Federal Programs
Welcome to the Federal Programs web page for the Thomaston-Upson School System.
Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965, as amended by the Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, provides funding to school districts to help ensure that all children, especially those who are most academically at-risk, meet challenging state academic standards. Title I programs are designed to ensure high standards for all, increase quality instructional time, improve instruction through professional development, enhance family engagement in the educational process, expand educational resources, and strengthen school accountability.
Our district offers workshops and schoolwide/ districtwide events in efforts to build the capacity of parents and families to support their students academically by actively engaging in their students' education. Our Parent Center offers resources and materials for families to check out for use at home. We hope that our students' families will join us for family engagement events, workshops, and information sessions.
The Thomaston-Upson School District's Department of Federal Programs provides the leadership, information, and resources necessary to align state and federal program requirements with the district's strategic plan. We ensure that all students have a fair, equal, and significant opportunity to obtain a high-quality education.
Resources & Contacts
Streamlined Consolidated LEA Improvement Plan (S-CLIP)
Thomaston-Upson School System cordially invites parents, community partners, and stakeholders to provide input on the FY24 Streamlined Comprehensive LEA Improvement Plan (S-CLIP). Under the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA), Title I regulations for federal compliance, parents are encouraged to provide input on the revisions of the district’s Comprehensive LEA Improvement Plan (CLIP) and the district’s Parent and Family Engagement Policy. Below you will find a copy of the District Improvement Plan and Parent and Family Engagement Policy for your review. Please use the feedback form to provide any suggestions and/or comments. You may email Mrs. Mindy Davis at midavis@upson.k12.ga.us or send comments via mail to Mindy Davis, Thomaston-Upson School System, 205 Civic Center Drive, Thomaston, GA 30286.
S-CLIP Resources
Click here to leave feedback.
Parent and Family Engagement Coordinator
Michele Daniel is the Thomaston-Upson School System's Parent and Family Engagement Coordinator. She provides parents, guardians, and families with learning opportunities and other resources necessary to support and encourage student academic success. Mrs. Daniel works with the schools to create a culture that promotes and strengthens family support of education. The Parent and Family Engagement office and resource center is located at Upson-Lee Primary School. Mrs. Daniel may be reached at 706-646-9405 or at mdaniel@upson.k12.ga.us.
Mrs. Daniel was born and raised in Thomaston. She earned a Bachelor degree in middle grades education from Columbus State University, with Masters and Specialist degrees from Georgia Southwestern State University. For the past 23 years, she has taught in the Thomaston-Upson School System: ten years as a 4th grade teacher, three as an 8th grade teacher, and thirteen as a 6th grade teacher. Michele and her husband, Greg, have been married for 29 years. They have 2 sons, Will and Drew, both of whom graduated from Upson-Lee High School. Will is married to the former Alexis Swafford, who is also a graduate of Upson-Lee High School.
The school district has a parent and family engagement policy that is distributed to parents in multiple ways. With the help of our parents, guardians, and other stakeholders, this policy is revised every year. At the beginning and end of the school year, schools distribute a parent questionnaire. The results of this survey are used to review the effectiveness of parent activities. Feedback from these surveys is very important. The school parent and family engagement policy and school activities are developed from feedback parents give on these surveys. If you wish to be a part of the revision process, please contact Mrs. Daniel.
Michele Daniel
Parent & Family Engagement Coordinator
Parent Involvement Information
Parent Involvement is the participation of parents in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities. The purpose is to ensure that parents play an integral role in their child’s learning and are active in their child’s education at school.
Opportunities for Parental Involvement
Opportunities for parental involvement include parent workshops, parent advisory committees, school council, PTO, parent volunteers, school planning meetings, and parent-teacher conferences.
McKinney-Vento
The McKinney-Vento Education for Homeless Children and Youth program is designed to address the problems that homeless children and youth have faced in enrolling, attending, and succeeding in school. Under this program, State educational agencies must ensure that each homeless child and youth has equal access to the same free, appropriate public education, including a public preschool education, as other children and youth.
Homeless children and youth must have access to the educational and other services that they need to enable them to meet the same challenging State student academic achievement standards to which all students are held. In addition, homeless students may not be separated from the mainstream school environment.
