Family Engagement Team

The Family Engagement Team was implemented over a decade ago to provide support to our students and learning coaches. The team has grown from a team of five to a team of approximately a hundred! Our families can expect the support of a Family Engagement Liaison (FEL) from the time they start their academic journey at GCA and on throughout their time here.

The Family Engagement Team provides encouragement and support to students and learning coaches in their navigation of our virtual school environment. The Family Engagement Team also supports our students in overcoming many challenges (academic, social, emotional, medical and otherwise) to succeed in school and beyond by liaising with all GCA departments in order to better serve our students’ and families’ individualized needs. The team’s holistic approach includes early intervention, support services, and linking families to school and community-based resources. FELs, Family School Partnerships Coordinators, Family Resource Coordinators, and content teachers work collaboratively with our families to stay connected, informed, and encouraged in our on-going effort to serve our students well, provide an environment where they can be successful, and work with families to provide the extra help needed to enable students to stay motivated and on track.

GCA’s Family Engagement Team is celebrating our 13th school year!! Even though we have changed our roles and our processes over the years, one thing has remained the same — we LOVE our families!

You may be surprised at all of the things this team does!

Below are just a few...

1. Strong Start

FELs support GCA families in so many ways, but one of the main ways is through our Strong Start/Onboarding Program. This program serves two purposes; it is the building block of relationships with our families, and it prepares families for success at Georgia Cyber Academy. We provide every family a welcome call and meet with each family individually to provide a very detailed orientation to our school. We also provide them with a wonderful resource of a Strong Start Course in Canvas that they have access to all year.

2. Re-Registration

3. Enrollment

FELs support our Enrollment and Records department by assisting with enrollment. We have three FELs who, in addition to carrying a caseload of families, also support enrollment by reviewing paperwork, and helping process applications, as well as support other FELs who may have questions about a family’s enrollment process.

Family Engagement Team - Enrollment image

4. Testing & 5. Tutoring

FELs support GCA’s Assessment Department too! Many FELs serve as site coordinators, attendance monitors, examiners, proctors, and any other way needed during the Milestones testing season. In addition, in the 2021-2022 school year we also developed a FET Testing Team. This team of only fourteen (our FET tutors help support testing) not only have a reduced caseload of families, but they handle testing of new students before school starts, as well as makeup tests for MAP and Interim Assessments during the school year.

Family Engagement Team Tutoring Pursuit of Excellence

6. Student Attendance

7. Student Engagement

8. Student Withdrawals

9. Cross-Collaboration

10. Supporting our GCA Families

The most important thing FELs do—we LOVE our families—and are passionate about supporting them in any and every way possible.

So many of our FELs go above and beyond their daily responsibilities. Here are a few extra things some of them do:

Open office sessions for families to receive additional support.
Send birthday cards and/or recognition cards to their students.
Play show and tell with their students, and they LOVE them!!
Offer FEL hangouts as a time to get together!
Send out a monthly newsletter.
Make engaging and entertaining bi-weekly videos for their families, so they are kept up to date with what is going on in the school.

Our FELs are truly amazing, and they love supporting our families. I feel very privileged to be a part of this hardworking team, and we are passionate about supporting our families! We strive to help all our families find success in online education. We invest in our families and are thrilled to watch them rise up, aim high, and soar at Georgia Cyber Academy.

We feel that one of our 2022 graduates, Mrs. Hunter W., shares why the relationships we have with our families are so important.

Family Engagement Team

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Michelle Hendricks

Family Engagement Team Tutor

Briana McCaa

Family Engagement Liaison

Sherene Mueller

Family Engagement Team Supervisor

Family Engagement Liaisons

The Family Engagement Liaison (FEL) provides a range of services to students and their family to help them be successful at GCA. The goal is to provide support to students by collaborating with teachers and parents to ensure student’s academic achievement and successful completion of school (or grade level standards). The FEL will collaborate with other team members to provide resources, training, facilitate engagement, and promote effective communication practices between parents, teachers and other support staff.

Facilitates a close working relationship between families and other school staff by being a main point of contact.
Guides new families through the Strong Start/Stay Strong Process (onboarding) to ensure understanding and navigation of the main online school platforms. Provides troubleshooting and basic platform support throughout the school year. (Canvas, Clever, G-suite (Google Tools), Jigsaw, Infinite Campus, Nucleus (Attendance Program), etc.)
Initiates regular and frequent contact with families to encourage attendance and compliance with school requirements and initiatives
FELs and content teachers work together with families to provide the extra help needed to enable students to stay motivated and on track.
Guides and directs the student through using the Online School Platform.
Informs students and families of school updates/ information.
Provides support in all areas of successful student learning and achievement.

Family Engagement Liaisons are available Monday-Friday from 8 am until 4 pm. If you are unable to reach your FEL, you should expect to receive a response within twenty-four hours (on school days).