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Comprehensive national data is not yet available to show the full scope of disenrollment from public schools, but throughout the current school year, individual districts from Florida to Alaska and points in between reported significant enrollment declines ranging into the tens of thousands.

To examine these issues from the perspective of parents, the Progressive Policy Institute’s Curtis Valentine sat down for a Q&A with Keri Rodrigues of the National Parents Union, who shared her thoughts on the impact of parents pulling children out of schools during the pandemic.

On April 21, Rodrigues joined other experts in an online panel discussion led by Valentine and co-sponsored by The 74 and PPI, entitled “Where are All the Students?: Dis-Enrollment in America.” Hailly Korman of Bellwether Partners, Ray Ankrum of Riverhead Charter Schools, Colorado State Senator James Coleman and senior reporter Linda Jacobson of The 74 were also on the panel, which you can watch below.

The following interview has been edited for length and clarity:

Q: Why is disenrollment of American students from public schools a topic important to parents?

A: It’s interesting. I don’t know that we discuss disenrollment as disenrollment. I think what we see is that parents are really disenfranchised. They are very concerned about what they’ve seen over the past 18 months from our public school systems, and they’ve been to the Promised Land of being able to choose different options that work differently or better for their kids. So, now I think that they understand there are different options and different scenarios available to them and they’re willing to exercise those options, especially in light of the fact that they’re very concerned about the long-term impact that the pandemic and learning loss is going to have on their children’s educational trajectory.

The fact that there might be another opportunity, a better opportunity, available in a different setting, is now on their radar. So, the idea of un-enrolling and enrolling someplace else is now available to them and all options are on the table.

Q: The Reinventing American Schools Project recently partnered with The 74 on a webinar where you were one of our panelists. Our panel also included a researcher, a school leader, a politician, and a journalist. Why is it important to have a parent voice in this discussion?

A:  I don’t know how you have a conversation about education, let alone reinventing education, without a panel that includes parents. We are the second most important stakeholder at the table. The first being our children, the students that we’re trying to get through our education system. We have a lot of information that we’ve collected about our kids, not just over the last 18 months, but during the span of their lifetime, that you really need if you’re going to achieve your goal of getting great outcomes for our kids. If we are all in agreement that that’s what we’re trying to do here, I think it’s critically important that you have our perspective, that you have our observations, that you understand our hopes and our fears, our concerns, and you get us on board. Because frankly, if we’re going to get our kids back on track, you can’t do that without parents and families.

Q: Has the discussion on disenrollment been given the attention it deserves?

A: I don’t think so, because I think that we have a tendency in education to, even during a period of limited disruption, want to just morph back into what’s comfortable, what’s familiar, a status quo that seems to work, and be very comfortable for the adults that run the system. Now, parents have really been to the Promised Land of seeing that they have choices and options, and watching how their kids learn, and how they don’t learn. When they engage, when they don’t engage. They’ve heard a lot that they like and a lot that they don’t like. So, I think that this has got to be a wake-up call, not just for parents and families, because frankly they’re making some really serious choices right now.

I talked to families all day today who are making choices about private schools, keeping their kids home in pandemic pods, homeschooling, all of this, all of these different options. And I don’t think our systems are prepared for the fact that parents now understand they have options and they will unenroll. That’s going to hit them in the pocket. Gone are the days of treating our children as just line items and per pupil expenditures that you feel you’re owed from the state budget. Parents are exercising their right to say, “No, we’re not going to put our kids into the public education system, because frankly we don’t trust you to do a good enough job.” The only way it seems like the system is going to learn from that lesson is by being hit in the pocket directly. You need to be in conversation with parents and you need to treat us respectfully, because fundamentally the option is ours. And if we find a better option by necessity or out of fear, because we don’t trust you to catch our kids up and help us to overcome this challenge, we’re going to take that option. It’s going to force the system to have to change because the budget is going to change.

Q: So what’s been missing from this discussion on disenrollment?

A: I think what’s been missing is an obvious correlation between needing to be in relationship with parents, families, and community, and rebuilding that trust, so that we’ll be willing to re-engage with schools. I think systems really take for granted that we’re just going to show up and do whatever we’re told. And the fact of the matter is, the alarm bell is sounding, and people are starting to say, “Well, hold on a second. What if the kids don’t come back? What’s going to happen?What’s going to happen to our budgets, to this comfortable status quo that we’ve grown so accustomed to?”

Things are going to have to change. And a lot of that comes down to, again, have we done the work of repairing the relationship between schools, and parents and families? Do we acknowledge the fact that there is now deep mistrust based on the interjection of politics into school reopening conversations and remote education situations, and how we’ve been serving our kids? I mean, even the idea around how many hours of live instruction our kids are getting. The asynchronous versus synchronous debates, and how our kids have been served. Families have seen that our kids were thrown to the wayside in many, many areas, and were not served well. And that has led to deep mistrust and a further damaging of a relationship, which in many communities was already broken without any kind of restorative justice. So, until there’s acknowledgement of that deep mistrust, the wounding of that relationship, parents may be willing to exercise those options.

As a result, this is going to have a consequence on the school districts budgets, because when our kids don’t show up, you don’t get that per pupil expenditure. You don’t get that money that you feel like you’re owed and adjustments are going to have to be made. There will be a reckoning.

Q: What do you hope people will take away from the webinar?

A: I hope that people are willing to come with an open mind and an open heart and are willing to recognize the fact that parents are really upset, frustrated, and fearful. That comes from a deep love for our children and we’ve got to be able to trust you. So, let’s have an honest conversation about what was lost, mistakes that were made, and how we’re going to do this together. If you want to do this in partnership with us, that’s the way to start rebuilding a relationship with parents and families, but you can’t come to it with a predisposed idea, or a set agenda, saying, “Well, this is ultimately what we’re going to do to your children, come hell or high water.” If you really want to engage with parents and families, you have to listen to us honestly. You’ve got to be able to take feedback. You’ve got to be able to acknowledge mistakes, and be willing to engage in a dialogue, and co-create what an equity-infused educational recovery is going to look like. If we can do that together and start that with this conversation, we may end up getting somewhere.

This article was published in partnership with The 74. Sign up for The 74’s newsletter here.

Tyrese McKie has a mission: increasing African-American families’ engagement in their South Los Angeles schools.

She joined the L.A. Unified Board District 5’s Family Problem-Solving Group in October to help boost the number of African-American parents who are actively engaged at Jefferson High School, Carver Middle School, Nava College Preparatory Academy and Holmes Avenue Elementary, which serve the highest percentage of African-American students in District 5 schools.

“When we were invited to the (Family Problem-Solving Group) meeting, I was hoping to see many African-American families take this opportunity to talk about all the things that our children are supposed to be receiving and they are not. Instead, there were only as many people as you can count on one hand.” It was then, McKie said, that “I realized this has to change.”

McKie, whose daughter is a 10th-grader at Nava, found that black parents wanted to show support for their children, but their main barrier to being more engaged in their education was that often the only contact they have with their children’s school is when there are negative reports about their children.

“This was about parents like me: Parents who are tired of getting calls from school just to share negative things about your child. Parents tired of feeling that our culture is not celebrated but tolerated,” she said as she and other parents in the group presented their suggestions to L.A. Unified officials in December.

The parents presented data showing that blacks were the student group with the most negative school experience, based on their responses to the L.A. Unified School Experience Survey in 2016. When asked if they were being treated with respect by teachers, 80 percent of black students at the elementary level said their experience was mostly negative. The vast majority of white and Asian students had the opposite response to the same question: over 90 percent of them agreed their experience was mostly positive.

There are about 38,500 black students in L.A. Unified, making up 7.7 percent of district enrollment. This year their graduation rate rose to 76 percent, higher than the district’s average of 73.6 percent, but their state test scores continued to lag district averages. On the state tests, 31.7 percent of blacks met or exceeded reading standards, compared to 42 percent for all L.A. Unified, and 20 percent met math standards, compared to 32 percent districtwide.

Board District 5 started the Family Problem-Solving Groups last year to provide a framework to guide parents through a process that supports their identification of pressing issues and development of workable solutions. The board office staff facilitates problem-solving meetings and provides parents with resources including data, strategic support and advocacy tools.

• Read more: LA parent voice: Homelessness won’t stop me from being involved in my kids’ school

“Engaging our African-American parents is critical to providing our students a robust education and nurturing school experience,” said Latasha Buck, principal at Carver Middle School. Buck supported the group’s work by offering space at the school for weekly meetings. “If we’re serious about closing the achievement gap and supporting our African-American students as they reach for their highest potential, we must work as a whole community.”

Tyrese McKie and her mother, Ella McKie, are members of L.A. Unified Board District 5’s Family Problem-Solving Group and presented their group plan to boost African-American family engagement to district officials on Dec. 17.

During the meeting, two district officials committed to supporting the parents’ plan, which recommends evaluating the school experience survey results to identify types of mentorship programs that can be tailored specifically for black students and identifying funding sources.

“We’re not only welcoming the plan, but we really want to continue hearing from you about your needs, and how we can work together to close the (achievement) gap that exists among African-American students. That gap is not only not closing but growing. We want you to help us think of all the different ways we can solve that and how we can best reach out to our families,” Hilda Maldonado, L.A. Unified’s senior executive director of diversity and instruction, told the parents during the presentation held at the downtown office of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles.

Maldonado said this type of community input is what Superintendent Austin Beutner’s Reimagining Our Schools plan is all about. “We know that the community collective, advocates and families are the ones who best understand the solutions,” she said. The release of the plan has been delayed by the Los Angeles teacher strike.

McKie, a single mom, said she has started to volunteer as a mentor at Nava, where she has been able to be “an ally” for parents and teachers in helping black students succeed. Her hope is that other parents and district officials will join her in that effort.

What did you learn through the Family Problem-Solving Group?

These families have two or three children or more and have to deal with balancing their time between work, babysitting and having to make time to participate in school. It’s not easy. Time is an issue, but also parents need to know what’s happening in school with their kids so they know what kind of support they need, and much of it is just emotional support. It’s not that parents don’t want to come, it’s that they have different challenges.

What needs to change?

If you want to get parents involved, you start with their kids. If you start with the kids, the parents can see the positive change, then they want to come along. That’s the best way to involve the parents. Mentorship programs are a good way to involve parents. Also, the school should know that not all of us are the same. I come to the school and they ask me about another African-American student. Just because of the color of our skin, they think we’re all the same. But every child is different, every family is different, we have different needs. Schools must know our different situations. They need to look at us individually.

Why does family engagement matter to students?

