Latino parents visit with school staff

Staff from the Washington School District met with Latino parents at the Washington Free Public Library Tuesday to discuss their children?s education and answer any questions the parents had. All the principals in the district were in attendance as well as several other members of the administration.

Heather Lujano, the district?s bilingual outreach coordinator, translated what the staff said into Spanish, and then translated questions from the audience into English for the administrators. The staff had also laid out Spanish-language pamphlets, books and folders full of information on tables for the parents to take home.

Local grocers donated snacks and other supplies, such as a tortilla warmer, which were put in bags and then given away in a drawing.

Some of the parents asked about the upcoming reconfiguration of the grades in the buildings. Schools superintendent Mike Jorgensen said that Lincoln Elementary would be restructured to include only grades third through fifth. The ?junior high? would become a ?middle school? and include grades sixth through eighth, and the high school would expand from three grades to four, ninth through 12

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. That reorganization will take effect in the fall of 2013.

A few parents asked about the availability of college credit to their children in high school. Jorgensen said there are many classes at the high school that offer college credit. He said that in a few years, high school students could complete a full year of college while still in high school.

Stewart Principal Adam Miller told the parents that they should feel comfortable going into any of the district?s buildings because there is a bilingual staff member at each of them. Junior high principal Curt Mayer said he would love to see the Latino parents volunteer at parent-teacher conferences and other extra-curricular activities.

Adriana Cázerez said she was the parent of a girl with attention deficit disorder. She said she attended the event because she wanted to know how she and the school could help her child develop. She and Miguel Angel Avendaño said it was the first meeting of this type that they had attended, and that they would feel comfortable attending another like it.

Washington Principal Erik Buchholz said Tuesday?s meeting was the best attended he had ever been to and that there was more audience participation than at prior meetings.

?Usually we introduce ourselves and that?s the end of it,? Buchholz said. ?We have taken time for them to ask questions. Tonight, we had the best of the best. We had the opportunity to answer questions we hadn?t heard before.?

Blanca Castillo said she has three children, one who has already graduated from high school, one in 12

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grade and the other in 10

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grade. She said she was already familiar with the scholarships available. She said she attended the meeting to support the other parents who are learning about scholarships and other resources for the first time. She said it was important for the Latino community to show its interest in meeting with the teachers and staff, which she said was lacking in the past.

Lujano said that the event went very well and that she was thrilled with the attendance.

?Hispanic outreach has been an ongoing focus for the district in many different formats over the past 10 years,? she said.

Lujano said she has worked in the district for 14 years, and the demographic numbers have changed substantially in that time. When she started, there were 42 Spanish-speaking students in the district. Now there are over 220.

?If we have over 220 Spanish-speaking students in our district, that means a lot of their parents have Spanish as a first language,? Lujano said.

Lujano said that her position focuses on meeting kids? basic needs.

?Schools got the idea a long time ago when I began with the district. They understood that for kids to be successful in school they need to have the glasses that their vision referrals show and they need to have food in their houses,? she said. ?As the Hispanic population has grown, my position has evolved. I am now a communication point for two populations. It?s not unusual for parents to contact me. I have people show up on my porch because they want to talk in person.?