Avon CSD Family Engagement

The 2022 - 2023 school year continues to build upon the district strategic goals. The goals evolved from the 2020-2021 school year when the Avon Central School District engaged in a Comprehensive Needs Assessment. The assessment reflected the stakeholder's feedback and identified three district goals. The district goals inform the district strategic plan. The goals are part of our school programmatic decisions, the larger school community communication, and supporting family engagement. The three goals are:

• District Goal: Exemplify a culture of innovative thinking.
• District Goal: Develop personalized learning pathways that foster independence and career exploration.
• District Goal: Demonstrate social emotional skills and cultural awareness.

The purpose of Title I is “to provide all children significant opportunity to receive a fair, equitable, and high-quality education, and to close educational achievement gaps.” Avon Central School District's mission is to "develop life long learners and responsible citizens equipped to prosper in the global society." Title I, Part A is part of the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) Consolidated Grant. The Avon stakeholder presentation for the Consolidation Application can be found here.

Parent and Family Engagement is an ongoing process that increases active participation, communication, and collaboration between parents, schools, and communities with the goal of educating the whole child to ensure student achievement and success. Title I, Part A provides for parent and family engagement at every level of the program. Section 1116 contains the primary Title I, Part A requirements for districts and schools related to involving parents in their children’s education. These provisions reflect good practices in engaging families in helping to educate their children, because students do better when parents are actively involved in the education process, both at home and at school.

The 2022-2023 school year brings forth family engagement offerings. Based on the 2021-2022 Family Engagement offerings and the feedback, we are responsive and working to create a more active and engaging family engagement series. The dates are TBD for 2022-2023. Please look for future communication and plan to attend these events. Information regarding the topic(s) will be shared closer to each date. The first set of events will be at the building open houses.

In addition to the meetings throughout the year, we began the 2022-2023 school year with a Stakeholder Meeting on August 26, 2022. Additional stakeholder updates will be provided throughout the 2022-2023 school year. The ESSA Consolidated Application is to be submitted by 8/31 each year. These funds allow schools to provide additional resources (people, books, applications, etc.) that may not otherwise be able to funded. The resources help to provide an equitable and quality education for all students.

Family Engagement

Small school districts and communities have such amazing advantages to offer students, especially with the ongoing growth of technology that makes interacting in local, national,

and global spaces possible from our very own community! The family engagement sessions will focus on a variety of school and community resources while also sharing the District’s Title 1 Parent and Family Engagement Policy. Additional activities will continue to be developed as the school year progresses. We look forward to building and strengthening family relationships and the home-school connection.

Social-Emotional Learning

The social and emotional well-being of students supports their growth, and goes hand-in-hand with teaching and learning everyday! The Avon Mental Health team and teaching staff support district-wide goals for social-emotional learning by assisting with ongoing curriculum development goals and the integration of classroom activities. The schools already have wonderful programs and

practices to support the social and emotional learning of students. We continue to further align current practices with the New York State Social Emotional Learning Benchmarks and the

Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL)Competencies in Social

Emotional Learning. These competencies include:

● Self-awareness

● Self-management

● Responsible decision making

● Social awareness

● Relationship skills

To explore the CASEL website and the interactive model above, click HERE.

As we move forward, we will continue engaging with strong programs that foster social and

emotional learning, while also exploring additional ways to support students and their growth.

Career Exploration

As technology continues to progress and the types of jobs available in the workforce grows, it

is important to explore career avenues throughout the elementary, middle, and high school

years. One of the district strategic goals is to support opportunities for students to engage with career exploration through the use of different platforms, engagement in school activities, and

connections with community resources. Avon Central School currently utilizes Naviance, a

career exploration resource, at the high school and middle school levels. Across the elementary, middle, and high schools, Avon also utilizes Pathways, formerly known as Nepris, a career exploration and networking resource.

Teachers and counselors in every building engage students with career exploration through

class projects, guest speakers, and special events. The ongoing support of the counseling

staff, in collaboration with teachers, brings many opportunities and the introduction of new

skills to students.

As the new year begins, we have been planning for career exploration activities early in the

school year. Students will continue to have access to Naviance, as well as other applications

to support their exploration of various careers. A number of students will have the opportunity to attend GLOW with Your Hands, an event where regional businesses, trade unions, contractors, colleges, and organizations will be available for hands-on activities and demonstrations. The event website also has opportunities for students to explore careers in a virtual capacity and is accessible to anyone interested in looking more specifically at Western New York Industries. Visit the website by clicking HERE.

