School Workshop Goes to Housing Project : Helping Parents to Help Students

Yvonne Chan, Sylmar Elementary School principal, had just passed out flash cards, books and papers to the 35 parents in the small recreation room at the Astoria Gardens housing project in Sylmar when the room went dark.

The rain that had driven the group inside last week also had caused a power outage.

The disappointed Chan was ready to call it a night, but parents scrambled to round up candles and flashlights so they could finish the workshop that Chan and her staff had begun. They were still there an hour later when the electricity was restored.

They were all there with one thing in mind--getting their children a good education--and a little rain and dim lighting were not about to deter them.

So Chan and her team of eight teachers, a psychologist, several PTA members and a Los Angeles police officer went on with their presentations aimed at teaching the parents how to develop their children’s study skills, keep them in school and away from drugs, and develop positive attitudes about school.

The workshop was one of a series Chan plans to hold in an effort to involve parents in their children’s education.

Los Angeles Unified School District officials said Chan’s program is the only one of its kind in the San Fernando Valley.

Most of the parents attending last week, many of them Latino, had had little or nothing to do with the school.

“Parents are very hesitant because of the language barriers and some of them feel inferior. Some of them are new immigrants, and they can’t understand the education system,” Chan said.

But, she said, more often than not, parents want to help their children.

If the parents won’t come to Sylmar Elementary, Chan said, then Sylmar Elementary will go to the parents.

Personal Invitations

So, for three days before the workshop, Chan and Elsa Lopez, coordinator of the school’s bilingual improvement program, visited students’ Astoria Gardens homes and personally extended invitations to parents.

Lupe Gonzalez was one of those whom Chan had hoped to reach.

Gonzalez is the mother of 10 children, five of whom attend Sylmar Elementary. Another will enter the school in September. But she had had very little to do with the school.

“I knew there were meetings,” Gonzalez acknowledged. But “I didn’t go because I didn’t know English, and I was embarrassed.”

Gonzalez explained in Spanish that she would have difficulty getting to school meetings:

“I don’t know how to drive, I don’t have a car and I have the babies to take care of.”

Gonzalez acknowledged that school made her uncomfortable, whereas she feels at home at the project. “I feel more confident here. They are trying to help us, and they make us feel like family,” she said.

Chan said she chose to begin her brainchild at Astoria Gardens because of the large number of Sylmar Elementary students who live there--114 from 64 families.

The 160-unit housing project long has been beleaguered by gang activity and drug trafficking. Last year, the community was rocked when a Los Angeles police officer was killed in front of the housing project in a gun battle with two teen-agers involved in a drug deal.

Such events have had an effect on the children living there.

“Many of these kids in the upper grades can talk the gang language, and they dress in their colors,” Chan said.

Chan has visited the housing project many times, she said, but not for such happy occasions. “Sometimes, I have had to go as many as three times a week. Most of the time, though, it’s negative, about a suspension or child abuse.”

Many of the students living at Astoria are from immigrant families who are unfamiliar with the school system. As a result, absenteeism and truancy are problems.

Among kindergarten students and first-graders from Astoria, absenteeism is about 23% and, in the upper primary grades, it runs about 15% contrasted with a schoolwide rate of about 10%. Students from Astoria account for two-thirds of those absences, Chan said.

She said the youngsters “don’t know why they have to go to school. They have no goals, no vision.”

Truancy is common among the fifth- and sixth-graders. “They walk the streets, and parents don’t know it,” Chan said.

In many of the homes, only Spanish is spoken.

Most of the parents at the workshop were Latino, reflecting the makeup of the school, which is 61% Latino, 18% black, 1% Asian and the rest white.

Parents Put at Ease

Besides English, Chan used her rudimentary Spanish to help put the Latino parents at ease and draw them out. Her occasional groping for the right word or phrase elicited laughter and help from the often-reticent parents.

“We both want the same thing for the kids--a better education,” Chan told the parents. Her statement met with silent nods of agreement.

