2023-2024 Family Engagement Plan

At Mississippi Creative Arts, we provide for students a school community where they can be creative, inspired, achieve academic success, and they can perform, as well as celebrate their accomplishments.

The Family Engagement Plan (FEP) is organized into four impact areas. We will be working together this year to build positive and goal-organized relationships in each area. Families and staff at school developed this plan together.

WELCOMING ENVIRONMENT

Our school has staff member(s) available for families to discuss this plan and ask questions:

 Principal: Dr. Lydia Kabaka Assistant Principal: Concha Fernandez Del Rey Cultural Specialist : Latasha Chandler
Learning Lead: Laurie Weestrand

Our school communicates with families in many ways.

• Interpreters in Spanish, Hmong and Karen are available to families.
• Principal makes sure that information is communicated through Connect Ed. School’s Quarterly Newsletter, SY 23-24 Calendar, Monthly Parent Organization (MPO) meetings and the school Website: https://www.spps.org/mcas
• Arts Newsletters, student progress report/update, Teacher/Grade Level Newsletter, and additional flyers.
• Family nights typically focus on increasing parent’s awareness of academic programs and celebrating student successes.
• Connect Ed phone calls, emails, and text messages regarding upcoming events are sent out on a regular basis.
• Greeting tables are set up at the front of the school at various points in the year to share information about special events and to connect with the community and parents/guardians.
• Mississippi Creative Arts website updated for easier use
• Teachers regularly connect with parents.
• Mississippi Creative Arts staff respond to parent requests for information in a timely manner.
• Parent Teacher Home Visits
• Parent/Guardians phone calls/emails, or notes are answered within 24 hours.

The achievement gap, or rather the “opportunity gap,” between students of color and white students in Saint Paul Public Schools is unacceptable. Our school is working to change practices and systems by identifying the barriers that make it harder for students of color to succeed and for their families to support their learning.
For more about our work on racial equity, contact: Principal: Dr. Lydia Kabaka, Assistant Principal: Concha Fernandez Del Rey, Cultural Specialist : Latasha Chandler, Learning Lead: Laurie Weestrand

Transitions between schools can be challenging, and we work to help families as their children start and leave our school.

For new students and families, we support the transition by:

• Meeting with families as they transition into the school . Providing guided visits by staff personnel.
• Providing an informational table in the office that contains documents, school information.
• We work with a Partnerships Coordinator to plan family visits to school and collect feedback in our PreK classrooms.
• PreK students participate in multiple transition events during the spring prior to their transition to kindergarten.  These include both parent and student visits to kindergarten classrooms..
• Coordination with Head Start and SPPS PreK programing,  Wilder Services, Related services and programs.
• Annual Meeting in the Winter/Spring of 2023-2024
• Take Your Parent to School Day TBD 2023-2024
• Showcase Events featuring Arts Integration

For students and families moving to the next school in their pathway, we support the transition by:

Grade 5 teachers and the school counselor support student’s transition  and orientation visits to pathway middle schools.  Specific activities may include Mississippi students visiting schools, student leaders and staff coming to Mississippi Creative Arts School

FAMILY PARTNERSHIPS

Our school-parent compact establishes the shared responsibility for student success between the school, families, and students. Families and teachers work together to develop the compact.
Copies of the compact are available:

• All families receive a copy of the compact in the Fall at the start of the school year.  Copies are also available in the main office, and are available to be distributed when parents/guardians register their child.
• Open House for parents/guardians to discuss as it relates to their individual child’s achievement.
• During open house and conferences compacts are shared with parents
• Compacts are available on the MCAS website-https://www.spps.org/mcas
• Parent/Guardian survey is sent out to families in October to provide feedback about their school experience

The compact will be updated: October 2023 by staff and parents.

• Monthly Parent Organization (MPO) meetings

Discussed at Fall conferences, Spring conferences and Home visits.

• There are many opportunities for families to build connections to the school and to each other.
  Title I Annual Meeting where we will share information about our school-wide Title 1 program will be held in person three times per year
• Arts Crawl
• Fall Festival
• Arts Integration Night
• Curriculum Nights
• Parent Teacher Conferences
• School Gatherings/ Achievement Awards Celebrations
• Monthly Parent Organization (MPO) Nights including the topics and the frequency of these sessions are based on parent requests.  Parents/guardians are engaged in in-depth conversations that address community and cultural needs; we want to provide the time and space to continue the discussion as well as address additional topics raised by parents.  We feel this approach better meets parent needs in a timely manner and helps in building healthy relationships between the school and the families.
• Parent Teacher Home Visit Project – multiple teachers have been trained and have already been participating in the Project. 
• Arts Integration Showcases by Grade Level.
• Art Residencies
• Monthly Lunch Talent Shows
• Volunteering in the school in classrooms, attending field trips, and at other special events and performances. 
• We are committed to identifying ways to celebrate additional cultural events in order to better reflect the rich diversity of our school community.
• National African American Parent Involvement Day (NAAPID) will be on February

We work to make these meetings and events available for every family in the school.
Interpreters are always secured for parent-teacher conferences and special education due process meetings

• Documents are translated into Karen, Hmong and
  Spanish via Newsletters, Flyers and Blackboard Connect
• Karen, Hmong and Spanish interpreters will be present at all the school events
• We will continue to refine our outreach efforts for families for whom English is not the primary language.  The number of students and families of English Language Learners is growing and we are working to develop consistent resources to be able to meet their communication needs.
• Monthly Parent Organization Meetings (MPO) are held the 3rd Wednesday of the month. Time is utilized to inform, engage and/or assist parents raising their child’s academic achievement level.
• Bilingual Educational Assistants will reach out to families by phone to remove barriers to family/guardian participation.
• Communication around the Arts will be available through Open House, Fall Festival, Conferences, and Showcase evenings.
• Arts Integration Showcases will be announced via newsletters, flyers and blackboard connect.
• Transportation and childcare are provided for some events and activities.

