Federal Programs

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. Click here to view the district’s parent and family engagement policy. 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. 

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

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.

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.