If parents get more involved, if they show their face in school, they can better advocate for their child to be in the right program, receive the right support, find out if there’s an issue with the teacher. They may be gifted! If parents get involved, they will know if their kid is really acting up or maybe is in the wrong program. Kids need their attention. They need to get to know the teacher, they need to know what their kids’ real situation is in the classroom. And you only know that if you are there.

So proud of our parents for collaborating to brainstorm  solutions to increase African American family involvement in our schools and presenting their recommendations to District leaders! @lausdbd5 @LA_USD @AustinLASchools @PartnershipLA pic.twitter.com/XhDaRe0FAr

— Carver Middle School (@carver_cougars) December 17, 2018

In this series, Los Angeles parents talk about their students, their schools and the questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

María Elena Meraz has spent 25 years, as both a mother and an advocate, learning and sharing about how public schools in California can better serve the needs of Latino students by involving parents.

Based on her work in Los Angeles as well as in Mexico, she recently started a new parent empowerment program that is reaching hundreds of Latino and immigrant parents like herself with the message that they “urgently” have to get involved with their schools and their children’s education if they want them to succeed in life.

“Knowing the school system can really transform everything,” Meraz said. But after a quarter-century in the field, she sees that Latino parents still lack knowledge about how schools work. “That has been my lifelong battle!”

Latino students in California have a history of lagging behind their peers in academic achievement. This year, 39 percent of them scored proficient in reading and only 27 percent did so in math on state tests, more than 10 percentage points behind the statewide average. And Latino English learners remain at the bottom of all student subgroups as just over 12 percent of them met or exceeded standards in reading and math. Only 12 percent of Latinos hold a college degree in California.

“When you have constantly been put down, especially with the current political climate, you need to know that you can have power over what’s most important for most parents: your child’s education. That’s why our program is so successful.”

Meraz started the nonprofit Parent Engagement Academy just over a year ago to help L.A.-area Latino parents take the lead in their children’s education and help them get the support they need. But first, they have to be trained in how to overcome cultural barriers.

“Too often Latino parents believe they cannot question a teacher’s performance because they don’t have an education or because they don’t speak English or just think that if they question the teacher, their child is going to suffer the consequences. Why? Because we are not familiar with the system,” Meraz said in a conversation with LA School Report in Spanish.

After more than two decades working for the Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE), a Southern California-based organization focused on parent engagement, and later leading a parent engagement project for the city of Culiacán, in northwestern México, Meraz developed her own program that seven school districts in Southern California are using to train parents on the importance of helping their children in their social-emotional development, including learning healthy eating habits and gaining technology skills to support them in school.

The Parent Engagement Academy, which Meraz co-founded with its executive director Susana González, is training hundreds of parents in English and Spanish in districts both large — L.A. Unified with its 485,000 students — and small — Compton Unified with 7,000 students. Others include Paramount Unified, Oxnard Unified, Lennox Unified, Centinela Valley Union High district and the Saugus Union district in Santa Clarita. All of the districts have student enrollments that are at least three-quarters Latino.

Last year about 1,250 parents completed the program, and Meraz expects that number will grow to 3,000 by the end of this school year. Most of those districts used the program last year and are continuing it this year.

She explained that the school districts contract with the academy and offer the training free for parents as most of those schools have money from Title I or have a budget to spend toward parent engagement under the state’s Local Control Funding Formula, which provides extra funding to high-needs schools.

Parents meet in two-hour weekly sessions for seven weeks and are trained in how social-emotional stability is key to the student’s ability to learn. Parents also learn how students are taught in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classes, which may be very different from how the parents learned in school. They also learn to use digital devices and to navigate online resources to support their children in their homework.

Meraz said the training sessions explain the jargon and alphabet of soup of education terms that often confound parents, such as SBAC, LCFF, ELAC, CAASPP, Common Core and many others.

Parents are tested at the end of the program on their new knowledge and receive a certificate. Even before they “graduate” though, Meraz said, they start to put into practice what they’ve learned by communicating with teachers and asking questions.

“They have to talk. They have to tell the teacher, ‘I want my kid to be successful, I want him to have a better future, what can I do to help what you do in the classroom so my child can meet the expectations.’”

She said if a child is behind in reading, one year behind can turn into two or three years behind in middle school or high school, just because a parent didn’t know how to ask for intervention. “Because you’re not familiar with the system, no one has told you what the school can offer or where to find support.”

Like many of the parents she works with, Meraz was born and educated in Mexico, and when she moved to California she had to learn English. Later she went to college and got an associate’s degree. When she became a mom, she had to learn to navigate the school system. She started by volunteering in her son’s elementary school because he had a disability and she wanted to make sure that wouldn’t limit his full potential.

Her son is now a college graduate and earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. When she had her daughter, 15 years after her son was born, she had to return to being involved in the school system not just as an advocate but once again as a mom. By then, some things had changed.

“Students’ expectations have evolved,” Meraz said, so her program “covers the technological changes, college readiness element, STEM-focused curriculum, but it also has an aggressive component on civic and political participation for parents. They now need to be involved in local school decisions,” she said, referring to the state’s Local Control Funding Formula that requires schools to involve parents.

“School policies require their participation. We also focus heavily on attendance as funds are scarce. We help them understand that if their kids don’t go to school, that means fewer funds and resources for their schools.”

What continues to hold parents back from being involved in their children’s schools, particularly in the Latino community?

“The welcoming environment is a major factor. Very often they don’t feel welcome in their child’s school. Schools need to meet the specific needs of the parents, know the families they serve.

“Also, I think in our community there’s a lack of awareness of the importance of being involved in our kids’ education, and the media play a very important role. We don’t often see Spanish media emphasizing the role that parents play in education and how their involvement is key. For Asian families, for example, they don’t need anyone to help them understand the importance of being on top of their children’s education. But for us as Latinos, we have a massive urgency to get the message out about the importance of being involved in our kids’ education.”

How are you counseling school districts to partner with parents?

“We don’t have to convince the administrators of the schools that hire us. If they look for us, it’s because they understand the importance of parent engagement. Our community is in a stage that they need this. Maybe others don’t, but schools serving our community, our students, need to focus on parent engagement. Latino parents live in fear, particularly in the current times. They need that empowerment from their schools, they need to hear their voices. That’s what I tell the principals and the staff to keep in mind.”

What are parents learning in your program that they are now using in their schools, and what impact has it had?

“It’s hard to measure the impact, and I have been told it is too soon for that, but we are working on it. One thing that has been measured is parents’ participation. We know through surveys we do throughout the program that they’re visiting teachers more often, teachers are saying parents are asking more relevant questions, and more have been attending parent conferences and workshops, they spend more time reading with their kids, etc. What we couldn’t measure, I think, is through test scores, because this is not the sole responsibility of parents.

“What can be measured is attendance, because this is the responsibility of the parent. This can be a good indicator of how parents contribute to decreasing absences after they have been trained through the program. We can compare that to students’ attendance whose parents were not in the program and see the result.

“What we know is that parents, once they complete the program, they know what Common Core is, about college readiness, what a GPA is and why it matters, what’s LCFF, SBAC, CAASPP, how to make an appointment with the teacher by email. We test their knowledge on all of this before they graduate from the program.

“But I think the most important feedback I have heard is from one of the parents who graduated from the program and told me, without knowing who I was, that he was part of this program and it was the best! I asked him why, and he said, ‘Because I was heard. I had the opportunity to talk and be heard. And not only that, but they validated what I had to say about my child’s education. They told me I had the potential to become a parent leader, and that’s why I returned to every session of the program.’”

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district.

Hilda Ávila has a very clear educational goal for her fourth-grade son this year: She wants him to move out of the English learner designation and complete the four-step reclassification process.

So she is modeling for her son the importance of reading and getting involved in literacy activities. She also helps others do the same, as head of a parent group that runs an after-school tutoring program for struggling English learners and students who need extra help preparing for the state achievement tests.

English learners make up more than half the students at her son’s school, Fries Avenue Elementary in Wilmington, a low-income and predominantly Latino community in South Los Angeles.

Only 25 percent of Fries students met or exceeded standards on this year’s state tests in English language arts and math — a decrease from last year. A bare 1.4 percent of English learners met reading standards, even lower than the district’s rate of 3.6 percent. In math, the school scored about the same as the district: under 6 percent.

“Our school community’s priority is to raise students’ achievement because right now their academic performance is low, particularly for students who have not yet reclassified and have not been able to pass the state test” for English language proficiency, known as the ELPAC.

Ávila felt that the lack of after-school support was a key factor for many students still struggling to reclassify. So she and a group of parent volunteers decided to divert some school funds that were going for parent workshops and use the money instead to extend the after-school tutoring program.

Fries now has after-school tutoring three days a week for students who need additional help meeting grade-level standards. Two of the classes are for English learners who need intensive support to help them reclassify, a district spokeswoman said. It’s “a locally designed intervention that provides help based on the students’ test scores and other criteria,” and she said it’s paid through the school’s Title III budget.

“Sadly, there are many Latino students who are not reclassifying because their parents don’t have access to resources to help them with reading and writing, even in their own language,” Ávila said.

Ávila believes that in order for a parent to help their child reach his or her educational goals, “you cannot always expect to get everything easy. Sometimes you have to go out there, knock on many doors and find it. You have to do whatever it takes!”

She has also learned how to find help from community partners.

“If the mountain won’t come to you, you must go to the mountain!” She requested that the city’s San Pedro office provide a “mobile library,” which now comes to the school once a month so all students can check out books and have reading time after school.

Educating other parents about how literacy can change their lives is a passion of hers, she said. Over the last three years, Ávila has been learning how to become an advocate not only for her son’s education but also for other kids in her community. In 2015, she became a volunteer in her son’s classroom. She then joined several parent committees, including the English Learners Advisory Committee.

Last year, she became a parent workshop facilitator for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles’s Motheread program that the organization coordinates through a Wilmington service provider, La Cuna. The program, which helps develop parents’ skills in reading engagement and promotes home literacy, works with about 200 parents from throughout the Wilmington elementary schools, mostly at the request of the principals, according to the United Way.

Ávila is also on the organizing committee for the United Way of Greater Los Angeles’s Annual Fall Into Literacy Book Festival, which drew about 3,500 people on Oct. 13. The book fair aims to promote childhood literacy by providing resources, including free books in English and Spanish, and interactive learning experiences for low-income families for whom English is their second language.

How did you get the extra support and resources for English learners at your school?

At our school, there was tutoring only once a week and only for three kids per class. What we did was, instead of using the money allocated for parent workshops and attending conferences, we decided to use that money to extend the after-school tutoring for more kids and to have it twice a week. We asked retired teachers if they could teach those students after school, so we use the money to pay them, and we also looked for other tutoring programs offered in libraries or other community partners. Now, we have about 12 to 15 kids attending tutoring three times a week.