There are so many fantastic career exploration opportunities taking place in classes! We will

continue to support this goal across the grade levels through interactive learning and

opportunities to engage in a variety of activities, including connections with people in different fields, and by engaging with the community and regional resources.

Again, we opened another school year, the 2022-2023 school year, with a coordinated focus on K-12 social emotional learning for both students, faculty, and staff. Staff were provided resources in a Staff Instructional Playbook (please note to access the staff instructional playbook, you must be an employee of Avon CSD). In alignment with the professional learning since the summer of 2020 offered to students and parent/guardians/care providers, playbooks were developed to also provide support resources to our parents/guardians/care providers and students. Please see the links below:

• Parent/Guardian/Care Provider Playbook
• Student Playbook

We continue to build upon the district's 1-1 initiative with Chromebooks and the staff, student, and parent/guardian/care provider feedback provided. Additionally, we hired and work closely with our Director of Digital Systems, Mrs. Michelle Burke and carefully review applications that students and families are asked to use. We continue to build forward from the 2020 staff, student, and parent/guardian/care provider feedback and what we have learned from our students and families each year. Based on the 2020 collective feedback of faculty and staff, parents/guardians/care providers, and students in grades 4 -12, we identified common areas for improvement that we continue to build upon this learning for clarity and consistency. The areas for improvement include:

• Common platform for student learning K-12 (Google Classroom)
• Consistent schedule and consistently being physically present (viewable) in a virtual learning environment (Google Meet)
• Communication - one point of access (Avon CSD website & COVID-19 Resources)
• Fewer applications known and well-supported (Google Classroom, Google Meet, Screencastify, with some educational applications that teachers know how to use and support students using)

The feedback and recommendations also led to specific support and professional learning for our K-12 faculty as well as students, and parents/guardians/care providers which we continue to build upon throughout the school year and during the summer.

Avon Elementary School and the Avon Middle School are Title I schools. What does this mean?

Did you know that Title I is a federal program designed to:

• Help children do better in school and learn skills to be successful.
• Provide resources for children to help them achieve their fullest potential.
• Encourage parents to be more involved in their children's education.
• Help schools to facilitate activities designed to promote family involvement in their child's education.

Some Tasks Teachers Agree to include:

• Help your child be successful.
• Provide you information about your child's progress in a timely manner.
• Enforce school and classroom rules fairly and consistently.
• Demonstrate professional behavior and a positive attitude.
• Provide meaningful and challenging learning experiences for your child.
• Maintain open communication with parents and children.

How Can Schools And Parents Work Together?

• Have training sessions for parents and teachers on how to effectively and positively communicate with each other.
• Arrange to have parent/teacher conferences, PTA meetings, and other events not just at school sites and offer meetings at flexible times.
• Publicize the benefits of belonging to the PTA and encourage others to join.
• Provide childcare for events and meetings that may be adult‐oriented.
• Establish an easily accessible family center on the school campus.
• Provide a home/school liaison to assist in communication between families and teachers.

Some Tasks Parents Agree to Include:

• Ensure your child attends school regularly (in-person and/or remotely).
• Monitor television and social media time and the content of the programs and sites your child engages.
• Promote good study habits and provide an effective work environment.
• Attend school functions.
• Communicate with your child's teacher regularly.

Some Tasks Students Agree to include:

• Attend school (in-person or remotely) and be prepared to learn.
• Always try to do his/her best.
• Complete assignments on time.
• Be kind, respectful, and caring to others.
• Follow the BRAVES Way.
• Contact teachers for support. Education is a team approach and you are an important part of your child's education.

Avon CSD Parent/Guardian/Care Provider Playbook

ACS Student Playbook

Avon PTA

NYSED PTA Parent Resources

NYSED Family and Community Engagement Website

Thank you for choosing the Avon Central School District. We value you, your child/children, and appreciate working together for educational excellence.

Email: cecklund@avoncsd.org
Website: www.avoncsd.org
Location: 191 Clinton Street, Avon, NY, USA
Phone: 585-226-2455 1641
Twitter: @CM_Ecklund