The term "homeless children and youths"--
(A) means individuals who lack a fixed, regular, and adequate nighttime residence (within the meaning of section 103(a)(1)); and
(B) includes—
(i) children and youths who are sharing the housing of other persons due to loss of housing, economic hardship, or a similar reason; are living in motels, hotels, trailer parks, or camping grounds due to the lack of alternative adequate accommodations; are living in emergency or transitional shelters; or are abandoned in hospitals;*
(ii) children and youths who have a primary nighttime residence that is a public or private place not designed for or ordinarily used as a regular sleeping accommodation for human beings (within the meaning of section 103(a)(2)(C));
(iii) children and youths who are living in cars, parks, public spaces, abandoned buildings, substandard housing, bus or train stations, or similar settings; and
(iv) migratory children (as such term is defined in section 1309 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act of 1965) who qualify as homeless for the purposes of this subtitle because the children are living in circumstances described in clauses (i) through (iii).
For more information, contact the Thomaston-Upson County School’s Social Worker or your child’s school.
Upson-Lee Pre-Kindergarten 706-646-4729
Upson-Lee Primary School 706-647-7516
Upson-Lee Elementary School 706-647-3632
Upson-Lee Middle School 706-647-6256
Upson-Lee High School 706-647-8171
Upson-Lee Alternative School 706-647-5738
Mrs. Geana Ellington-Social Worker 706-646-9331 gellington@upson.k12.ga.us
Parent and Family Engagement Policy
The purpose of the school parent and family engagement policy is to ensure that strong strategies are in place to build the capacity to involve parents in an effective partnership with the school and share and support high student academic achievement. The school and parents must jointly develop and agree on the policy. It is revised every year to meet the changing needs of parents. The policy is distributed to parents in multiple ways.
FY24 TUCS Parent and Family Engagement Policy.pdf
FY24 TUCS Parent and Family Engagement Policy - Chinese.pdf
FY24 TUCS Parent and Family Engagement Policy - Gujarati.pdf
FY24 TUCS Parent and Family Engagement Policy - Spanish.pdf
School-Parent Compact
Every year, students, parents, and school staff sign a compact or agreement. This compact outlines how parents, the entire school staff, and students will share the responsibility for improved student achievement and the means by which the school and parents will build and develop a partnership to help children achieve the State’s high standards. This compact is revised with parent input at the end of each school year and then distributed to all parents to be signed at the beginning of the next school year.
School-Parent Compacts
2023-24 ULP Compact gujarati.pdf
2023-24 ULP Compact spanish.pdf
2023-24 ULP Compact chinese2.pdf
2023-24 ULE Compact spanish.pdf
2023-24 ULE Compact chinese.pdf
2023-24 ULE Compact gujarati.pdf
2023-24 ULM Compact spanish.pdf
2023-24 ULM Compact gujarati.pdf
2023-24 ULH Compact chinese.pdf
Title III ESOL
The purpose of Title III, ESOL is to prepare students for success in school and in society through the development of cultural awareness and English language proficiency in listening, speaking, reading, and writing.
Title III / ESOL Resources
Notifications to Parents of English Learners
Previously stated in both Title I and Title III under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA), the overarching parent and family engagement law regarding notices to parents of English Learners (ELs) receiving supplemental language support is now under Title I, Part A, Section 1112(e)(3) in the Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA). Local educational agencies (LEAs) are required to send a notification, in a language and format appropriate for the reader, to parents of ELs who have been selected to participate in the LEA’s Title III or Title I supplemental language program. This notice also permits the parent to waive participation in the Title-funded services.
Resources
Professional Qualifications - Parents' Right to Know
PARENTS RIGHT TO KNOW
In compliance with the requirements of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Thomaston-Upson School System would like to inform you that you may request information about the professional qualifications of your student’s teacher(s) and/ or paraprofessional(s). The following information may be requested:
- Whether the student’s teacher—
- has met State qualification and licensing criteria for the grade levels and subject areas in which the teacher provides instruction;
- is teaching under emergency or other provisional status through which State qualification or licensing criteria have been waived; and
- is teaching in the field of discipline of the certification of the teacher.
- Whether the child is provided services by paraprofessionals and, if so, her/his qualifications.
If you wish to request information concerning your child’s teacher’s qualifications, please contact the school’s principal.
Upson-Lee Primary School 706-647-7516
Upson-Lee Elementary School 706-647-3632
Upson-Lee Middle School 706-647-6256
Upson-Lee High School 706-647-8171
August 1, 2023
Intradistrict Transfer Option
The Intradistrict Transfer option allows a parent/guardian the option to request a transfer from the child’s assigned school, to a school of the parent’s choice within the school district in which the child resides. However, since there is only one school for each grade span in our district, the Thomaston-Upson School System is exempt from having to offer an Intradistrict Transfer Option. For more information about Intradistrict Transfer, visit: http://www.gadoe.org/School-Improvement/Federal-Programs/Pages/Intra-District-Transfers.aspx.