Family Engagement Plan

Family Engagement, Volunteering, Screenings, Meals and Child find

Family Engagement Plan

Our Pre-K program is based on a family-centered philosophy that guides all aspects of our program planning and implementation. We believe that families play an important role in their child’s academic and social/emotional success. One activity that encourages our home school partnership is our home visits that we conduct at the beginning of each school year. These visits allow children to meet their teachers in their own environment, which helps ease their transition to the school environment and makes them feel more comfortable.

We value the parent-teacher partnership and encourage family members to volunteer in our program. Aside from volunteering in the program, we offer many family engagement activities and field trips throughout the year that we encourage you to attend with your child.

Family Survey

Family feedback is an essential part of our continuous quality improvement. We value your input and insight into how we can improve our programs and to collect this information we send out a family survey via email once a year in the Spring.

Family Volunteer Guidelines

We encourage and welcome family participation. If you would like to volunteer to help out in the classroom or attend any field trips, you are now required to get an APS Supervised Volunteer background check. APS Pre-K can pay for one background check per family but there is a process to follow. You will request a background check through your teacher who will contact the early childhood department.

The Early Childhood department will send you an email with details on how to submit your supervised volunteer background check and you will be required to forward your approval letter to the Early Childhood Department. If other family members would also like to volunteer, the cost is $12 per person.

If you would like to apply on your own, the process is online and it is simple to apply. Just go to www.aps.edu/volunteer-with-aps, go to “Volunteer Now” click red button “APS Supervised Volunteer Clearance Request” & set up an account in WinOcular. This background check needs to be processed within 30 days of entering the program. The background check is good for two years at any APS school.

When volunteering, we ask:

• That you sign in at the office and obtain a visitor’s badge each time you volunteer.
• Please be respectful to teachers and other parents.
• Children cannot be removed from the direct supervision of staff.
• The use of physical contact to reprimand a child is not allowed. Classroom staff will handle disciplinary action.
• Please do not use devices such as cell phones when volunteering.
• Respect the confidentiality and privacy of children, families, and staff.
• That you refrain from taking photos or videos of other children.

Screening and Assessment

The PreK teachers conduct developmental screenings of all Pre-K children prior to the third month of attendance. The screenings used in the Pre-K program are the Ages and Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) and the ASQ SE. These screening tools provide information about the development of children in six distinct developmental areas: communication, gross motor, fine motor, problem solving, personal-social, and social emotional. The ASQ and the ASQ SE are family friendly screening tools and are completed by families

Families are an important part of the screening process. When the family completes the questions on the ASQ-3/ASQ: SE they return the forms to the Pre-K teacher. The teacher will score, and analyze the information. Families will be informed of the results. We work with families to access further screening if needed through Child Find. All APS Pre-K classrooms provide an inclusive Pre-K setting to accommodate all children’s needs.

Health Screenings

Each child in the Pre-K program must receive the following health screenings by a school health care professional within the first ninety days of attendance. Parents are notified about all results from screenings and appropriate referrals are made to address any identified health concerns.

• physical examination
• current immunization
• vision screening
• hearing screening
• dental screening

If the school nurse contacts you please have your child evaluated as soon as possible, and return the completed form to the school nurse. A general screening is a process that allows identification of physical growth, vision, hearing, or dental concerns. If you do not wish to have your child participate in these yearly screenings, please notify the nurse at your child’s school.

Meals

All school personnel are notified about each child’s special nutritional needs including allergies, medical conditions, and physician requests for dietary restrictions. Dining takes place in the preschool classroom or school cafeteria.

All APS programs participate in the USDA meal program.

• Two meals are provided per day
• Meals meet USDA requirements

Child Find

Child find is part of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) that requires states to identify, locate, and evaluate all children who are suspected of having developmental delays or disabilities in one or more of the following areas:

• Communication skills
• Cognitive skills
• Motor skills
• Daily Living skills
• Vision
• Hearing
• Orthopedic need

Any parent/guardian with concerns about their child’s development (speaking, understanding language, learning, eye-hand coordination, movement, socialization, hearing, vision, or any other developmental concern) may contact Child Find for a screening. A child must be at least 3 years old but not eligible for kindergarten yet and be a resident of the Albuquerque Public School District.

Parents/guardian must provide consent before the screening can take place. The screening takes about 45 minutes.

• The screener will play with your child using developmental screening tools.
• You will be asked questions about things your child may do at home or in childcare.
• Children will also have their vision and hearing checked.
• The screener will then talk with the parents/guardian about the outcomes of the screening and any next steps to be taken. This may include further evaluation(s) or referrals to other community services.

If a student is screened and recommended for further evaluation, the screener will make an appointment with the parents at the screening for the indicated evaluation(s). After the evaluation, if special education services are being considered, an IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting will be held.

The IEP team, which may include:

• Parents/caregivers
• IEP specialist
• Special Education Preschool Teacher
• General Education Representative
• If indicated an Speech and Language Pathologist, Occupational Therapist and/or Physical Therapist

The team will review the evaluation results, determine eligibility and write the child’s IEP.