Parents need to know that if they join a strong group in their community, they can take advantage of local resources. We now have a community group formed by two parents from each of the seven elementary schools in the area. We share resources and expertise about what is working in our schools.

What is your primary request for the district this year?

What concerns me the most right now is the teachers strike. Personally, I have a very good relationship with my board member, Richard Vladovic, and his team. I have had the opportunity to work closely with them, and they even have recognized my work as a parent volunteer. As a  mother, it is my obligation to keep myself informed. At the end of the day, it is about my child’s education, but I also ask the teachers about their position because I have seen teachers giving up their lives for their students. I have also seen the opposite. I have told them I respect them, but at the end of the day, all I care about is my child’s education. So I’m hopeful that there’s going to be an agreement between the teachers and the district.  

How do you encourage other parents to get involved?

I teach other parents that they have rights first. Then I teach them that they also need to make a commitment. My job is once they understand both well, then they can start advocating for their children. I tell them as much as we love our kids and we want the best for them, we cannot just get offended, we need to be aware of the kind of child we have, not the one we wish we have. Our children are not always the superstar student. We need to work with them first, help them grow their skills. Once we have done our part, then we can start asking more for them. It’s our responsibility to make sure that our children are reaching the expectations they are supposed to at school.

As vice president of her school’s PTA, Alicia Liotta is getting an earful from parents who want to volunteer but are being held up by a new district policy.

This school year is the first that all volunteers who have any contact with students must be fingerprinted, and it took two months into the school year before the first batch of volunteers were cleared last week.

“It feels like for a lot of people in order to be able to volunteer at their child’s school and be an integral part of their children’s education, there’s a burden. And I just feel that’s not what it should be,” said Liotta, mother of a second-grader at Overland Elementary in West Los Angeles. “It’s not that we believe there shouldn’t be fingerprinting. It’s the process, it just doesn’t feel like it was rolled out appropriately.”

At Overland, some programs are run entirely by volunteers, including math, science and gardening activities and festivals, in addition to the vital help parents provide in the classrooms on a daily basis. The 500-student school each year has about 300 parent volunteers, but Liotta said there are not as many this year.

“We see, at least at Overland, that a major part of why our school is so successful is because we have so many parents volunteering.”

• Read more: New fingerprinting requirements are keeping LAUSD parents from volunteering

The district for years has required that volunteers “who had a lot of contact with students” be fingerprinted, but only “at the discretion of the principal,” a district spokeswoman said. This year, the requirement has been expanded to all volunteers who have any contact with students.

Liotta said her school wasn’t notified of the new requirement until four to six weeks before the start of the new school year, and she said most parents have found that it “is a process full of barriers.”

Parents must show up in person three times: first in the school office, for their office staff to make the fingerprinting appointment for them. Then they must go to one of the sites that offer the fingerprinting, but “there’s none on the Westside. They have to go either to Beaudry (the LA Unified headquarters) in downtown, Woodland Hills, or Gardena. There’s absolutely nothing near or around our school.” Then they have to pick up their badge in person at the school.

The fact that school officials have to make the appointments for the parents is also a burden on school staff. “Schools are short of staff to begin with, so that’s a problem because that’s taking away their time from other things they should be doing. Just scheduling is an issue.”

Then there’s the $56 fee. While that isn’t an issue for many Overland parents, Liotta knows it is for other parents in the district. At LA Unified, over 80 percent of the students live in low-income households.

The problem is not new. Liotta pointed to a 2013 op-ed by former board member Tamar Galatzan that highlighted the same issues. “Between now and 2013 nothing has changed!” Liotta said. In 2014, the district did open six additional sites besides Beaudry where parents could be fingerprinted, in response to a resolution Galatzan sponsored.

Liotta said parents are not against fingerprinting being required for safety. “I’m not saying that we should not have the fingerprinting, but I just think the process should be made easier.”

She hopes the district can fix the process to make it more convenient for families, particularly for those in underserved communities.

What needs to be fixed?

The parents in our school have risen above it, and people are going both days wherever they need to go to be fingerprinted (first to the school office to arrange the fingerprinting appointment, then to the site to be fingerprinted). But it definitely poses a burden to parents in areas where it is more difficult for them to be able to have the time to do that, as well as the means to pay the $56 fee. Parents in our school are definitely not happy about it. After the ‘This is ridiculous, we’re not going to do it’ — in the end we have a very engaged community and people are doing it for the benefit of the kids. But not all parents are able to do the same. We all have struggles, but this in particular shouldn’t be an obstacle.

How do you balance school safety?

We have discussed this with all other parents in our school, we all understand it. These are our children. We don’t want someone in the classroom with children that shouldn’t be. However, when parents are volunteering, they’re never alone with a child. There’s always a librarian or a teacher supervising, or another parent is there.

I’m not saying that we should not have the fingerprinting, but I just think the process should be made easier, whether that means open more sites closer to other schools, whether that means the district bringing mobile live-scan (vans) to school sites. I just think they are making it very difficult for parents to get into the classroom, and that’s what schools need, especially given the school cuts.

How does this affect kids in the classroom?

For someone like me who runs two major programs in our school that are educational and curriculum-based, I rely on volunteers to do these programs. I’ve been like, ‘Oh my God! How am I going to be able to put on these programs in six weeks if everyone has to have an appointment, then get fingerprinted, and then I’m hearing it is taking two weeks to a month to get the badge to be able to actually volunteer. We found out about this six weeks ago. Everyone was ready to go, and we were basically told, “Hold!”

Also because our class sizes in LAUSD are a little bit bigger, the teachers rely on parents coming in so they can have more individual one-on-one time or they can monitor reading groups or whatever. Volunteer parents can walk around and help so that the teacher can focus on a child, whether it is to do testing or grading. Again, I think the reason why our school especially excels is because the parent involvement is huge, and I think the district is making it harder and harder for parents to be engaged. It’s frustrating! But I’m sure the district can rectify the situation.

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district.

Faith Wroten’s son has dyslexia, and finding the right support for him has been a challenge as he’s been in different schools and school districts. She’s found that some schools, teachers, and districts still lack sensitivity and don’t provide enough guidance for parents of students with learning differences.

Wroten started to notice her son’s struggles with reading when he was 6 years old. “I thought, ‘He’s young, he will get better.’” Instead, it got worse, and when he was in fourth grade, his performance in school plummeted. He was attending an elementary school in Compton Unified, where he also went to middle school. But this year he moved to LA Unified and is in ninth grade at Jordan High School.

“I was always scared to come to LAUSD because it’s so big,” Wroten said. “But he is doing fine. He’s playing football, and he has a period where he gets reading intervention in class. Now he knows how to ask questions and request help, but getting there was a process. I have had to teach him myself how to ask for help.”

Dyslexia is a learning disability that affects 1 in 5 students nationwide. Students have difficulty reading fluently and accurately and with spelling, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they require special education services. But they do require different levels of intervention.

LA Unified has been gradually increasing support for students with dyslexia. Last year, it launched a Dyslexia Awareness Campaign and marked October as Dyslexia Awareness Month across the district. This school year, the goal is to increase parent participation at workshops and access to the district’s resources. On Wednesday, Oct. 3, at 10 a.m., the district will hold its Central Committee Parent Training on Dyslexia Awareness at the Office of Parent and Community Services on Temple Street in downtown LA. The first parent workshop of the year will be Nov. 7.

According to a presentation by district officials at an August school board meeting, teachers from more than 500 schools in grades kindergarten through second — along with principals, assistant principals, school psychologists, and other school staff — have been trained on identifying characteristics associated with dyslexia. Officials also announced that the number Intensive Diagnostic Educational Centers (IDEC) will expand, and teachers will receive additional training at 450 more elementary schools.

These centers support 600 students a year who have significant reading disabilities and don’t respond to traditional intervention. Last year, 23 were in place, and this year 19 more will be added at school sites.

Wroten said her experience in the early stages was challenging. She didn’t know where to go to ask for support, and the elementary school her son was attending was not a good resource. She couldn’t get any guidance. She had to look for external resources on her own. But after years of learning about her son’s learning differences, she was able to request the right support from the school and an Individualized Educational Plan was put in place for her son. Now he receives reading intervention in class and enough support for him to have a 3.8 grade-point average. “He has improved a lot,” she said.

How did you start noticing your son’s trouble with reading?

I noticed that he was having difficulties when he was 6 years old. He was always counting his letters backwards. His D’s have always been backwards, so dog is bog. To this day, we have to still help him, to turn it around.

What were the first steps you took to help him?

In second grade, I had him tested because the school said, ‘Hey, something is not right.’ I had everything tested: his eyes, his ears, his sight, even his speech. They said his speech was fine, and I was saying, ‘No, it’s not.’ But that was when he was in a different district. This is his first year in an LAUSD school. So since he wasn’t identified in school, I took him to get an assessment at Lindamood-Bell (Learning Center), and that’s when we found that he had dyslexia and an auditory issue. So, I took the results back to the school. This is when we were in a different district. And then he had some support in class, but in fourth grade his reading was terrible. He cried throughout fourth grade because he really couldn’t understand half the things that he was reading, so he felt in the dark. He was really having a hard time. He then had a resource specialist teacher come to his class, something he also has now. I put him through a summer reading program, and that actually sparked something.

What can school districts and schools do to better support students with dyslexia and their parents?

I think, honestly, the district, all school districts, need to be more open to the fact that there are a lot of kids that are different. There could be a cookie-cutter way of learning, and if there are kids that have dyslexia or any issue that requires them to learn differently, they need to have those resources available to them (sooner). And it shouldn’t be that big of a fight for parents when we’re entrusting our kids to the district. If I’m entrusting my kids to you, then you should be able to get me help or guide me to where the resources are to help them. It’s supposed to be a partnership. I am bringing my child to you every day, to educate them, then you need to be sensitive to the differences that they may have. Our kids don’t learn the same. I think they need to be sensitive to them socio-economically as well, because there are some kids who have other stuff going on, that’s also preventing them from fully engaging in what’s going on in school.

Some teachers see them as a distraction and remove the child from class. They need to see beyond and why he’s been this way. A lot of teachers are not taking that extra step, and so they are just ostracizing these kids and they are taking them out of the classroom and they actually need help. Sometimes that’s a cry for help. And so, we are not being sensitive to that. But also we need more resources for these kids, from the state.

What can parents request from schools to help their students?