Chan advised parents to set aside a specific time and place for their children to do homework and to eliminate such distractions as the television and radio.

Parents were given books, flash cards, folders and countless papers in English and Spanish--donated by local businesses--explaining what could be done at home to develop children’s reading and math skills.

They were given folders that could be set up as individual cubicles for each child so they could concentrate on homework. Pasted on the back were copies of multiplication tables.

Each family got a set of 1-square-inch tiles that had the numbers 0 to 9 painted on them to help the children practice math equations.

Lopez gave parents suggestions on helping their children learn English. “Use cards on the objects. For example, place a sign on a chair that says chair ,” Lopez said.

When parents were asked to come up with ideas on how to use the things around them as teaching tools, suggestions ranged from having children count things like vegetables during dinner to cutting up a pie to teach them about fractions.

“We wanted to show them how kids can work in a crowded environment and still develop study skills,” Chan said. “Too many things have been done unrealistically.”

Ted Yamane, an outreach counselor at Sylmar Elementary, told parents that simple measures would help to keep their children in school.

‘Get to Bed Early’

“Get them to bed early, like 8 o’clock. Have them lay out their clothes the night before . . . and reward them on the weekends by letting them stay up later,” he said.

Police Officer Mary Holguin lectured parents on how to help children say no to drugs and alcohol. Holguin agreed with parent Carlos Westendorff’s suggestion that “the essential thing is to be examples.”

Chan also talked about the need for a parent support group, especially among single parents.

The search for such a support group is what led Clara Herell to take part in the workshop. Herell had been having trouble finding transportation for her 5-year-old grandson, Jonathan, and couldn’t get him to school.

“He goes to school at 11 a.m. and I work all day,” Herell said. She said she had been at her wit’s end when Chan suggested that she attend the workshop.

‘Can Help Each Other’

Herell’s problem was solved when one of the parents at the workshop offered to take Jonathan to school. “We can truly help each other,” Herell said afterward.

Chan was happy with the turnout. “None of the families had attended a parent anything before,” she said.

Her enthusiasm infected some of the parents, who expressed their appreciation.

“She worries about her school, and I’ve never seen that before,” said Teresa Ortez, whose daughter attends Sylmar. “We who have come here have to talk to other parents. We will help get other parents here.”

“We’re very appreciative of how she takes care of our kids,” Westendorff said. “It encourages us to do something and gives us ideas on how we can help.”

Michael Easton, manager at Astoria, earlier had agreed to help Chan because “there are so many low-income families that need the help and guidance of the school system.” He has two daughters who attend Sylmar Elementary.

The recreation room the parents were sitting in had been closed for a year. He cleaned it out so it could be used as a library. It now is stockpiled with books and writing materials provided by the school.

Irene Curtis, administrator of school district’s Region F, who attended the workshop, said she was impressed with Chan’s efforts.

“She went door-to-door and has worked to find out what they need,” said Curtis, whose region includes 62 elementary and 14 junior high schools. “She’s brought them concrete things they can take back to their home and use with their children . . . real practical things. She’s come right into the heart of the project.”

Curtis said she thought the concept could be tried at other schools where many students lived in housing projects.

Have Credibility

Three more workshops will be held at Astoria during the next few months. After that, Chan hopes to conduct more of them in other housing projects where Sylmar students live. “We’ve got credibility now. They’ll give me an open door policy,” she said.

Chan hopes that holding the workshops on home ground will allow still more parents to get involved.

“We want meaningful parent involvement beyond bake sales,” Chan said.

Etelina Rodriguez is one parent who got involved last week.

Three of her seven children attend Sylmar Elementary and another will start in September. Her three oldest children also went there.

Yet she said she had never been to a parent meeting. Work, child-care responsibilities and lack of transportation were her reasons.

But “we don’t have excuses now . . . that we don’t have cars, that it’s raining or that there is no one to take care of the kids.”