Teachers ‘Bus’ Event to Inner-City Parents

For years, teachers at Calahan Street School in Northridge complained about the low turnout at Back to School Night by the parents of students bused in from a city neighborhood 35 miles away.

This year they did something about it.

All 14 of the elementary school’s teachers brought Back to School Night Tuesday to an auditorium they borrowed in the South-Central Los Angeles neighborhood where more than 50 Calahan students live.

They did it on their own time, without pay.

“For the past couple of years, we’ve been trying to figure out how to get more than two or three parents of city kids to come out,” Principal Jim Owen said. “So we decided to take the school to the parents.”

Owen said the growing number of inner-city students who ride buses to the Calahan school prompted teachers to organize the event, and so the teachers arranged to use the auditorium of the 61st Street School. More than a third of the 132 students at Calahan live in the surrounding Los Angeles neighborhood near Figueroa Street and Slauson Avenue, including, for the first time, a large number of Latinos who are learning English.

“We wanted to meet the parents, have them meet us because we want them to feel a part of our school,” third-grade teacher Lois Barer said.

More than a dozen parents listened as the Calahan teachers explained what their children were learning, showing off textbooks and lessons, as well as answering the usual questions parents ask of their children’s teachers.

Elvia and Miguel Molina wanted to know how their daughter, Debbie, was adjusting to the school, after transferring there last week.

“Before, her teacher taught in Spanish, now it is in English, how can I be sure that she is understanding the lesson?,” Elvia Molina asked.

Debbie’s teacher, Jennifer Dalsing, offered reassurance that she was monitoring the daughter’s progress. “She tries hard. By the end of the year she will be doing well,” Dalsing said.

Debbie’s father, Miguel, said he is pleased so far with Calahan, especially after visiting the school neighborhood, which is three blocks west of the Cal State Northridge campus. “Sure, it’s a long bus ride, but the school is better, the area is better, people there are friendly and helpful,” he said.

School officials told the parents that Calahan has a special advantage because it is close to the university. CSUN music students often teach lessons to Calahan students and the youngsters also visit the college art gallery.

The teachers also had plenty to tell parents, beginning with the advice of teacher Terri LaMasa, who advised one mother that “the best way to help your child is to turn off the TV.” LaMasa and other teachers also asked parents to make sure children did their homework every night and to keep in regular contact--at least by telephone--with teachers.

Parents said they appreciated Calahan teachers making the one-hour drive to their neighborhood Tuesday.

“Every time I go to the Valley, with the traffic and all, it’s awful trying to find the school,” said parent Detoungress Morris, who has two sons attending Calahan. “My sons love it, they’re learning more, there’s no fighting and the kids like each other.”