I’m still making sure that his IEP is being used, that he is seeing his RSP teacher (a resource specialist). From what I know, he’s doing OK right now. He’s gone from not really reading to him having a 3.8 (GPA) at this point, so he’s improved a lot. I was always scared to come to LAUSD because it’s so big, but so far he’s doing well. I think just getting to the point to get an IEP for my son was a very long process and a total waste of time. And the kids get lost sometimes in the shuffle. It’s a waste of time because he is still going to school every day at that point. And he still needs services at that point. And what he is doing is prolonging him getting his services. It wasn’t easy, to finally get the IEP.

Once he got the IEP and an RSP teacher, he was able to just not be pressured with reading. I was also able to find help from places like the Special Needs Network. I’m just a really proactive parent. I know that a lot of our parents are not. And so our kids end up really, really, really struggling. Actually, I’m seeking to become a teacher. I’m working on going into a program seeking my credential as a special education aide, so that I can help kids, like my son, to help them get more.

How have you helped him?

He and I had to learn to ask questions. There are things that I’ve had to teach him because when kids are dyslexic, a lot of times they learn how to compensate for their lack. And so a lot of them become behavioral. A lot of them become manipulative because they’re trying to figure out a way around what their issue is. I have helped him get organized.

I think the reason why he’s come through the way he has is because I’ve had to go and self-educate him and myself on how to deal with him on our own.

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Mónica Otlika is thrilled that her two children have started kindergarten and first grade at the ideal school for her family, after a years-long search that began when her oldest child was just a toddler in the Head Start program.

“It couldn’t wait. The foundation for a successful education begins at home and then kindergarten,” said Otlika, a Mexican immigrant.

In Head Start, the federal program that provides early childhood education and other services to low-income children, she received information on when to start filling out applications for kindergarten.

“I started asking other parents for school recommendations and did many Google searches. I did everything in my hands to find the best option possible, which is not easy where I live. Good options are not abundant.”

As she researched schools, she was looking not only for strong academics but for a school that would embrace her children’s Latino culture and native language, Spanish.

Her first visit was to her neighborhood school in Board District 5, Miles Elementary in Huntington Park. But she said it took only 15 minutes at the school’s office to realize that it was not the school she had in mind for her children.

“When I showed up at the school’s office for the first time, the staff didn’t make me feel welcome and didn’t answer my questions the way I expected. Some of my questions were not even addressed, and I could see they were not very attentive to the kids. My daughter is a shy and very sensitive girl, and I thought this is definitely not the school for her.”

So she continued searching. Otlika used the California School Dashboard to compare schools and get their report cards. The state’s online school accountability site has been criticized for not being parent-friendly or easy to understand, but she said it worked for her.

The California Department of Education announced this month that an improved version of the dashboard will be launched in December.

After comparing schools, she decided to enroll her daughter, and then her son, at KIPP Corazón, a K-4 independent charter school that opened in the summer of 2017 in the neighboring city of South Gate.

“It’s important for us, the parents and families in my community where the majority of us have limited resources, that we do whatever it takes to give the best possible education to our kids. Finding good schools is the only possibility we have to secure a good future, a better life for them.”

What kind of school did you want for your children?

First, a school that would promise good academic performance, and a safe, welcoming environment for them and for my family. Nothing different from what every parent wants for their kids’ education. I was looking for a school with good performance reviews and that would offer the best foundation in values and academically, where they could grow as students but also at a personal level. I think I found the right school.

How did you find it, where did you search?

It was hard because I was educated in Mexico, so I had no idea how to start, where to go. I started doing what parents typically do: asking other parents with older kids. Some recommended my neighborhood school, Miles, but it only took me visiting the school office for 15 minutes to realize that it didn’t feel welcoming and safe, then the reviews were also not good. Then other families told me about KIPP Comienza, and they told me it was a great school. I applied for my daughter but she was not accepted, so I kept looking. I considered Aspire schools until KIPP Corazón opened. I applied, and then she got accepted.

I started with a Google search on the Internet until someone told me the California School Dashboard was the place to go to find an official report card of the schools in the state, so then it was much easier. By looking at the colors green or red, I could know how good or bad each school was that I was considering. The indicators for the KIPP schools I was looking into were in 80 percent or more, so that was the kind of school I wanted.

What was the most important aspect of your search?

Academics were very important, but in second place I was determined to find a school that would fit the needs of my daughter as an English learner. I didn’t just want a school where she was going to receive the support to reclassify, but I also wanted a school that would help her to become bilingual and bicultural. My family lives in Mexico, and I want my children to keep speaking Spanish fluently so they can communicate with my family and because being bilingual now is a great advantage for their future.

This was actually the reason why I considered Miles at the beginning because they have a dual program in Spanish. But when I realized that KIPP Corazon also had the Spanish program, I loved the idea of having my daughter there.

It’s important that my children go to a school where they feel their culture is valued, and not only their culture, but all the other cultures of the children that go to the same school.

Sara Martínez, an LA Unified mom living in the southeast boundaries of Board District 5, had to put everything aside for one day so her voice could be heard by the school board as they decided how to elect a new representative for her son’s school and community.

She didn’t have to ask for time off from a job because she cares full time for her 13-year-old son with autism, who takes classes online through LA Unified’s Carlson Home/Hospital School until Martinez is able to find a school placement. But she did have to hire a caregiver so she could go to the Aug. 21 board meeting.

But to ensure she could speak during public comment, Martínez arrived by 6 a.m. to line up outside LA Unified’s headquarters in downtown LA.

Parents or community members who want to address the full school board have to wait for the monthly board meetings and sign up that day to get one of the limited number of speaker slots, which allow the speaker three minutes during public comment. (If the person speaks another language and needs translation, they are allotted more time without a specific limit.) Those slots are secured on a first-come, first-served, in-person basis on the day of the meeting, so people have to line up early, even though the board meeting doesn’t start until 1 p.m.

At the August meeting, there were only seven speaking slots allotted for that particular board discussion on the district 5 seat, which is why some parents slept overnight on the sidewalk to be able to make sure they could speak that day. However, just before the meeting started, the district decided to grant more speaker slots and granted one to a former board member, Jackie Goldberg, who was being considered for an appointed board position. A spokeswoman said in an email that the district has a general policy of allowing public officials to address the board.

(The full district explanation of how speaker slots were allotted last week is at the bottom of this article.)

“Many parents couldn’t be here today,” Martínez said. “I was able to find someone to help me with my son, but other parents cannot just call their employers and say that they need to be at a meeting on Tuesday at 1 p.m. That’s why I am here, to speak on their behalf.”

Martinez said she has been meeting regularly at her home with about eight other parents or calling one another to keep themselves updated on who would be representing them after their board member, Ref Rodríguez, resigned in July after pleading guilty to money-laundering charges related to his 2015 election.

“I am here to say that we, parents of the southeast, want a special election to elect the person we want to represent us.”

LA School Report had a conversation in Spanish with Martínez minutes before she headed into the boardroom to address the school board.

Why did you decide to put everything aside today and make sure you were here in person?

I am here not just for me, but also on behalf of other parents. We don’t want that seat to remain empty. We want someone who can represent our kids well and has a voice and can vote on our behalf at that table. There are so many issues in our community, and we need someone who understands them and will help us solve them.

How difficult was it for you to be here today?

First of all, our kids have minimum days on Tuesday, the day the meetings are held. Sometimes we help each other and take turns so we can be present at the meetings. Like today, I had to ask someone else to help me watch my son so I could be here. In order to be here, you need to find support from other parents because it’s hard, but we need to be here and make sure they see we care about their resolutions and how they implement them.

What options do you have besides coming here in order for you to be heard by the school board?

It’s very difficult, and now that we don’t have a representative, even more so. With him (when Ref Rodriguez was in office), I know that people from his staff went out and met with parents at school sites and he opened an office in South Gate, where it was much easier for parents to be heard without having to come all the way here. So we need our new representative to go out to our neighborhoods to meet with us and hear about the issues we face every day, in hours that are convenient for us. The only reason why I can be here today, and being able to speak, is because I had to leave my job taking care of my special needs son. Otherwise, I would be in the same situation as most parents in my community.

That’s why it matters so much who’s going to be in that seat. It’s important that he gives us voice, but also that it’s someone who really represents us and addresses our needs. I’d like the South Gate office to remain open, so we can still meet there with our new representative in flexible schedules. It will also be very helpful for the new person to speak Spanish because unfortunately most of the parents in my community don’t speak English, and having to come to these meetings and not being fluent in English is difficult, because in my own experience, now that I know more English, I noticed that the translators translate in a certain way but not the way we want our message to come across.That’s unfortunate. I wish to be able to speak to my representative face to face without language barriers.

Which one of the options that are going to be decided on today are you in support of? Do you support a special election, the appointment of Jackie Goldberg, or the opportunity to nominate someone as an interim representative?

Honestly, I had no idea about the third option. I’m just hearing it from you right now. And that’s exactly why I am here, because there are things that we are not aware of and they will vote on.

I’m a very involved parent, because I have to be because of my son’s special needs, and I’m always trying to be informed about everything that has to do with the school district. I try to be updated with the news and calling people who can keep me informed, but not all parents are able to know what’s going on, especially in our communities. We want to have a voice. Our community needs someone who can put our kids first, and that’s why I am here today.

DISTRICT RESPONSE

In an email, a district spokeswoman provided a response from the office of Board Secretariat Jefferson Crain regarding how the speaker slots were allotted last week:

“The Board of Education respects the views of all stakeholders and the importance of ensuring that their perspectives are represented. Included in the Board Rules are guidelines to help provide opportunities for public comment while efficiently conducting the District’s business. Board Rule. 131 covers the public comment portion of the meeting. It says the guidelines can be waived, when necessary, and that elected and appointed officials may be allowed to speak first as a show of courtesy.

“Speakers sign up to speak just prior to the meeting at a table set up near the entrance to the Board Room. The doors open a half-hour before the meeting starts.

“During the Aug. 21 meeting, former School Board Member Jackie Goldberg stopped at the speakers table just as the doors were opened. The Board Secretariat’s staff is aware of the practice of allowing public officials to address the Board, so they added her name on the speaker’s list for Tab 10. They mistakenly signed up the woman who was accompanying Ms. Goldberg; she should have been signed up at the same time as the general public.

“The number of speakers for Tab 10 was increased because of the unusual number of people who wanted to address the Board on the item. Dr. McKenna sent an email to Ms. García on Monday, asking for an exception to the number of speakers. The Board President agreed, and included Board Secretariat Jefferson Crain on her plan for the day.

“Mr. Crain believes that everyone who had waited in line and had wished to speak had been able to do so. Had he learned that additional people still wanted to be heard, he would have brought it to Ms. García’s attention.

“Sometimes, the number of people who would like to address the Board at a meeting may exceed the time available and that is why the Board maintains multiple avenues for individuals to share their concerns, support or opposition to issues. Board Members are also available by phone, fax, email and U.S. Mail. Board Members also appear at multiple community meetings and are always interested in community input.”

