U-46, Channing Elementary violated parts of No Child, state board says

The Illinois State Board of Education says Elgin Area School District U-46 and Channing Memorial Elementary School violated parts of the No Child Left Behind Act regarding parental involvement requirements.

A group of 59 parents from Channing presented the findings to school board members and administrators at Monday’s board meeting.

Krista Badani, a parent of three students at Channing and the school’s PTO president, said that before filing the complaint in February parents had attempted several times to draw attention to the problems and bring the school into compliance with Title I, the part of No Child that aims to improve the academic achievement of the disadvantaged.

“U-46 has all sorts of committees and written policies and beautiful words on paper like ‘parents are our partners’ and ‘our goals are to increase communication and advocacy through family and community engagement,’” Badani said during public comments. “But your actions show otherwise and it is getting in the way of students getting a good education at our school and parents helping them to get there. We urge you to put your words into actions and reach out to the families at our schools.”

In the six pages of findings given to the school board, the state board found the school violated the act in four out of six areas of complaint. Those included not having a parent involvement policy in place, failing to convene an annual Title I meeting for parents, and lacking a parent-school compact developed jointly by parents.

“The purpose of Title I is to help kids from a low income, low performing school and their family involved,” parent Kristian Webb said. “But programs are not in place so kids can perform better and be successful.”

The district must respond to the findings within 30 days of its receipt and show that all schools in the district are in compliance, parents said.

While the district did not violate the act in the two other areas, the state board of education requires the district to provide evidence that strategies included in the 2009-2010 School Improvement Plan actually took place and that parents are involved in the current plan.

Furthermore, the state body found the district provided sufficient notification to parents of Channing’s status as the lowest performing school in the district.

Parents claimed no notice was given, but the state board found that the district provided letters in 2009 and 2010 that met state requirements.

Last year, the district received $8.4 million in Title I funding and has budgeted for $7.6 million in the 2011 fiscal year. That money serves low-income students in 22 elementary, five middle and three high schools, Chief of Staff Tony Sanders said.

Superintendent Jose Torres and Sanders were unaware of the findings, but the district’s chief legal officer, Miguel Rodriguez, had received a copy. Torres said the district administration has worked with the parents to address their concerns. However, Torres said, the district cannot answer many of the questions parents have as they pertain to personnel or legal matters.

“Over the years we have had conference calls and meetings with Channing parents,” Torres said. “But when you can’t resolve it, you can’t continue to have meetings.”