An effort is underway in Wasatch County to include more Spanish-speaking parents in their children’s education. As of last fall, about 19% of students at Timpanogos Middle School are Hispanic or Latino. Statewide, that number is 19.6%.
On a recent March evening, a group of parents wearing black and yellow shirts emblazoned with “Madres Líderes” or “Padres Líderes” trickled into the school’s library.
It was the monthly meeting of the school’s “Latino Parent Leaders” or “Padres y Madres Líderes.” Principal Jim Judd and Yuri Jenson, the school’s family and community engagement coordinator, addressed them. Judd spoke to the parents in English, while Jenson live-translated into Spanish. The parents were told what was going on in the school and community, as well as what resources were available.
Before this program started a couple of years ago, the school didn’t do much to reach out to these parents, besides translating documents.
But then Jenson was hired specifically to help Spanish-speaking families. Jenson told Judd that instead of just focusing on student behavior, they needed to work on getting parents involved. She said she wanted to take things to the “next level” and that led to the creation of the Latino Parent Leaders program.
“I feel like our community, the Latino community, was ready to give back,” she said.
Jenson drew on her own experience moving to the U.S. from Baja California Sur, Mexico, in 2008 and being a parent who didn’t speak English.
“I was one of them,” Jenson said before the meeting started. “You guys can do it, too.”
At the beginning of each meeting, the parents read their group’s mission statement.
In English, it says, “The TMS Parent Leaders are committed to support students’ education; dedicated to strengthening the bridge between our school and our community. Therefore, all students are successful, achieve at high levels and are prepared for [high school].”
Jenson thinks one of the reasons for the program’s success is that the head of the school is involved, opening the doors to the school and making them feel welcome. To accommodate different schedules, there’s one meeting during the day and one at night.
Jenson and Judd not only talk about what’s going on, like what tests are coming up and when parents can expect to see grades, but about ways they can help their kids succeed, like how to do homework, navigate the school’s online system and why it’s important for their kids to read.
“You've got a population of people who didn't historically come from that background of American public education. And, we haven't tapped into the power of these parents,” Judd said.
After each meeting, the parents are asked to fill out a survey where they can say what they’d like to learn about in the future. While the meetings teach parents about how to engage with their kids’ education, parents who want to get more involved at school can become trained volunteers.
“That's when the magic happens,” Jenson said. “The parents become engaged in the student’s education, not just helping their kids, but helping other kids in their school.”
Once parents go through the training, they have a graduation ceremony where they get their “Madres Líderes” or “Padres Líderes” shirt and their volunteer lanyard. They help during and after the school day.
Judd said the parents even came up with a solution for a big problem he used to deal with: kids who were skipping classes, but then hung around at the end of the day, being disruptive in the halls instead of getting help from teachers or going home.
Students, both Hispanic and non-Hispanic, who stay after school and turn in work now get a golden ticket from their teacher. Then every Monday, the Latino parents throw a party for the students who have a ticket.
After the program started, Judd said a teacher texted him after school about students being disruptive in the halls, but then Judd quickly got a follow-up text that said “the moms are on it.”
“And here’s this small army of moms in their [volunteer] t-shirts escorting all of these kids to make sure that they’re going to their classrooms,” Judd said. “And all of a sudden my problem, it just evaporated.”
Since the program started, Judd told the parents that “four times as many students are passing these end-of-year tests.”
“I just want to thank you, as a principal, because I know that a lot of the reason for our kids doing better in this school is because of you guys, as parents. Because you’re showing your kids that you’re involved, you’re invested, you care that they do well. And anytime one student does better in school, that means in 10 years, in 20 years, our whole community is going to be doing better,” Judd said.