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Finding the right school where her son could succeed was a struggle for Mary Najera. For years, she didn’t know how to find other public school options. Now, she is dedicated to making that journey easier for other moms like her.

Najera founded “Moms in Action for Better Education,” an advocacy group for parents in East Los Angeles. Dozens of moms from Boyle Heights, a low-income neighborhood in East LA, have joined Najera in her mission to educate parents in their community about school choice.

“They need to fight for better education opportunities for their children if their schools are failing them as they did my son,” Najera said.

Her son attended LA Unified elementary and middle schools in Boyle Heights. Even though he was identified as a gifted student in third grade, Najera said he was not getting the support he needed. At the end of middle school, she was so concerned about his lack of progress that she asked for him to be held back, but the school refused. When she eventually found a charter high school for her son, he was tested by that school and found to be reading at a third-grade level.

“I share with them my personal experience with my son. I hope by knowing my story, they realize they need to look for better school options for their children,” Najera said.

Najera meets with parents at least once a month to share what she has learned over the years. She also helps them organize meetings with LA Unified board members or attend board meetings and speak about what’s most needed at their children’s schools.

Members of her group were at the June 12 school board meeting to support what Najera called “Monica’s (Garcia) ambitious resolution,” titled “Realizing the Promise for All: Close the Gap by 2023,” which commits the district to provide the support all students — including English learners, special education students, foster youth, and those living in poverty —  need to graduate eligible to apply to a state four-year university.

How did you find a better school option for your son?

My son was deemed gifted when he was in third grade while attending an LAUSD school. He was in a magnet program and failing miserably in middle school. He was getting F’s, so I asked the principal to hold him back, and he said they couldn’t do that, so they were literally setting him up to fail in high school. Everything changed when he was given an application to apply to the Green Dot Public Schools’ Oscar De La Hoya Ánimo Charter High School. We’re a founding family of that school, where the first two years he really struggled. When they evaluated him, he was reading at a third-grade level, so he was staying in school until 5 p.m. and he had to go to school two Saturdays a month. Two years later, he was where he was supposed to be.

At the same time, his best friend went to Roosevelt High School, where my son was supposed to go. Just a few months later, his friend dropped out, joined a gang, and he got shot and killed.

My son was angry with me and told me it was my fault he didn’t go to Roosevelt with his friend  and that if he would have gone with him, his friend would still be alive. And I said, “No, mijo, you’d be dead too.”

Two years after that, my son graduated from Oscar De La Hoya with four acceptance letters from different universities. He graduated in audio engineering in film and recording from Cal State Los Angeles and is now getting his masters at USC. If my son, who was really failing, could do it, anybody can do it, but you really have to fight for it!

What’s one of your biggest concerns about schools in your community?

There is so much that needs to be fixed in the district than just writing up resolutions.

There’s a big divide in our Boyle Heights community. The division starts at the school because there’s a lot of charters in Prop. 39 space (shared campus space between traditional and charter schools) in Boyle Heights and East LA. I think someone needs to do something to address the issue that adults are setting kids against each other, adults against adults, and it is spreading out into the rest of the community and is getting ugly.

What is your main request for your board member?

Mónica García (her board representative) knows what we need as parents. She knows me very well. She knows that parents like me need more action from the district in making sure those resolutions are really implemented by the schools and teachers. We don’t see positive change happening fast enough in schools in our community, and they need to tell us how they are going to make sure those goals are going to be met.

Magda Karina Vargas, right, as her parent problem-solving group presents their plan to improve school attendance to LAUSD officials. ( Courtesy: LAUSD Board District 5)

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Of all the things Magda Karina Vargas has learned while volunteering at her daughter’s school, what concerns her the most is how big an impact students’ absences have on their ability to learn and on their schools.

Her daughter, who started fourth grade this week at LA Unified’s Ellen Ochoa Learning Center, has had perfect attendance since kindergarten. But Vargas, a mother of two who lives in Cudahy in Southeast LA, has been so worried about why other children miss school so often that she joined a problem-solving group started by parents at her school to come up with ways to reduce student absences.

Student absences continue to increase at LA Unified, and it’s an expensive problem.

Schools get paid by the state for every day a child is in school. LA Unified loses about $630 million a year from student absences. In 2016-17, over 80,000 students, or 14.3 percent of all students, were chronically absent, which is defined as missing 15 or more days. That percentage increases to almost one-third of students if you count those who miss eight or more days, according to an LA Unified Advisory Task Force report released last year.

“I knew about the (parent problem-solving group) through other parents, and I didn’t think twice about joining,” Vargas said. “I know that’s something we as parents need to take responsibility for and make a change.”

Three of these groups launched this past year in Board District 5 to bring parents together to identify problems at their schools and form solutions. The two other groups focused on increasing the reclassification rate of English language learners and on parent engagement. They presented their plans to top district officials, including Superintendent Austin Beutner, on June 21 at the offices of the United Way of Greater LA.

Having @AustinLASchools @Monica4LAUSD @nickmelvoin @lausdLDE Sup’t Huerta visit Ochoa Learning Center was a great way to end today. Our family problem solving group parents also shared what the FPSG & Parent Academy experiences meant to them. Engaged parents = successful schools pic.twitter.com/oaqCNxoZzX

— L.A. Unified District 5 (@lausdbd5) August 15, 2018

Vargas has been a member of school’s English Learning Advisory Committee for two years. Since joining, she has become more involved in her school and in volunteering.

“I realized kids miss school too often, getting behind academically. I volunteer in the classroom, and I can see how those students don’t catch up but in fact fall more behind with each absence,” she said. “Some miss school just because they have a minor cold, and I have learned that’s not a major reason for not attending school.”

But Vargas said when kids miss school because of personal matters or family issues, that’s another story. “We need to really care about those students and find out what problem that family must be going through. They need additional support from the school.”

Thank you Magda Karina Vargas for volunteering at your daughter’s school, for guiding her to perfect attendance and for contributing to the problem-solving group on student attendance. Working together, we can help our students do great things. https://t.co/6Ai7E7BSZ5

— Austin Beutner (@AustinLASchools) August 15, 2018

During his introduction as the new LA Unified superintendent in early May, Beutner said one way he is considering reducing chronic absences is to follow what school districts in New York and Cleveland have done by using direct mailers to inform parents how many days their children miss.

If LA Unified did that, “8,000 to 10,000 kids would be better attenders, they’ll learn, and absenteeism matters to the whole classroom because the revenues come back — probably $10 million of revenue for the district as a whole next year, so we can try simple things like that,” he said during a news conference.

Starting this week, parents will be getting recorded messages by phone from sports celebrities from LA teams such as the LA Lakers and LA Clippers encouraging them and their students to be in school every day, Beutner announced last week at his address to LA Unified’s leadership.

Vargas believes that by making sure her daughter attends school every day and on time, she is raising a responsible adult. “Setting this pattern would make my daughter responsible for anything in the future, that would definitely help her be successful in life.”

What have you learned about student absences that you want other parents to know?

I have learned that a routine doctor’s appointment is not an excuse for the kid to be absent or pulled out from class. Those can be scheduled at a time when kids are not in school. We as parents need to be more responsible at that and avoid our students’ absences as much as possible. Bringing our kids to school on time and every day should be a priority.

Keep in mind that they spend seven hours in school. If they miss one day, they have lost significant learning time. As long as the kid is not seriously sick with fever and vomiting or has a contagious illness, they should be in school.

What has your group included in your school’s plan to reduce chronic absences?

We want to advise parents on how to make doctor appointments outside school hours. Have more communication with the school principal, teachers, and school psychologist if they have family issues. They need to know parents have the right to be heard about their issues or concerns and can always arrange a meeting in person or by phone. Most importantly, they need to know that the school must provide support when students are afraid to go to school because they feel bullied or unsafe. Bullying is also one of the major causes of kids missing school. Most schools have a school psychologist on campus or they must arrange to have one available. When a student is missing school a lot, the school’s psychologist can call home to find out what’s going on. Some experience very difficult situations at home.

We also want to launch a campaign, starting in our school — but if it works we want it to be expanded across the district — about parents paying a fine once the kid reaches 10 absences for inexcusable reasons.

After analyzing different cases in our school, we have come to the conclusion that some parents need to stop being irresponsible. If they get a fine, I think they would start to see this as a serious issue. It is for the benefit of the kids. In my daughter’s class, there’s a student that misses school once a week. That’s not right!

Do you think there’s something the school should be doing as well?

I think we don’t receive enough information from the school about this issue. Parents are not aware that by their kids’ missing school, the school loses a lot of money that will affect not only instruction but other programs our kids need. We should get reports on attendance once a month.

We also need the community’s involvement, and the city officials and organizations to educate the community about how this affects us all.

Also, I’d ask the district to allocate some funds so the students that put so much effort into being in school every day on time can get awarded or get a prize.

For example, my daughter’s teacher, other moms, and I have had to put our own money into buying prizes, pizza, and gift certificates in order to motivate them. They are kids, they get really excited when their perfect attendance gets recognized. I think the district should give all schools money for that, to motivate students to be in school every day.

• Read more:

Easy money for LA schools: Get every kid to class one more day a year and generate $30 million

LAUSD loses ground in its fight against chronic absenteeism, but foster youth attendance is up

With Nearly 8 Million Students Chronically Absent From School Each Year, 36 States Set Out to Tackle the Problem in New Federal Education Plans. Will It Make a Difference?

Isabel Martinez is celebrating that her daughter is the first in her family to go to college. She graduated from Mendez High School in Boyle Heights and is heading to Wellesley College in Massachusetts.

Now Martinez is turning her full attention to her son, who she hopes will also go to college. But she’s concerned that LA Unified schools are not yet giving him all the support he requires as an English learner and for his special needs.

“He needs double the support from me,” she said of her son, who is entering seventh grade at Hollenbeck Middle School in Boyle Heights. “Many students like my son need to have the same opportunity to graduate, but they don’t yet receive the same support and resources.”

Only about half of LA Unified’s English learners graduated in 2017, the district said last week as it released revised graduation rates. The graduation rate for English learners was only 51 percent. For students with disabilities, it was 55 percent. Overall, the grad rate for the district in 2017 was 76.8 percent.

Martinez said she believes schools need to get more resources from the district to train parents on how they can better support their students who are English learners, so they can reclassify sooner and have the opportunity to excel and go to college. That’s why she joined dozens of other parents and community advocates who attended the LA Unified board meeting on June 12, to support the “Realizing the Promise for All: Close the Gap by 2023” resolution, which was approved unanimously by the board.

