Title I Information

FMMA is a Title I school.

Title I is the largest federal investment in elementary and secondary education. It provides federal funding to improve teaching and learning in schools with the highest concentration of poverty in order to help students who are at most risk of falling behind. The purpose of Title I is to ensure that all children have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education and reach, at a minimum, proficiency on challenging state academic achievement standards and state academic assessment.

Title I is allocated to schools based on the percentage of student receiving free/reduced lunch. Schools with 40% free/reduced lunch are eligible. Currently, there are 49 Title I schools in Lee County, FMMA being one of them. FMMA receives approximately $280,000 in Title I funding and allocates those funds toward such educational elements as a Language Arts teacher, AVID teacher, ESOL paraprofessional, and the Homework Huddle After-School Program.

Every Title I school develops a School Improvement Plan to improve the total school program after conducting a needs assessment and receiving input from the school staff, parents, and community. Each school's plan includes goals in reading, math, writing, and other subject areas. A School Improvement Plan is developed to improve the total school program after conducting a needs assessment and receiving input from the school staff, parents, and community. All of the school plans include goals in reading, math, writing, and other subject areas.

Increasing parent involvement is a major focus of all Title I schools. Each school has developed a compact—an agreement between the home and school sharing the responsibility to improve student learning—that defines their goals and expectations. FMMA also has a trained parent involvement liaison (Ms. Amber Kelty) on staff to further assist families.

At the beginning of every school year, parents of students who attend Title I schools receive a notification (Right To Know Letter) informing parents that they have the right to request information on the professional qualifications of their child(ren)'s classroom teachers and paraprofessionals providing instructional support. In addition, schools must notify parents (Parent Notification Letter) if their child is taught for four consecutive weeks by a teacher who is not highly qualified. Parents also have the right to know how their child is achieving on state assessments and to request meetings to formulate suggestions for the education of their children.

Parents are encouraged to be active and involved participants in their child's education through participation in parent conferences, School Advisory Council (SAC), parent workshops, school events, volunteering, and other school activities.

For more information, contact FMMA at 239.936.1759 and ask for our Parent Involvement Specialist, Ms. Amber Kelty. Ms. Kelty can be reached at AmberK@leeschools.net.