Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy how to get permission to observe DS in class

DS is 7. The school is very open to parent helpers...just any time other than academic time. DS has no problems socially. I've already helped out many times during social times. He complains about academic time. The teacher says, "he's fine". My son comes home and complains about the academics and some days he refuses school because of it. I know it's a mismatch. We're in the middle of an evaluation to figure out what to do with him (grade skip possibly, 2E issues possibly). I'm trying to figure out HOW bad it is for him. It seems pretty bad if he is refusing to go to school. We may not have anything sorted out for months. I'm just trying to figure out how to make things better for him in the meantime.

I'm actually a licensed teacher and have offered my services pro bono to the school. They don't take me up on it and I KNOW they need it. I am super sweet, complementary...all the right things. And I still can't get in there. I don't want to have to cite some legal statute to get in there...but if I have to I will.

Is it a title 1 school?

Some classrooms have teacher workrooms with glass windows at one end. Some schools I have been in have preferred plain observations to be through the workroom window. You can't hear every little sentence (depends on the volume of the speaker) but you get the general idea and can usually see what is on the board/smart board and how the interactions are working. Usually the kids forget you are there if they notice you or never know you are there.

I don't know!

Generally you know if you are title 1....hard to miss that.

Here you go re: title 1... I'm Canadian, so I was curious as to what the distinction meant. HTH.

http://m.brighthubeducation.com/teaching-methods-tips/11105-basics-of-title-1-funds/

It is odd but I think parent volunteers are more common now. Even though far fewer kids have s stay at home parent.

I don't know. I think at our school I could observe but I'm not sure i would feel welcome.

Our surrounding district is all Title 1. We are a charter school so I am not sure if it carries over.

If you are a Title 1 school here with all the first day of school paper work (the ability to get school accident insurance, the code of conduct, the update the emergency card information, update the health form, the school calendar, the permission to photograph, etc.) you also get a nice big glossy Title 1 handbook. The handbook goes over all the requirements they have to do to get the money. (The handbook is one of the requirements). You have to have an annual meeting at the beginning of the year explaining all this stuff. You have to have a parent involvement plan, you have to have a contract spelling out what the student is responsible for, the parent is responsible for and the teacher and other staff are responsible for. The county provides each school with a draft of the contract so that it meets the minimum requirements of the contract but it is also required that parents and students have a voice in adapting the contract to that particular school. A title 1 school is required to do all sorts of stuff and when they do it they make sure that you know "because we are a Title 1 school we are required to have ________ (like a parental involvement meeting or whatever)...this meeting is to meet this requirement. They also explain how you get to be a title 1 school at each and every meeting and also mention when title 1 funds are being spent on a certain thing. (percentage free and reduced lunch).

So I guess going to SAC meetings and reading all the stuff coming home from school...if you are a title 1 school...it is constantly mentioned. All.the.time.

Sweetie, this is what my neighbors have in their home schools. But it doesn't look like it happens in my charter school - even though my home school and our charter school are about 2 blocks apart. Apparently none of the charter schools in our district are Title 1.

Anyway, I still am not allowed to see the academics. I just want to watch for one 45 min period. It's now a little frightening to me that they don't allow any parent to see academics. Am I the only one who finds this to be not right?

Yes, you can have the number of free and reduced lunch students and not be a title 1 school if you don't do the paperwork. We had some high schools that were fed into by title 1 elementary school and middle schools that were over 90% free and reduced some up to 98% free and reduced. But the high school wasn't??? That didn't compute for me...there weren't other middle schools feeding into it that would bring the percentage down...so that wasn't it. My dh said the principals didn't want to be required to do all the stuff to be one. Principal change, superintendent change and those high schools are now title 1.