“We are supporting the resolution because it will close the gap for our students with special needs and English learners. There’s a lot of need in my community, so we need extra support for them.”

With the resolution, LA Unified board members “publicly commit” to students — including English learners, special education students, foster youth, and those living in poverty — to provide the support they need to graduate eligible to apply to a state four-year university.

What would you like the district to know about how to better support these students?

I think the district and the schools should know that they need to extend the support to the families of those students. Most of us are families with minimal education that need a lot of help understanding why our kids are classified as English learning students, how to read an IEP plan, the special needs language. As parents, we need a lot of support on that. By helping us, the students will be better supported too.

It takes a village to raise a kid, and it starts with the parents, educating and empowering parents. Sadly in our schools, we don’t have enough resources allocated for that purpose.

Who has supported you in getting your daughter to college?

I have learned so much by being part of Promesa Boyle Heights (a nonprofit organization of residents, youth, schools, and community groups working to improve opportunities for students and families in the neighborhood). The knowledge I have acquired is immense. Their mission is to support the kid from cradle to college, and that’s how they have been helping my kids. Promesa Boyle Heights’ work is integrated in the schools, supporting them, such as Mendez High School, where my daughter graduated from. But we as parents also need to be willing to collaborate, attend the meetings, and always be ready to learn and support the work that the organization is doing, because if the district does not provide what we as parents need to be educated and empowered, then we have to look for who offers that.

Promesa Boyle Heights has been a fundamental piece in the success of Mendez High School, and the improvement we are seeing at Hollenbeck Middle School and Roosevelt High School is because they have involved the parents.

What was your own experience in school, and what would you like to be different for your children?

My parents came as immigrants to this country, from Puebla, Mexico, when I was 3 years old. I was raised in Boyle Heights and unfortunately for my parents, the language was a barrier for them to help me have access to higher education. They had no idea, they had no access to information about how to support me to get ready for college and the whole process to get there. But the story of my children will be different, because, thank God, I am aware and I’m working really hard to support them getting there.

Maria Cerda and her daughter rally outside LA Unified’s boardroom on June 12.

Each week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Maria Cerda is an LA Unified parent who advocates not only for her children’s schools but also for the school where she works.

Cerda, a cafeteria worker at Sylmar High School and a member of the district’s largest classified workers union, SEIU Local 99, celebrated outside LA Unified headquarters in June when the school board approved a salary increase with their new contract, just weeks after cafeteria workers, school bus drivers, and other classified employees were poised to strike.  

Cerda’s two children go to magnet schools. Her son will be in second grade at Haskell Elementary, and her daughter will be a senior at Kennedy High School in Mission Hills in northeast Los Angeles.

She had come to the board meeting to advocate for her fellow union members and for the district to approve the contract, which included a salary increase for workers based on their seniority. She said it was time for employees like her — she has worked for the district for 12 years — to be paid more than new employees. Her pay will increase by 4 percent to at least $15.90 an hour.

Blanca Gallegos, a spokeswoman for SEIU Local 99, said that after a long, year-plus negotiation with the district, employees like Cerda who have not gotten a salary increase since 2014 will now get a raise of 4 percent starting this school year. Employees with less seniority will get 3 percent for the first year and another 2 to 4 percent the second year. The 3 percent will become permanent if the district has a positive budget projection as of March 2019, she said.

The agreement, covering more than 30,000 classified employees, was approved by the board for the next three years.

“We also agreed that we will participate in managing a $2 million fund along with the district so more positions can be open and longer shifts,” Gallegos said.

Even with an ending balance reserve of $670 million at the close of the fiscal year in June, most of that money will go to employee wage increases — for the classified workers and for teachers, who are expected to get a raise in a new contract — and to cover pension and health care costs, the district’s chief financial officer said at a media briefing on the budget in June. The reserve is expected to run out by 2020-21, when the district is projected to have a $482 million deficit, according to district budget documents.

Nick Melvoin, the school board’s vice president, was the only board member who voted against the contract. He said he voted no because the salary increase will exacerbate the coming deficit and because he was elected to “make hard decisions.”

Last Friday, the district also reached a tentative agreement for a three-year contract with the Associated Administrators of Los Angeles. The AALA represents 2,500 certificated and classified school administrators. The contract, which is scheduled for vote by the school board next month, guarantees raises for the first year and wage supplements the second year that can turn into permanent raises depending on the financial health of the district.

Contract negotiations with United Teachers Los Angeles, the local teachers union, resumed this week. A spokeswoman for the district had no updates after Tuesday’s bargaining session.

Why do you think the wage increase is fair?

Many parents like me who work for the district have a salary that is not enough to cover basic expenses such as rent, food, transportation. Because my kids don’t qualify for the school bus, I have to drive them to school every day, and I barely can afford gas.

I have been working for the district for 12 years. People like me deserve to earn a decent salary. Even the new employees are making the same as senior employees like me. We even train those new employees and we earn the same. I don’t think that’s fair!

In the summer we don’t have a job. In the 12 years I have been a district employee, I have only been employed for two summers. The district offers only a couple hours of work in the summer, and that has a hard impact for our families.

Why do you continue working for the district?

Obviously, is not for the salary but because I love what I do. I love to serve the students.

I really like my job! If not, I would have left a long time ago. But now that they have agreed to give us a salary raise, I think I can stay more years working here. It’s just a little higher pay, but that’s better than nothing. Also, it’s priceless, being able to work for the district where my kids go to school and where I can be closer to them.

What would you like the district to focus on for the next school year?

As an employee, I’d like to earn more as they have promised us today. I’d like to be treated fairly and that they show more respect for senior employees like me. And as a mom, I’d like that the district goes back to the older policy for magnets so my children could be eligible for the school bus. That would be very helpful for me. It has been very difficult to drive them to school and be on time for my job.

“When my son was only 13 years old, he wanted to end his life because he’s gay and was being bullied in school.”

Candelaria Medina says her son has come a long way from his middle school days, when he didn’t find the support he desperately needed. Last month he graduated from Bravo Medical Magnet High School and is headed to an East Coast college he picked in part because of its support.

Medina, who lives in a Latino neighborhood in South Central LA, says it is important that other parents educate themselves about the LGBTQ+ community, particularly Latino parents for whom the topic still taboo. That’s why she celebrated the LA Unified school board’s unanimous approval in June of a resolution that commits the district to increase support for LGBTQ+ students, their families, and schools.

“If you don’t have a gay child, you can educate yourself and others to be tolerant. But if you have a gay child, you can even save your own child’s life.”

Medina said the Latino Equality Alliance was the place where she, her husband, and their other four children found support, and in their own language — Spanish. That organization was also behind the creation of the resolution, which was authored by LA Unified board member Ref Rodriguez, who is openly gay.

This fall, her son will be attending Hamilton College in New York. Even though he was accepted at top universities in California such as UC Berkeley and UCLA, he chose Hamilton for its support of LGBTQ students. He felt neither his middle school nor his high school gave him the support he needed, his mother said. So it was even more important, she said, that his family rallied around him.

“From the time we accepted and supported him as gay, in high school, his academics were great. He’s achieving his dream because he said he feels encouraged knowing his family stands by him,” Medina said.

At his middle school, “it was like the issue didn’t exist,” she said. “He had suffered all kinds of abuse by then, but when he opened to me, I told him, ‘Forgive me, I don’t have an answer, but I love you and I will seek help and will support you.’ It has been a long process, but he’s now on his way to college.”

The resolution that was approved in June calls on the district to:

1. Recognize October as LGBTQ+ History Month.
2. Mandate a high school textbook adoption committee work with the Division of Instruction to include students as part of the committee.
3. Increase LGBTQ+ competency training for educators, staff, administrators, and parents.
4. Add a platform to achieve.lausd.net that shares LGBTQ+ information and resources.
5. Conduct an analysis of single user, all-gender bathrooms and find out if whether they comply with State Law AB-1732, which helps combat gender identity discrimination, describe how schools can request multi-stall all-gender student restrooms, and communicate all-gender bathroom locations and availability.

The resolution also requires the superintendent to report within 60 days with recommendations, which the board will consider for implementation by October.

“All students have the right to a learning environment where they are treated with dignity and respect. We are sending a clear message that all LA Unified schools are places where LGBTQ+ students are welcome, supported, and valued,” Superintendent Austin Beutner said in a statement after the resolution was approved.

Why do you think it was important that this resolution was passed in the district?

The bullying and the homophobia that gay students have to face in school is terrible. They are victims of all kinds of abuse, and schools need to know how to deal with that and protect those students. It’s time that schools really support LGBTQ students.

My son started suffering abuse in middle school when he was only 12 years old, and he didn’t want me to report it because he felt like the school wouldn’t support him.

Latino LGBTQ students also don’t have a system of support at home, particularly in our community. Among Latino families it’s something we hide. We don’t talk about it or just ignore the reality. We as parents and as a community need to be educated on this so there are no more victims of abuse in our society.

What kind of support did your son get at his schools?

Nothing. It’s like the issue was dead for them. The high school decided to cancel my son’s participation in a JSA Club activity because his participation was LGBTQ-related. He was devastated. I even had to talk to the principal. She understood it was wrong. But those were the kind of things the school would not support.

What do you think about the resolution asking the district to include LGBTQ history in the curriculum?

When LGBTQ students can hear that they are being included, even a little, for them it’s going to be extraordinary. It’s time that principals, teachers, and school staff be truly prepared to better address the support for those students.

What would you like other parents in the same situation to learn about your personal experience?

I would love for all parents to be well informed. Whether you have children who are gay or not, we all need to teach our children to respect all people and how to help others who are suffering abuse for being gay. Our children need our love, not our judgment. They need to know that we are on their side even if they’re gay, and schools need to be our partners in better supporting them to feel safe and have successful lives.

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Lluvia Saenz, whose three kids attend LA Unified’s Huntington Park Elementary, made sure she was in the district’s school board auditorium when the new superintendent, Austin Beutner, was announced. She wanted Beutner and the board members to hear directly from her why teachers need to be better trained to prepare students for state tests.

Her kids all receive what the school calls “achievement diplomas,” meaning their teachers chose them as top students in their class for outstanding academic achievement. But Saenz knows her kids are not meeting grade-level standards on their state tests.

“It’s no use if my kids are on the school’s honor roll if they are not proficient in reading and math. I feel like the school is taking advantage of me by making me believe my kids are learning, but the state evaluations show otherwise,” Saenz said in Spanish.

Last year’s test results on the state exams that students take in May — known as Smarter Balanced tests or CAASPP — showed that less than half — 40 percent — of LA Unified students met or exceeded standards in English language arts. Only 30 percent did so in math.

