EAST LOST ANGELES : Parent Center Ties Classrooms to Homes

A few months ago, before the fresh coat of paint was applied and the new phone line arrived, the small office that houses Wilson High School’s fledgling parent center was just a storeroom cluttered with desks.

Now, elated school officials say, the modest room serves as a valuable common ground linking Wilson classrooms to the homes of the school’s 2,600 students.

Wilson High officials say parent involvement, often a key element to student success, has increased threefold since the debut of the center, an outreach program that invites parents to stop by for workshops, faculty conferences or just a cup of coffee.

The center, which opened last month, has given parents a comfortable, informal setting where they can get information and guidance, Principal Ramon Castillo said.

“Parental involvement is a key to the kids’ success,” Castillo said. “It’s like a pyramid’s foundation: There are three parts that need to come together--the parents, the teacher and the student. Our goal was to increase parental involvement. At our (area) schools, there was a lot to be desired. The numbers just were not there, and this has helped tremendously.”

The center offers information on such topics as school grading policies, methods of encouraging children academically, and how to pursue citizenship and English as a second language. The workshops, taught in a nearby classroom, have regularly drawn up to two dozen parents.

Castillo said that before the center was created, about a dozen parents a week would come to the school, mainly to complain about a teacher or a lesson. But now 50 to 60 parents show up weekly to talk or take a class.

The center’s services are not limited to Wilson High. One of the center’s two part-time employees, Genny Samudio, spends much of her time visiting the campuses of the 14 elementary and middle schools that feed into the high school.

“It gives parents a place to go, a place to learn about these things they need to know; it’s as simple as that,” said Samudio, who has a son attending Wilson. The program’s benefits go both ways, she added, noting that parent volunteerism on campus has surged since the center opened.

“It’s been proven that a child with a parent involved in their education does better,” Samudio said. “Some students will succeed without it--they’re self-motivated. But even they do better when their parents get involved.”

One of those parent volunteers, Yolanda Ramirez, said the center has made her feel more comfortable about getting involved in her sophomore son’s education. “I feel more confidence. I feel there was a door opening to me as a parent.”

Castillo said the center’s opening may even have an unexpected effect on student attendance.

“Now you’ll have students who say, ‘Hey, I can’t ditch because my parents, or my neighbor’s parents, are here and they’ll see me,’ ” he said with a chuckle.

Districtwide, there are more than 250 parent centers, with eight of those serving entire complexes or clusters of schools. Liliam Castillo, assistant superintendent of parent community services, said the creation of the centers shows a commitment by the Board of Education to bring parents into the education equation.

“Parents can get lost in the shuffle,” said Liliam Castillo. “The schools and the parents have had the same goal in mind, but in the past they’ve gone about it separately. We’ve got to do more than that now. This is a response to an outcry from the parents that they want to understand better how they can help. They want to be not just partners, but knowledgeable partners.”

The Wilson Parent Center is at 4500 Multanomah St., and can be reached at (213) 226-0795. For information about other parent center sites, call the district’s parent community services office at (213) 625-6010.