The Montgomery County School Board recognizes that the community’s resources and experience can be useful to schools. The School Board may involve citizens both as individuals and as groups to act as advisors and resource people. The School Board in light of school division goals, current practices, and financial feasibility will carefully consider public input. However, all final decisions on matters pending rest solely with the School Board.
Community Involvement/Volunteers
The School Board encourages the use by individual schools and the administration of the talents and skills of all members of the community who wish to contribute their abilities toward the enrichment of the educational program. The School Board endorses the concept of assistance by parents in the classroom, the library and in other programs designated by school administrators.
Volunteers participating in Montgomery County Public Schools educational programs and extra-curricular activities do so at the sole discretion of the building principal, division superintendent, and/or the School Board. All volunteers are obligated to adhere to the policies and regulations of the School Board and the Montgomery County Schools administration. However, volunteers’ participation is voluntary only, and nothing regarding their service shall be construed as an employment relationship with the School Board, nor are they entitled to any benefits of employment. At the discretion of the division superintendent, volunteers may be required to submit to criminal background and child abuse and neglect checks as required of Montgomery County Public Schools employees by School Board Policy 5-2.4.
The School Board intends to involve as many citizens as may be practical in the activities of the schools. The School Board, upon recommendation of the division superintendent, shall from time-to-time appoint such advisory committees of citizens of Montgomery County as it deems necessary or as may be required by law. The School Board shall provide such committees with specific instructions regarding their authority, the areas or problems they are to consider, and to whom they are to submit reports of their deliberations. Unless extended, citizen committees shall expire upon rendering their reports, the completion of their assignment, or at the end of their appointment.
Public Hearings
It is the policy of the School Board to conduct public hearings when there is an issue for which many citizens have expressed concern and on those issues for which public hearings are required by law. The time, place, and date of the hearing(s) shall be announced in advance consistent with all applicable law. Public hearings shall be conducted in accordance with the School Board’s bylaws and shall be presided over by the School Board Chair.
Local School Committees
The School Board encourages all principals to have an advisory committee at the local school level to work with staff members in establishing a biennial school plan and for the purpose of reviewing school needs. Each school shall have in effect a school and community interaction plan that fosters mutual understanding of the role of each in providing quality education. Each school shall develop a comprehensive and continuing program for informing the community about the school. The School Board may establish committees of citizens to advise the members of the School Board with reference to matters pertaining to the schools.
Six-Year Long-RangeComprehensive Planning Team
The
School Board will revise, extend and adopt biennially a
division-wide comprehensive,
unified long-range six-year plan based on data collection, an analysis of the data
and how the data will be utilized to improve classroom instruction and student
achievement. The plan will be
developed with staff and community involvement and will include, or be consistent with, all other
division-wide plans required by state and
federal laws and regulations. The
School Board shall review the plan biennially and adopt any necessary revisions. Prior to the adoption of the plan or revisions thereto, the
School Board will post the plan or revisions on the division’s Internet
website, if practicable, and make a hard copy of the plan or revisions available for public inspection
and copying and will conduct at least one public hearing to solicit comment on
the plan or revisions.
The
Division-Wide Six-YearComprehensive Plan
The
division-wide six-yearcomprehensive plan will include:
(i) the objectives of the school division, including strategies for improving student achievement and maintaining high levels of student achievement;
(ii) an assessment of the extent to which these objectives are being achieved;
(iii) a forecast of enrollment changes;
(iv) a plan for managing enrollment changes including consideration of the consolidation of schools to provide for a more comprehensive and effective delivery of instructional services to students and economies in school personnel;
(v) an evaluation of the appropriateness of providing certain regional services in cooperation with neighboring school divisions;
(vi) a plan for implementing such regional services when appropriate;
(vii) a technology plan designed to
integrate educational technology into the instructional programs of the school
division, including the division’s career and technical education programs,
consistent with or as part
of the six-yearcomprehensive technology plan for Virginia
adopted by the Board of Education;
(viii) an assessment of the needs of
the school division and evidence of community participation, including parental participation, in the
development of the plan; and
(ix) any corrective action plan
required pursuant to applicable Virginia law; and
(x) a plan for parent and family
involvement to include building successful school and parent partnerships that
will be developed with staff and community involvement, including participation
by parents...
The
School Board will present a report to the public by November 1 of each
odd-numbered year on the extent to which the objectives of the division-wide six-yearcomprehensive plan have
been met during the previous two school years.
Individual School Plans
Each
Montgomery County Public School will prepare a biennialcomprehensive, unified long-range
plan, which shall be given consideration by the School Board in the development
of the division-wide six-yearcomprehensive plan.
Upon the recommendation of the division
superintendent, the School Board shall appoint a Long-Range Planning Team to
involve the community and staff in the development of the School Board’s
division-wide six-yearcomprehensive plan. The membership of the team shall represent the community, the
schools, and the central office staff.
The major purpose of the team is to assist the school division in providing leadership to meet the needs of the total student population and to assist in the development of an effective school program.
Responsibilities
The main responsibilities of the Long-Range Planning Team are to assist in the following areas:
1. identifying the needs of students;
2. reviewing reports from action
committees designated in the six-yearcomprehensive plan as programs are developed,
altered, or eliminated to meet school needs;
3. recommending to the division superintendent programs of action to meet specific objectives;
4. assisting in the evaluation of programs recommended to the division superintendent; and
5. advising the division
superintendent and his/her staff concerning revision of the six-year comprehensive plan.
Parental Involvement
The School Board encourages parental involvement in the school division and in the individual schools, including but not limited to the following activities: parenting; communicating; recruiting and organizing parent help and support; learning at home; and representing other parents. The division superintendent may develop regulations and/or guidelines to encourage parental involvement in the school division, in the schools, and in students’ educational programs.
Partnerships
The School Board encourages business, industry, educational, and community agency partnerships in the individual schools and throughout the school division. The partnerships shall include efforts related to policy development; systemic educational improvement; improving management practices; teacher training and development; and partnering with students and teachers in the classroom. The division superintendent may develop regulations and/or guidelines for partnerships to assist the school division in providing an effective education for all students.
LEGAL REFERENCE: Code of Virginia, 1950, as amended, §§ 2.2-3600 through 2.2-3605, 22.1-86, 22.1-89.4, 22.1-253.13.
Revised: August 2004
Revised: September August
2005