Huntington Park Elementary’s test scores were even lower, below both LA Unified and state averages. Only 24 percent of the students in the third-, fourth-, and fifth-grades met or exceeded standards in English language arts; 29 percent did in math.

“In this district, it is rare that a school has the majority of their students getting proficiency levels in the SBAC tests. The kids are getting really low scores in these tests,” said Saenz, who is part of the English Learner Advisory Committee at the school and for the local district.

What do you believe are the main challenges LA Unified faces in getting kids to grade-level standards?

The LAUSD is not prepared to deal with so many students. They don’t have enough personnel to train teachers to work effectively with that many students. The district is not investing enough in training teachers to prepare the students so they can meet academic standards. If they don’t have well-trained teachers, we cannot expect they will properly prepare the students to do well on these tests.

Why do you think teachers are not getting that training or support?

I think the district is not giving enough funds for teachers to get more professional development. If a teacher doesn’t have good training, he cannot provide his students with the tools they need to learn according to the standards.

What’s your overall experience at your kids’ school?

I can’t say my children are doing poorly in school, because they’re honor roll students. But the problem is that I can’t trust the grades they receive from their teachers when I see the SBAC results, and the scores they get show me that they are not proficient. I know that they are not reading proficiently, so I can’t trust the grades they get in school.

What are you hoping the new superintendent will do?

I would like him to follow the goal that Vivian Ekchian and Michelle King set for parents to be really involved in our schools. Ekchian let us set up groups to monitor our students’ academic progress and took our concerns into consideration. I really hope this new superintendent understands that we want to be directly involved in our kids’ education and that he values our input.

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Emilia Lara knew she needed to be involved in her son’s education. One thing she didn’t know is that as an English learner, her son needs to be reclassified before he can take the classes that will help him get to college.

“I didn’t even know what reclassification was,” said Lara, whose son is in sixth grade at LA Unified’s Carver Middle School. “A lot of parents I know don’t know what this means.”

Nearly a quarter of all LA Unified students are English learners, meaning English is not their first language and they are not yet fluent. The district’s goal is for these students to master English.

Until a student is reclassified, he cannot take what’s called A-G courses in high school. Students must pass these courses with a D in order to earn a high school diploma. They must earn a C or better in these classes to be eligible to apply for the state’s public universities in the University of California and Cal State systems.

Lara, whose son is not yet reclassified, said she started getting involved in her son’s education because he has special needs and is in a special education program. She spent many years advocating for her son to receive the appropriate support. Only later did she realize she also needed to make sure her son can reclassify as soon as possible and what is required.

“I have learned so much in the last three years. I used to miss school meetings, so I wasn’t aware that my son needed to reclassify to be able to take all English classes so he can take the same classes other students are taking already,” Lara said.

The process to become reclassified requires four steps: the student must pass the state’s English Language Proficiency Assessments for California (ELPAC), pass a teacher evaluation, receive parents’ consent, and the student’s English proficiency must match the average level of other students.

She said she is not alone and that there are still many parents in her community in South Central LA who are not aware of the reclassification process. Sometimes they are finding out too late about the reclassification process and why it is important for their kids to reclassify. They are not aware that not being reclassified puts them behind in their path to graduate from high school.

Lara has joined other Carver Middle School parents to form the Parent Problem Solving Group that started this year at the school. Three of these groups launched this year in board member Ref Rodriguez’s District 5 to bring parents together to identify problems at their schools and form solutions. Their plan will center on training other parents to support their students in the reclassification process.

“I came to this country over 20 years ago to support my parents, my family. Now that I have children, I want him to have a good education so he can have better opportunities in life,” Lara said. She has another son attending West Vernon Elementary.

“All parents need to know that our kids have better opportunities in school when they have reclassified.”

What is your preliminary plan for your school’s parent group to address regarding reclassification?

I think just the fact that parents can hear more about it and learn would be a big step forward. We would like to see TV ads or people on TV talking about it in the shows. Sometimes we don’t read the flyers. Maybe more workshops for parents available in school. We’d also like to be informed about what is discussed on this topic at the board meetings. We know sometimes they make decisions about reclassification and we should be aware of that.

What else would you like parents to be aware of about reclassification?

We need to be involved to demand the support our kids need to reclassify. The sooner they are reclassified the better, but we also need to make sure they’re learning, that they can be ready to do well in English-only classes. The only way to do that is if we ask questions. We need to be clear what exactly we need to support our kids.

What goals do you have for your kids’ education?

I want for them to feel safe in school because in our neighborhood there’s so much violence, gangs, a lot of homeless people, prostitution. And they know that, sometimes my kids don’t even want to go to school because they feel unsafe.

My dream for them is to get a good quality education so they can continue with higher education, and go to college because without a good education you can’t do much in life. I want them to graduate prepared for a good job. I dedicate all my time to taking care of my son with special needs. I don’t have a full-time job, so I volunteer every day at school to be vigilant about how they do in school and also to motivate other parents to be involved in school as well.

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Erika López and her two younger children have been homeless for two years. She’s endured domestic violence. An older son didn’t graduate high school, another is in prison.

She wants a different life for her younger children and sees their success in school as the key. And for them to succeed, she has realized she needs to be involved in their school — something she didn’t do with her older sons.

“I want them to graduate high school, to go to college, and make better decisions than my older sons did.” Her daughter is in third grade and her son in fifth grade at Glassell Park Elementary School in northeast Los Angeles — the same school she attended. “And not only my kids, but my granddaughter too,” who is also at Glassell Park. “And all the other kids in this community, this is my home!”

López attends every meeting and school event. For three years, she’s been the president of the school’s English Learner Advisory Committee, and she leads a group of parents who function like a PTA.

“I am determined to break the pattern that I had, and that I learned from my own mom, of not showing up to any school meeting, parent conferences, open houses. I think we are not the only ones. It happens too often in my community, particularly among Latino parents.

“I want to make sure every parent can hear my experience and will decide to be involved in school because that’s the only way to improve the chances of our kids having a better life.”

López has also joined a Parent Problem Solving Group that started this year at her school. Three of these groups launched this year in board member Ref Rodriguez’s District 5 to bring parents together to identify problems at their schools and form solutions. “Parents in PSGs play an active role in the improvement of Los Angeles public schools and the transformation of our school district,” Rodriguez said in a Facebook post.

Each group will define the most urgent problem at their school and will draft a solution. They meet every week until June, when they present their final plans.

López leads the eight-person group at Glassell Park. They are focusing on getting more help for English learners. Her son has not yet been reclassified, and she has seen his grades suffer from being homeless.

“Going from one place to another and everything we have gone through with their dad has had an impact on them. But God is helping us, and I’m sure they will improve once we overcome this situation and they have a place to focus on their homework,” López said.

Sometimes they stay at shelters, other times they use vouchers for hotels where they can stay for up to a month. They have been on a waiting list to find a permanent home for over a year.

López said she has found support in the school’s principal and teachers. Teachers are willing to work with her children after school, and the school is helping them with supplies and tutoring. “They have helped me one hundred percent!”

She wants to give back to the school that means so much to her by helping other parents get involved so all students can succeed.

What has changed since you have gotten involved in your school?

Everything! It’s been day and night being engaged with school. I didn’t know anything about the kind of support students need. With my older sons, I was never involved in school, and that’s why only one of them graduated from high school, but he engaged in gangs and drugs and he’s now in prison. Being involved in school, especially in communities like this, really makes a huge difference. I have learned how important the parents’ voice is to helping the kids in our community. My situation is not good, but it has helped me open my eyes. Now I know I can do more for my kids. I’m acting now before it’s too late.

Why do you want other parents to be part of the Parent Problem Solving Group?

Our school is losing students and losing money. If we don’t improve what we have, parents are choosing to take them to other schools. But this school is important for this community, for me. We have 360 students, and only eight parents attend all meetings, all trainings. We are the same ones all the time. We already know what we want for our kids, but we want other parents to know. We need more parents to be involved, we need them to care for their children and for all children in the community.

What are the most critical needs in your school, and what do you want to change?

We need to get more support for English learners. That’s why I became ELAC president for the last three years to help their parents know what they need to know. We need to fix the (electronic sign outside the school) because that’s how we let parents know of our meetings and events, but we don’t even have money to fix that. We need ramps for handicapped people. We need money for after-school tutoring. We need funds for programs that prepare parents with technology, how to support our kids with homework using technology.

I believe helping parents to get involved in school is my calling. I want to let all parents know that my situation is not good, but I still want to learn how I can better support my kids with their education, and how other parents can do the same. We’re not alone! There’s always help, we just need to ask. The doors are open, we just need to give our best.

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Fidelia Muralles came to this country three decades ago so her children could have a better education than she did growing up in Guatemala. She thought all public schools in the United States were superior.

She believed that by taking her children to school every day on time and helping with homework, she was doing enough for her kids to be ready for college.

“My two oldest kids didn’t go to college, because they didn’t get reclassified on time. They were English learners, so they didn’t get access to college-ready classes on time” at their LA Unified schools.

But she hasn’t lost hope for her youngest son.

“I decided that the story won’t repeat with my youngest son. He’s going to college,” Muralles said. Her son attended 20th Street Elementary, where parents threatened twice to file a “parent trigger” lawsuit against LA Unified to raise academic standards. He is now in seventh-grade at an independent charter school in South LA.  

“I’m very involved this time, I attend the school’s meetings, the district’s board meetings. I have even traveled to Sacramento to advocate for my son and other kids in my community, because even though we are Latinos and low income, our kids have the right to a high-quality education.”

Last week, Muralles celebrated what she called a victory for families in Los Angeles, when LA Unified’s school board voted 6-1 to create an assessment framework that will allow parents to more easily compare schools as well as select the measures by which to evaluate them. And instead of being evaluated on what level kids are when they enter a school, schools will have the chance to show what they can do to help them progress.

LA schools will also be given a single rating, something parents — including Muralles — have advocated for in Sacramento to no avail. (The California School Dashboard, launched last year, assesses schools on multiple measures presented in a color-coded grid. It does not use a single score or grade to rate schools.)

• Read more: LA families will have more school quality information than ever before in new interactive tool that rates schools

Muralles spoke at last week’s LA school board meeting to support the school assessment resolution along with other families from Parent Revolution, which helps parents find high-quality school options. It was while her son attended 20th Street that Muralles got involved with Parent Revolution, which in 2011 helped write the parent trigger law, or Parent Empowerment Act, that allows communities to jumpstart changes at chronically low-performing schools.

In 2013, 20th Street became the first school in LA Unified to submit a petition under the parent trigger law. LA Unified denied the petition, but the parents kept up the pressure, and three years later parents chose to settle with the district and the school joined the Partnership for Los Angeles Schools. The following year, 20th Street was the most-improved LA Unified district elementary school on state math tests.

