our families and community members is an integral part of our school's success. Rush Strong School will use the following strategies to communicate to and involve parents and community partners in school's vision and mission:

·        The administration conducts a Title 1 school informational meeting at the beginning of the year to discuss parental rights, expenditures of funds, and opportunities to be involves with RSS. 

·       Our "One Call" phone system will be utilized to leave a 60 second message on one parent or guardian phone per student.

·       We utilize our updated website found at http://rss.jc-schools.net/. This site contains all faculty email addresses for easy access.  It also contains articles highlighting school activities and student work.

·       Administration sends home a weekly school calendar and informative flyer.  

·       Parent/School/Student Compacts are utilized at RSS to outline responsibilities for each stakeholder in the process of achieving student success.

·        Parent-Teacher Conferences are held in the fall and spring semesters. 

·        A marquee in the front of the school is used to remind families of important upcoming events.

·        Home visits are conducted through collaboration with our Family Resource Center.   Our pre-k teachers conduct two home visits a year per student as a pre-k initiative

·        RSS will maintain a Facebook page as another outlet for information.

·        School counselor provides a referral form for parents for referrals to additional service providers when needs arise.

·        School counselor provides a list of community resources to families.

·        Families are given timely reports on progress with report cards every 9 weeks and mid-terms between each 9 week reporting period.

·        Student academic progress viewable to parents and families through the Aspen student portal. 

·        RSS will train volunteers on appropriate discipline and FERPA policies along with health and safety measures.

·        Volunteers are used in a variety of ways such as, but not limited to: one-on-one and small group tutoring, chaperoning field trips, classroom assistance, and lunch room duty.

·        RSS hosts family literacy events in the fall and spring to encourage students and families to embrace reading and learning outside the classroom. Dinner will be provided at these events. 

·        RSS holds an Open House at the beginning of each year in order for students and parents to meet and greet faculty.

·        PTO sponsors and runs a fall festival during which time students and families have refreshments, play games, and win prizes. 

·        RSS has established a parent as a member of the school leadership team. 

·       RSS community partnerships include Second Harvest Food Bank and local churches to help meet our student's non-academic needs. 

·        Student planners containing handbooks with school rules and procedures

·        Open-door policy for parent and family concerns through phone, email, or team meetings.

·         Before- and after-school tutoring is available to targeted students based on individual deficits

·        Rush Strong School School has developed an attendance intervention plan to decrease chronic absenteeism. Families are involved in the creation of attendance contracts. 

·        All students in grades 6-8 are issued personal laptops for school and home use.