As we move into the FY23 school year planning season, we focus on the teams that help us plan for the schoolwide plan and the Parent and Family Engagement Plan. One thing we need to remember is that we need two separate teams at the school level since the agendas for the meetings are different. So, let’s see how these two teams are different.
First, the schoolwide planning team is the team responsible for reviewing the comprehensive needs assessment, determining strengths and weaknesses, and setting priorities for how the Title funds should be spent. This team has required stakeholder representatives: principals, administrators (including district administrators of Title I programs), teachers from various grades and subject areas, special education, English Learners, paraprofessionals, Title funded personnel, 2 -3+ parents, and 1-2+ students (if grades 7-12). Other school and community personnel may sit on the committee as desired.
Next, the Parent and Family Engagement planning team is responsible for reviewing and revising the school’s Parent and Family Engagement Plan and the school’s compact. This team should be heavier on the parent composition than the school. This team should have 3-5 parents and 2-4 faculty and staff. The team reviews the parent comprehensive needs survey and reviews and revises the parent plan to address the format, content, and number of parent meetings along with other points from the plan. In addition, the compact should be reviewed and updated by the group.
Over the course of the school year, schools are supposed to review and monitor the implementation of the schoolwide plan. Does this mean calling additional schoolwide planning team meetings? Not necessarily. Since all your other teams – PBIS, PLC, leadership, TST, etc. – address various aspects of the schoolwide plan, why not assign sections of the plan that are relevant to the team to review and monitor. For instance, the PBIS team can review discipline data and make sure the school is following the sections in the schoolwide plan that deal with discipline such as activities to keep students in class and learning. Include the action steps and topics on the agenda for each meeting and keep minutes. All of these teams will be monitoring throughout the year. Then when you meet in the spring of the year, you can do a final evaluation as you begin planning for the coming year.
Don’t forget the district is also required to have a planning team that follows the same process as the schoolwide planning team and parent engagement team. The team should have the same types of representatives as the schoolwide teams, but it should also include other district leaders to ensure that activities are coordinated and implemented across programs. Remember the LEA Parent and Family Engagement Policy must be board-approved annually.
Hopefully, these steps will help you streamline the planning and review process.