SANTA ANA : Parent Volunteers Help Cope With Cuts

In an innovative attempt to cope with staff and budget cuts at Roosevelt Elementary School, parent volunteers there have begun counseling and tutoring students themselves.

Under the program, run solely by parents out of an office provided by the school, volunteers offer “at-risk” students reading and math tutoring, help with self-discipline and a sympathetic ear.

“Our main goal is to get these kids on the right track,” and get them college-bound, said Carlos Vazquez, a parent volunteer at the school.

Sitting in the small office decorated with children’s drawings one recent morning, Vazquez, 27, said that many of the three dozen children the office sees each week are referred there by teachers for fighting, poor study habits or discipline problems. “I bring them here and try to become their friend and find out what’s going on. A lot of these kids just need a role model,” he said.

The one-on-one sessions with students are informal but effective, he said. For example, one boy with a propensity for bad language recently improved his behavior after he was promised a reward. “I explained that those are words not to be used at school. I told him there’s a soccer team (being formed by the parents) and that he could be on it if he behaved.”

The Parents’ Program started last November after budget cuts forced the school to lay off an administrator. Then Assistant Principal Carol Bryan, along with an advisory committee composed of parents, staff and faculty, suggested that parents use the office left vacant by the administrator’s departure. The parents volunteer their time, and the school donates the office space, phone, and office supplies.

“We’re so excited that the parents are actually here. This office represents the parents’ really being physically and emotionally and psychologically and in every way involved in the school,” Bryan said. Having the office “gives them a powerful feeling of involvement and inclusion that wasn’t there before. They don’t feel like guests. They feel like they own it.”

She also said the children have been responsive to the extra attention they receive. A child “feels more comfortable because there are other moms like his mom that have time for him. They love to come for the homework help but more for the attention from a parent person than for help with math. It’s the adult attention they flourish from.”

Lourdes Rodriguez, 32, co-founded the program and said the office represents the start of a “revolution” of parents’ involvement in their children’s education. Parents need to understand their importance in their children’s education and take a more active role by encouraging better study habits and helping with homework, she said. “Before we can educate the kids, we need to educate the parents.”

Vazquez said that “many parents don’t get involved because they don’t know how. A lot of people don’t speak English and are intimidated to speak to administrators.” The Parents’ Office, which includes mostly Spanish-speaking volunteers, will assist those parents.

The program now also offers teachers additional help when needed, providing them with playground supervisors and test monitors. About 35 parents also help staff the office year-round during school hours.