|
Parents build cultural bridges
Nancy Chavez, a Talent Elementary School teacher, holds 6-month-old Jarred Peery on her lap during Tuesday's meeting of the Talent PTA's bicultural Los Puentes program. Phoenix-Talent PTA welcomes Hispanic parents to work sessions By VICKI GUARINO TALENT -- Parents are leading an effort to make an unfamiliar school, a strange language and an unaccustomed culture feel more familiar and welcoming for their Hispanic neighbors. The outreach project is Los Puentes, or Bridges, part of the Talent Elementary School PTA. Latino and Anglo parents join with teachers for bilingual sessions that explore curriculum issues, present information about community service programs and plan school activities. Meetings always begin with dinner, reflecting a more festive and family-oriented atmosphere. From the very first session last year, Los Puentes meetings took on the appearance of family gatherings, said organizer Lisa Thirkill. While most PTA meetings draw mothers, Los Puentes draws fathers and mothers and all the children, even infants. So sharing a meal seemed natural and an easy way for families to get to know one another. Los Puentes has caught the attention of national PTA officials. This fall the program was featured in the PTA's national journal, "Our Children." The magazine noted the program's efforts to unite the cultures in the school. A full page in the September issue was set aside for Thirkill's report on the program and its service to a growing Hispanic school community. The program has gotten parents like Salvador and Sara Velasco more involved in their children's school. The parents of Talent third-grader Maricruz say they appreciate Los Puentes for the language assistance and social opportunities it offers. The couple say they know school staff better as a result, and they can keep closer track of their daughter's progress in school. "It's good to become well-known with the principal and the school," Salvador Velasco said Tuesday during a Los Puentes meeting. He had just finished dinner sitting next to Principal Jeff Fagan. Fagan had watched Hispanic enrollment go from 30 kids in 1994 to 89 this year. Despite the number of students, Fagan rarely saw Hispanic parents before Los Puentes was initiated. "We struggled to get parents to come to any evening event," Fagan recalled. Even during school hours, few staff members knew enough basic Spanish to communicate with visiting parents. "We weren't doing enough to reach out to our families," Fagan said. He hired more bilingual staff, including front office personnel, and saw to it that all school newsletters and announcements contain Spanish translations. Talent Elementary also expanded language education. The school has fully bilingual classes in kindergarten through third grade. English and Spanish speakers are enrolled in roughly equal numbers, and both languages are used equally in the classrooms. Each year, as students move on, another grade is added to the program. The goal is to graduate students literate in both languages -- a skill some studies indicate improves academic performance in all subjects. Thirkill got the PTA to join in the outreach effort, first by providing translators at its meetings, and later by organizing the bilingual Los Puentes. Los Puentes isn't a separate PTA, but a cultural program for all races, Thirkill noted. It is an adjunct to both the Talent PTA and the school's bilingual education program. She uses Los Puentes meetings to promote PTA programs among Hispanic families, just as school staff take the opportunity to encourage Hispanic parents to come into the classrooms. English-speaking and Hispanic families are encouraged to attend and typically show up in equal numbers for meetings. The English-speaking parents often are involved in the bilingual programs. Others, like Carolyna Marshall, parent of a Talent fifth-grader, simply wanted to get to know better local Hispanic families and their language. "I work in a market in town and I want to speak to my customers," Marshall said. "We are getting more and more Spanish speakers." The ultimate goal of Los Puentes is to improve students' learning. School officials point to research showing that regardless of economic, ethnic or cultural background of the family, parent involvement in a child's education is a major factor in determining school success. Thirkill told Los Puentes parents, "Statistically, your child will do better the more you are involved in their education." |