Mississippi Creative Arts is committed to communicating regularly with families about children’s learning. These are some of the ways:
- Weekly/Bi-weekly School to Home communication
- Communication log between home and school. Data collection shows three types of communication and how often staff are in contact with families.
- Quarterly (trimestral) communication goals. Goals must reflect a higher ratio of communication on positive student behavior to negative.
- Parent Teacher Home Visits

• Our school supports families as advocates and provides opportunities for parent leadership
  The belief in parents as advocates and leaders is central to the work at Mississippi Creative Arts School. Several opportunities are available for parents to engage with staff to support their child and our school community, and also to engage with and serve as community leaders.
• There are several ways for parents/guardians to handle concerns about things at the school. School administration, and support staff (school counselor and social worker) all work with families and teachers to address concerns.  In addition, parents are referred to the district’s Ombudsperson if they are unable to resolve concerns at the school level.
• Mississippi Creative Arts will provide professional development to teachers and service personnel and staff in the value and utility of contributions of families, in how to reach out to, communicate with, and work with families as equal partners, implement and coordinate family programs, and build ties between families and the school.
• Mississippi Creative Arts will involve families by providing information in a format and in languages that are representative of families .
• Parent representation on the Leadership Team 

TEACHING AND LEARNING

• Our school shares information about state standards, assessment and student achievement with families in multiple ways
  Report cards and progress reports will be distributed in November during parent-teacher conferences and in March. If parents/guardians are unable to attend a conference at school, teachers will hold a phone conference or virtual conference on Google Meets and then send the report card home.  End-of-year report cards are mailed home to families by the district in June. 

• Parent-Teacher conferences are held in November this year Mississippi Creative Arts School provides interpreting for conferences .  

• Support for developing literacy skills within the school day: Mississippi Creative Arts School provides multiple supports for developing readers in grades Kindergarten through grade 3.  Additional  licensed staff and paraprofessional staff work with classroom teachers to develop student’s literacy skills.  

• Support for developing literacy skills at home:

Families who read to and with their children help instill in them a love of reading. Students in grades 1 through 5 are expected to read a specific amount of time at home each day; the exact amount of time is dependent on the grade level and the student's learning needs.  Minimal expectation for daily reading is 30 minutes.  Students who are learning to read are expected to practice letter sounds, recognizing  heart words, and listening to others read.  Teachers provide materials for families to work on at home with their students. As we move through the school year, the materials are differentiated to meet the needs of the students.

Additional opportunities for parents/guardians to be informed and to support their child’s learning:

• Mississippi Creative Arts School holds multiple opportunities throughout the school year.  These are designed to provide parents/guardians with information and to have them experience activities with their student that they can then do at home.  
• In addition, during the Open House in August teachers provide families with information about grade level learning expectations, typical classroom activities, an outline of the year, and homework expectations.  
• Mississippi maintains an open-door policy and invites parents/guardians to regularly visit the school to observe their child in the learning environment.

• Our school will engage in personalized learning as a key strategy to accelerate student achievement. Parents can get more information using many tools.
  Parent log-in information can be accessed at org/onestop or by asking the school clerk (Joyce Dates)
• Parent Portal is available by contacting the main office
• Mississippi Creative Arts School continues to participate in the district’s 1-to-1 iPad initiative.  All students received  iPads in September.  At Mississippi Creative Arts School, iPads are used to prepare students to effectively use technology to gather information, to process and analyze information, and to present what they have learned.  We work to ensure our students have the technology and analytical skills they will need in the future.  iPads are also used to provide customized instruction by utilizing programs like RazKids for reading and many others.  The majority of programs that students use at school for individualized instruction in math and reading can also be accessed online at home, the public library, etc.  
• Parent Teacher Home Visits (PTHV) seeks to build the partnerships between parents and educators that are essential to providing quality education to all students, regardless of their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, gender identity, immigration status, or ability.

Many before- and after-school enrichment and support opportunities are available for students

• Extended Day Learning (EDL)
• Tutors
• Girl Scouts

COMMUNIYTY PARTNERSHIPS

Our school develops community partnerships to provide additional support for students and their families

• Family Innovations
• Children’s Crisis Center
• McDonough Recreation Center
• Project Reach
• Keystone (Hmong Youth & Family Program)
• Wilder Foundation
• Rice Street Library
• East Side Council
• RBC

Arts Partnerships

• Art Start
• Cowles Center for the Performing Arts
• Connect Orchestra
• Arts Pathways
• Siama’s Congo
• VocalEssence Witness
• Center of Equity and Culture
• In Progress
• Interact
• Heart of Dance
• Neighborhood Bridges
• Coalition of Women and Girls in Sports
• Eastside Arts Council
• Minnesota Institute of Art