The following events/activities are designed to build parent capacity and to provide opportunities for families to engage with the school to support learning:
✓ Meet Your Teacher Night (Open House)
✓ Curriculum Night
✓ Literacy Night
✓ Local School Council Meetings
✓ Parent Advisory Meetings
✓ Parent Workshops
✓ EL Family Night
✓ Rising 6th Grader Parent Night
✓ Parent/Teacher Conferences
o Fall – October 23, 2024 & October 24, 2024
o Winter – March 5, 2025 & March 6, 2025
✓ Title I Planning Meeting
✓ Title I Document Review
✓ Title I Parent Meetings

The Family and Community Engagement Plan and all other Title I information are available on our school’s website at https://schools.gcpsk12.org/GraceSnellMS under the Title I Section. Families can also find paper copies of this Family and Community Engagement Plan in our Family Engagement Center.

The Promise is reviewed and revised at least annually during the Planning Meeting in the spring. All feedback forms from the Planning Meeting are submitted to the Office of Federal Programs for review. Families who are not able to attend the Planning Meeting have the opportunity to review draft documents and provide input during the draft document review period.

Grace Snell Middle School’s Mission Statement
GSMS strives to pursue excellence by enhancing the talents and abilities of all students through a challenging framework of international education, resulting in measured improvement against local, national and world-class standards. We will use resources and technology to provide an effective, safe and supportive learning environment where all students meet the necessary standards to achieve academic, personal and social success, and to become inquiring, mindful citizens.

Empathy: Cultural competence, staff and student wellbeing, educator diversity.
Equity: Multi-tiered system of supports, opportunity and access, equitable resource allocation.
Effectiveness: Results-Based evaluation system, talent management, educational return on investment.
Excellence: Preferred education destination, post-secondary and workforce readiness, world-class communication and engagement.

Grace Snell Middle School will provide all students with high quality curriculum and instruction in a supportive and effective learning environment to meet high academic standards.

Grace Snell Middle School will ensure that students are post-secondary and workforce ready by increasing the number of students performing at or above grade level in Language Arts, Math, Science and Social Studies.

Grace Snell Middle School will also focus on self-care, social-emotional learning, and creating a sense of belonging and community for each and every stakeholder to build a bridge from elementary to high school.

It is a plan that describes how our school will provide opportunities to improve family engagement that will support student learning at school and at home. All students and their families are invited and encouraged to fully participate in the opportunities described in this plan. The school will provide information and as many opportunities as possible for the participation of all family members.

It is a written agreement that outlines how the school, the students, and the family will work together to ensure your child’s academic success. An effective School-Family Promise contains the following elements:

• Clear learning goals that are linked to the school’s improvement plan
• Specific skills students will learn during the year
• Strategies that staff, families, and students will use to improve student learning
• Ways to extend learning at home
• Methods teachers and family members will use to communicate about student progress
• Opportunities for family members to observe and participate in the classroom
• Jointly-developed by families, school staff, students, community business partners, and other stakeholders during our Planning Meeting
• Reviewed and revised throughout the year. The Promise will be disseminated during parent-teacher conferences, during Parent Workshops, during GSMS events such as Curriculum Nights; International Night; Performing Arts events; during Title I meetings; on the school’s website; and we will keep copies to share with families in the Parent Center.

Grace Snell Middle School communicates with parents through various communications venues, to include:

• Parent Square
• Parent Vue
• The School’s website
• E-Class
• Parent/Teacher Conferences
• E-mails, and
• Phone calls

All communication uses family friendly language and is available in English. We attempt to provide communication in Spanish, or the language of origin for the family we are communicating with when possible. We also attempt to provide flexible meeting times that best meet the needs of our families.

In the event that a parent is interested in scheduling a meeting with a teacher, we ask that the parent email the teacher directly. If additional assistance is needed to schedule the meeting, parents are encouraged to reach out to our Parent Outreach Liaison, Cristina Rivera at cristina.riviera@gcpsk12.org, or via phone at 770-554-7754.

ENGAGING AND EMPOWERING FAMILIES WITH…
❖ Title I Program Information: Program information is available during the Title I Planning Meeting in the spring and Annual Parent Meetings in the fall, on the school website, and in the Parent Center.
❖ Curriculum Information: Knowing what your child is learning at school is important. We will keep you informed throughout the year about what your child is learning during parent meetings, conferences, eCLASS, and on our school website.
❖ Student Progress Monitoring: The Parent Portal is an online resource that allows families to view grades, attendance, schedules, assessment scores and your child’s results, course history, and much more.

Grace Snell Middle School will…

• Host collaborative meetings with parents to learn their needs.
• Host workshops and activities that help parents learn how to support their children’s learning.

Jennifer Vaughn           5-21-24 

Principal’s Signature     Date

As Students, we will…

• Actively participate in the process of learning.
• Ensure we understand how to implement textcomputation in all content areas.
• Ensure that we are able to apply math concepts in realworld situations.

As Families, we will…

• Attend workshops and support the initiatives of the school to enhance our children’s learning.
• Assist our children with learning how to implement text computations, and how to apply math concepts in real-world situations.

Grace Snell Middle School is committed to frequent two-way communication with families about student learning. A few ways we will foster effective two-way communication with families include:
• Parent Square
• The School’s website
• E-Class
• Parent/Teacher Conferences
• Parent Vue
• E-mails, and
• Phone calls
If you need interpretation and/or translation services, please contact our Parent Outreach Liaison: Cristina Rivera at cristina.rivera@gcpsk12.org.

Monitoring your child’s progress in school is an important way to be engaged.
❖ Parent Resources: We have many resources available for checkout to use at home with your child. We also host several parent workshops to empower you as you work with your child at home.
❖ Staff Training: We will train our staff to effectively communicate with you. Your input on how we train our staff is valuable.
❖ Communication: We will communicate, to the extent feasible, all information with you in a language and format you understand. Whenever possible, we will provide interpreters during parent workshops, and academic events. Translation is available for most documents.
❖ Transition Support: Entering a new school can be scary for both students and families. We will host events to make sure both you and your child are aware of what is expected and how you can prepare as your child transitions to a new school level, college, and career.

✓ Title I is a federal program designed to support school reform efforts to improve teaching and learning for all        students.
✓ Title I programs are based on effective means of improving student achievement and include strategies to support family engagement.
✓ The Title I Office reserves at least one percent of the district’s allocation to fund family and community engagement programs. The use of these funds is based on suggestions gathered at our spring Planning Meetings from families and community members. Funds are distributed equally to all our Title I schools.
✓ Childcare and/or transportation may be provided for meetings and school events.

Grace Snell Mission Statement

GSMS strives to pursue excellence by enhancing the talents and abilities of all students through a challenging framework of international education, resulting in measured improvement against local, national and world-class standards. We will use resources and technology to provide an effective, safe and supportive learning environment where all students meet the necessary standards to achieve academic, personal and social success, and to become inquiring, mindful citizens.

Our Parent Center has learning games, books, and many other resources available for families to checkout and use at home. Our Parent Outreach Liaison is Cristina Rivera. She is available to help you find resources, navigate the Parent Portal, connect with teachers, and help you learn additional ways you can help your children at home.

Our Parent Center is located in the front lobby of the school, in room 1.201.

Hours of operation are 9:30 am – 3:30 pm.
Please contact Cristina Rivera for additional information about our Parent Center and resources available for check-out.
Phone: 770-554-7754
e-mail: cristina.Rivera@gcpsk12.org.

Contact your child's teachers for an appropriate time to visit. Fill out the form at the front desk and bring it in for administrative approval. Keep the top portion of the form for your information.