333 Yazoo Street Lexington, MS 39095 Web site: http://www.mississippipirc.org Hours: 8 am - 8 pm, Monday - Friday and 10 am - 6 pm Saturday

Director: Mr. Henry Luckett Phone: 662-834-0905 Fax: 662-834-0906 Evaluator: Robert Cable

State PIRC Board:

Karen Chambers, Parent
Pamela Payton Curry, Regional Service Officer/Parent Involvement for MS Department of Ed.
Mary Hardy, Former PTA President 2007
Larry Williams, PTA President
Velva Haynes, Division Director of Monitoring for Special Ed for. MS Department of Ed.
Bennie Montgomery, Title I Director for Holmes County School District
Angel Meeks, Curriculum Director for Holmes County School District
Hollia Thompson, The Arc of MS / State Parental Involvement Program

Special Advisory Committees:

State Wide Advisory Committee
Local Advisory Committee

The purposes and goals of Mississippi State PIRC are twofold: First, we will implement successful and effective parental involvement policies, programs and activities that lead to improvements in student academic achievement and strengthen partnerships among parents, teachers and other school personnel in meeting the educational needs of children. Secondly, through stateside strategies, strengthen partnerships between schools and families.

Parental Engagement Model
Our Parental Engagement Model includes several facets of effectiveness. Our IMPART effort uses six key social arenas to provide an effective, well-rounded outreach: parents, schools, children, teachers, and workplace and community residents as a whole. We seek to engage the parent early in the child’s educational endeavor. Tools such as our FIT (Family Involvement Tools) kits aid in assisting us to provide a hand on approach. By increasing access to information about school choice, school report cards, school activities, and educational resources through web-based information, we are empowering parents to take a more active role.

Early Childhood Model
We employ the Block Academy as our Early Childhood Model. This curriculum concentrates on scientifically proven ideas that children learn in an assortment of ways by using all of their senses. The Block Academy "Builders" will be encountering new physical and emotional development challenges each day which will stimulate their senses and allow for significant learning and growth. Great emphasis is placed on literacy.

Major Activities
Mississippi PIRC has been working diligently in major activities in early childhood and in increasing parental involvement in schools. Surveys and questionnaires have been issued, parent groups have been formed, parents are being informed about NCLB, school choice and other pertinent information, home visitations have been made, staff development has been conducted, teachers have been trained and certified in the Block Academy Curriculum, and partnerships are being formed with various local and state agencies across the state.

How the Work Plan Meets the Needs of Parents
Our plan seems to be meeting the needs of our parents. Parents have begun to take advantage of the resources provided to them by PIRC. They have started to visit the centers more, attend meetings, ask questions, receive training, utilize our parent educators and parent advocates more, become advocates for other parents, and initiate dialog among all stakeholders.

Alignment of Work to Statewide PIRC Efforts
The work that we do aligns itself to the purposes for the statewide PIRC efforts. We increase parents’ access to information about school choice, school report cards, school activities and educational resources through web-based information; we increase and improve communication among parents, students and teachers; we provide information and guidance to empower parents to become their own and their child’s best advocates, and we provide resources for parents of all types of learners, just to mention a few.

Unique Characteristics
Mississippi’s PIRC has unique characteristics in the sense that we operate under the umbrella of an already established group (Community Student Learning Center with a dynamic board), knowledgeable executive director, a caring and devoted staff, and a state that wants progress.