School of Soft Knocks : Rio Real Principal, Teachers Reach Out to Parents in Casual Visits to Their Homes

The sight of primly dressed Wanda O’Kelley striding through the dirt lanes of a housing project was clearly an image both familiar and peculiar for the Nyeland Acres residents.

Curious toddlers poked their heads out of modest doors and windows to stare as O’Kelley marched by, only to quickly disappear as she spoke to them in rapid-fire Spanish. Other children, the older ones, waved to O’Kelley and gathered around her.

Rene Coronados, an 8-year-old boy, tugged on the educator’s navy-and-white dress.

“Mrs. O’Kelley, are you going to my house too?” he asked. “Yes!” O’Kelley said. “I want comida ! Tell your mother I want comida !”

O’Kelley, a fourth-grade teacher at Rio Real School in El Rio, is one of about a dozen instructors there who have been using after-school hours during the past month to visit the homes of their 700 mostly poor students.

The teachers, joined by Principal Garry Galvan, fan out into local neighborhoods once a week, walking door-to-door, knocking and politely introducing themselves.

It is a crusade aimed at increasing parental involvement in education by meeting--on their own turf--the mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other guardians of their pupils, the educators say.

Just as important, Galvan said, is to instill in these families a sense that school is not an alien, authoritarian institution but a welcoming center where parents can feel comfortable bringing up concerns about their children, Galvan said.

“Our message is we are accessible,” Galvan said. “Please come out to the schools. Please get involved.”

Last year, Galvan and his staff held coffee klatches at community churches and recreation rooms to try to get more parents involved in Rio Real. But the results were disappointing, Galvan said.

Galvan and O’Kelley, an 11-year Rio Real teacher who frequently accepts invitations from students to attend their family picnics and birthday celebrations, devised the walking tour soon after school started last month.

They have ventured out four times, putting in up to three hours of their own time each week. The tours are not mandatory for teachers, Galvan said. But he has received good voluntary participation, with about half of his staff taking part so far, he said.

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Last week, Galvan and O’Kelley were joined by David Siebler, a fourth-grade teacher along for his second week, and fifth-grade teacher Lenora Weinerth, out for the first time.

The group clambered into Galvan’s white Mercury Villager van and took off promptly at 3:25 p.m. A second van followed, carrying Coral Cano, a PTA mom who often goes along to help interpret and answer questions in the mostly Spanish-speaking neighborhood.

Their first stop was a neighborhood in the 2800 block of Ventura Boulevard, a housing complex in Nyeland Acres that is home to a large migrant Latino population. Children playing outside stop and stare at the outsiders as Galvan approaches the first door.

Maria De la Cruz looked bewildered when she opened the door, one child on her hip, two more peeking from behind her legs. But then Galvan started speaking in Spanish.

He was there, Galvan told De la Cruz, to introduce himself and his staff to her family. He wanted De la Cruz to know that she should feel free to stop by the school if she has questions about the education of her three school-age children who are students at Rio Real: Giovanni, Eric and Vanessa, the principal said.

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De la Cruz listened politely but did not invite Galvan or the other teachers in. After asking De la Cruz to sign a paper verifying the visit, the group thanked her and walked down a dirt road to the next home.

“I always introduce all the teachers,” Galvan said. “It shows respect. Respect is very important in this culture.”

Sometimes the parents don’t answer the door. But most times they do, Galvan said. Many, like Maria Contreras, are very grateful for the interest in their children.

Contreras had just finished cleaning houses all day when the group arrived at her door. After rushing to change her clothes, Contreras ushered everyone into a seat in her tidy front room, including Rio School District Supt. Yolanda Benitez, who had joined the teachers.

Contreras and her daughters, Laura, 11, and Griselda, 9, busied themselves slicing watermelon and honeydew melon to offer the teachers, along with chips, dip and orange drink.

After passing around the comida , or food, Contreras went around the room and took each teacher by the hand and thanked them profusely, in a mixture of Spanish and broken English, for educating her two daughters and one son, 14-year-old Javier.

“You helped our Laura. Muy bueno, “ Contreras told Siebler, who taught her daughter in fourth grade.

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Later, Siebler said he was deeply affected by the visit.

“In the past, I’ve always gone to someone’s house when there is a problem,” said Siebler, in his 10th year of teaching. “This is the first time I’ve gone just to say hi. When you’ve gone in and met the parents in a positive way, it opens the door for when you have some concerns.”

O’Kelley said she is already starting to see a payoff. Two parents have volunteered to become classroom aides and another agreed to participate in the PTA, she said.

O’Kelley rejected the notion that she and the teachers on last week’s tour, who are all white, were making only a token effort to reach the minority community--a criticism leveled at the protagonist in this year’s film, “Dangerous Minds,” starring Michelle Pfeiffer.

“Our image is not a handout,” O’Kelley said. “It has to be dignified.”