Committee moves Title I parent-engagement policy to first reading after clarifying volunteer and accessibility language

The policy committee advanced Policy 918, which codifies how the district will deliver Title I parent and family engagement services, to first reading after staff explained the policy and members requested wording clarifications.

Mr. Allen described Title I as a federal program focused on targeted reading and math support for students with the greatest academic needs and explained funding is tied to the district’s free-and-reduced-lunch counts: "Title 1 specifically ... focuses on reading and math, low achieving reading and math, folks that need that extra boost," and later confirmed, "It's straight from the free and reduced lunch count that we have every year." Committee members asked that the policy’s phrase saying parents "shall be expected to volunteer in their child's classroom" be changed to the less prescriptive "shall be encouraged to volunteer." The chair also flagged a legal reference labeled "916Point1" that appears to be a typo; staff agreed to verify the correct citation (likely policy 916) and check any federal or ADA requirements with legal counsel (Saxon) before finalizing the language.

On funding, the draft says "not less than 90% of the reserved funds shall be distributed to district schools with a Title I program, with priority given to high-need schools." Mr. Allen identified Biglerville Elementary and the intermediate school among the higher-need buildings and said the distribution changes slightly year-to-year based on enrollment counts. The committee advanced Policy 918 to first reading and asked staff to make the volunteer-language edit and verify the legal citations.