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Part A

LEA Parental Notification Letter Statutory Requirements

LEA Parental Notification Letter Statutory Requirements
[Section 1116(b)(6) and 1116(e)(3)]

NOTICE TO PARENTS- A local educational agency shall promptly provide, at a minimum, annual notice to a parent or parents (in an understandable and uniform format and, to the extent practicable, in a language the parents can understand) of each student enrolled in an elementary school or a secondary school identified for school improvement, for corrective action, or for restructuring.

The following parental notification letter(s) for public school choice (PSC) and supplemental educational services (SES) are provided as sample documents. These samples are consistent with the required components for drafting parental notification letters for PSC and SES as stated in the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001. Additional information included in the PCS or SES parental notification letter outside of the required components are optional.

Note: Parental notification letters must be clearly distinguishable from other information sent to parents on school improvement.  Public school choice notifications must be sent no later than 14 calendar days prior to the start of the school year.

Required Components for Public School Choice and Supplemental Educational Services Parental Notification Letter(s):

Required for Public School Choice Notifications

1. an explanation of what the identification means, and how the school compares in terms of academic achievement to other elementary schools or secondary schools served by the local educational agency and the State educational agency involved;
2. the reasons for the identification;
3. an explanation of what the school identified for school improvement is doing to address the problem of low achievement;
4. an explanation of what the local educational agency or State educational agency is doing to help the school address the achievement problem;
5. an explanation of how the parents can become involved in addressing the academic issues that caused the school to be identified for school improvement;

Required for Public School Choice and Supplemental Educational Services Notifications:

6. an explanation of the parents' option to transfer their child to another public school (with transportation provided by the agency) or to obtain supplemental educational services for the child;

Required for Supplemental Educational Services Notifications:

7. an explanation of the benefits of receiving SES;
8. the identity of approved SES providers that are available within the local educational agency or whose services are reasonably available in neighboring local educational agencies, including Web-based providers; and
9. a brief description of the services, qualifications, and demonstrated effectiveness of each such SES provider, including their ability to serve students with disabilities or Limited English Proficient (LEP) students.

Samples

Files below are in Word format.

• Sample PSC/SES parental notification letter; also available in Spanish
• Sample Parental Notification Letter When No Choice Options Are Available
• Sample Parental Notification Letter for Public School Choice/Supplemental Education Pilot Program
• Sample PSC transfer request form; also available in Spanish
• Sample SES information sheet and sample SES application; also available in Spanish

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