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Thursday's Dougherty County School System’s Title I district meeting kicked off with a pledge from parents to encourage their children, as a way of increasing academic performance.

Parents play a very important role in the School System’s success, and parents at the meeting say they see the importance of getting involved.

“Parental involvement is the bases of how our students perform and how they feel about themselves. If we're not involved in the school systems then they don't feel an alliance to that school system,” explains Dr. Tania Smith, a parents of an 8^th grade student.

Information about being a Title I funded school system was also presented at the meeting.

Rachel Swan, a Merry Acres Parent Facilitator said, “it is important that our parents know that there are rights, duties and responsibilities under Title I that is required of us.”

Those responsibilities include:
-       Having a written parental involvement plan.
-       Holding an annual title one meeting.
-       Providing workshops and resources for training.
-       Sending home easy to understand information about title one.

All of which are in place to help parents, help students.

“Our most important thing should be to educate our children, at the level that we know they'll be able to succeed, from pre-k to elementary, elementary to middle, from middle to high and throughout their lifetime,” said Swan, who feels the best way to accomplish this goal is by having two-way communications, between parents and the schools.