With the new school assessment framework, “the district is now giving us the capability to understand the information we need to help our children succeed,” Muralles said. “We’ve been in this fight since 2016, so for us, all the parents that have been fighting to improve our schools, this is a big step forward.”

How will a school rating help you and other families?

It would provide a more simple way to understand if a school is doing well or not. Giving schools a rating such as a letter grade, or from 1 to 10, would help parents like me and other parents in my community to really understand how a school is performing and give us as parents the power to decide what school we want for our children. Right now, the way the (California School) dashboard is, using colors, we don’t understand. It doesn’t help us at all.

In my opinion, a letter grade from A to F, the same way they grade our kids, would be the best option.

How did you start advocating for this resolution?

Since 2016, I was involved in the parent trigger for 20th Street Elementary. My son was attending this school, and Parent Revolution helped parents so we could get organized. Last year, when we heard about the dashboard, I started going to Sacramento. It was hard getting on the bus overnight to be there the next day for the state board meetings. But I did that trip four times because I thought we as parents needed to be better able to evaluate schools in our neighborhood, so we can demand the district improve the lower-performing schools. To support the (school rating) resolution, we met in homes in afternoons, evenings, or any time possible. We ended up collecting 500 signatures. I went to parents’ homes to explain what the resolution was about and to give them the opportunity to participate even if they couldn’t attend a meeting because of work or other issues. I feel proud that our voices were heard this time.

What are you doing differently with your youngest child that you think is working?

It has been very important to monitor his academic performance in math and English language arts particularly. I check his homework every day so I know what he’s learning. Parents also need to make sure how your child is doing if he is an English learner, what is the school is doing for him to reclassify, and if they have a plan. Also, we need to monitor the school environment and make sure there is no bullying. Our kids need to feel respected by adults in school. I also now attend all school meetings. It also helps that I meet with other parents once a month. Even if we all don’t agree on everything, we are still united, we communicate the good and the bad about our school.

What have you learned about having a voice as a parent?

We as parents have rights and deserve to be included. We deserve to be informed with the truth. Many parents I know who have children in fifth- or eighth-grade don’t even know that their children have to reclassify in order to be ready for college. Some don’t even know they are classified as English learners. That needs to change. We need to be involved, and we deserve schools and a district that will give us the right information so we can help our children. What has been accomplished with the new ratings for schools is important because only the district knew what were those lowest-performing schools and we did not. Now, we will know too. There are many ways to be well informed. We’re awake now!

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Sylvia Lopez’s oldest son was diagnosed with autism at an early age. James was in special education classes from preschool through middle school. But when he got to high school, Lopez and her husband wanted him to take regular classes. They knew he had the potential to take college prep classes and graduate.

They were right. James graduated from Bell High School in 2015 with a regular high school diploma and is now in his second year at East LA College.

“He was diagnosed with autism at 3 years old, he was non-verbal until age 6, he wouldn’t sleep, and all I know is now he talks so much, he’s tells all my secrets, and he’s in college,” Lopez said.

“It wasn’t easy to get there,” she said. To do so, she had to go against the school’s intention to place him in what was labeled mental retardation (MR) classes. That term was used by LA Unified for special education classes until 2016 when the term was changed to intellectual disability.

“We had to fight to put him in regular classes. They only offered MR classes at most high schools then. But mental retardation is not the same as autism, so we had to fight against that,” Lopez said.

James is in the mild spectrum of autism, so she knew he could thrive in school if she became his advocate. So she stayed in very close contact with the school, volunteered, and made herself available to help in any way she could.

“I had a relationship with everyone in school, the teachers, the principal, the administrators, the bus driver. Everyone knew me, so they couldn’t say no when we asked for something,” she said. “I never asked anything for me, but for my  children, and they knew that.”

Lopez said James had an overall “great high school experience” because teachers saw his effort. “He did very well, he tried very hard and got the help he needed from teachers. Because they saw him always trying hard, his teachers always gave him extra help.”

She continued to do the same with her other two sons, who are both autistic. Her middle son is 19 years old. He graduated from high school last year and now attends a transitional school. Her youngest son is 17 and in 11th grade. They both are non-verbal. She also has a daughter, who is 23 and not autistic. She attends Cal State LA.

“The three of them are thriving, because they know they have a mom who has patience, who loves them, who is there to be their best advocate,” Lopez said.

She said she’s constantly learning something new, but one thing she knows well is that “being well informed is so valuable, that’s why I share what I know.” She is a volunteer for numerous autism advocacy groups such as the Autism Society of Los Angeles and the Special Needs Network among others, where she helps low-income and minority families by sharing information with them and directing them to resources.

How did you become a good advocate for your children in school?

You have to be present, you have to be on top of things! You have to be on top of the teacher, the administration, on top of therapy. One thing that has helped me with my children is being involved. I always made myself present at school, attending many workshops, classes, volunteering. I have been there the whole time. Always talk about what your child needs, made it clear to the school that you’re asking for your child, not for yourself. Also, you have to let them know that the autism spectrum is very different, ask for what your child’s needs are. You have to be brave not be afraid to be your child’s advocate because nobody is going to advocate for your child like you. It doesn’t matter if you don’t know the language or that you don’t have enough education. No one knows your child like you do.

How did you get the school to give you what you asked for your children?

The school is more willing to work with you if they see you’re involved. It’s not that I had nothing better to do. It’s just that I’m trying always to do my best to attend school events and learn, because everything is constantly changing, so I get involved to learn too. You have to be diligent.

What do you think is important for educators to know about autistic students?

They need to respect them, they need to be supportive, compassionate, tolerant. Understand that kids with special needs, no one is like the other, and they need to be understanding. A lot of times when they have a student with disabilities, right away they’re turned off, they’re hesitant, they are even afraid. Many people react that way. These are very misunderstood children. Just like anyone else, they need common courtesy and compassion more than anything. Really wonderful great things come from these children! All three of my sons know how to cook, clean, do laundry, and other chores. I need them more than they need me. They bring so much joy to my life!

These are some websites Lopez recommends for parents of children with autism:

Special Needs Network offers eight-week classes on Saturdays to train parents to advocate for their children.

The A.Skate Foundation offers occupational therapy focusing on motor skills as well as social and behavioral therapy.

A Walk On Water offers surf therapy.

Autism Society of Los Angeles offers workshops about the laws and many other resources.

LA Unified’s board voted Tuesday to approve designating April as Autism Awareness Month. The Division of Special Education presented the latest data about students with autism in the district. According to the presentation, there are 15,500 students in the district with autism; 64 percent are Latinos, and nearly half — 47 percent — are in the elementary grades.

Silvia Flores, right, with her certificate of completion from the Parent Advocate Training Program, and Nadia Diaz Funn, executive director of Alliance for a Better Community.

Silvia Flores, a mother of two students at two LA Unified schools in South LA, wanted to learn more about how she can help her kids succeed in school.

So she signed up for the Alliance for a Better Community’s Parent Advocate Training Program, where she learned about building a parent network and working with school officials and community leaders.

“At those training sessions, I learned that my children have the right to quality education and how can I defend that for them,” said Flores, one of 40 parents in the pilot program, which launched last year at Edison Middle School in the Florence-Firestone neighborhood. “I will continue training myself to learn more about how to support my children to get to college, because I know being involved will make the difference.”

Now that she has completed the program, where she met once a week for seven weeks, she wants to continue going to monthly meetings so she can become an education advocate not only for her own children but for others throughout Los Angeles and to share her knowledge with other parents.

“Supporting the leadership development of parents through our Parent Advocate Training Program is crucial to real educational transformation,”  said Nadia Diaz Funn, executive director of Alliance for a Better Community. “When parents are empowered to use their voices, experiences, and knowledge to support student success, everyone wins. We are proud of the leadership roles our first cohort have undertaken not only in their children’s schools but also in their communities since they graduated from the PAT program. We look forward to continuing to support their leadership efforts.”

LA School Report had a conversation with Flores in Spanish, and this is what she wants to share with other parents about the Parent Advocate Training Program.

What motivated you to be part of this program?

My children are now going to schools that have been improving, but it wasn’t always that way. There are many low-performing schools in my community. I think as parents we need to bring solutions to our schools, so when I heard about the program I thought it was perfect for parents like me that didn’t know much about policies and standards, so I can demand better for my kids in school. I committed to the seven-week program last year, and I still continue to meet once a month with other parents to learn more about how we can work together with school administrators. My goal now is to have a plan for my children to apply for college loans when it’s time for them to go to college.

What have you learned that you had no idea about before the program?

Before the program I didn’t even know what reclassification meant. I didn’t know about the state standards that evaluate if my kids are successful in school or not. I even learned about federal standards and federal funds we have in our schools. I also learned about special education and the rights they have for accommodations and support.

Why do you want to be an education advocate?

I want to continue learning how to encourage my children to work hard and meet their academic standards. I also want to have a strong relationship with the school’s administration so we can support them on improving the academic performance for all students. I think a difference can be made if we have an open communication with teachers and administration. They need to hear from us what our needs as a community are. And as parents we need to learn how to find quality schools, how we can compare them and support them.

One of my children wants to become a scientist. I want to support him not only to graduate from high school, but to graduate from college and have a career he’d like. That’s why my goal now is to learn more about FAFSA applications and college loans. And, I want to share what I’ve learned with other Latino parents like me that need that knowledge as much as I needed it. We need to give importance to our children’s education and do everything we can to support them. These workshops have helped me to develop skills to be able to do so. I hope other parents feel encouraged to do the same.

The Parent Advocate Training Program is free, but space is limited. For more information, please contact Carla Lopez-Valdes at clopez@afabc.org or call (213) 201-1120.

(Courtesy: Lia Martin)

Every week, we sit down with Los Angeles parents to talk about their students, their schools, and what questions or suggestions they have for their school district. (See our previous interviews.)

Lia Martin’s 10-year-old son, Taylor, used to be two years behind grade level and didn’t want to go to school. Now he’s a year ahead in both math and English language arts — plus his teachers helped him discover his artistic talent and he is representing his classroom in an LA Unified art contest.

To help Taylor, who has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Martin said she followed her “mother’s instinct” but also learned how to get the most out of her son’s Individualized Education Plan, or IEP.

“When I found Vintage Math and Science Magnet, I talked to other parents, the teachers, the principal, administrators. I let my instinct tell me if that was the right school after I knew what the school was well known for and matched it with my son’s needs.”

The principal and support staff at the North Hills school, which last year was named a National Blue Ribbon School, have been very involved in her son’s IEP and make sure the plan is followed, Martin said. But before the IEP was developed, she sought legal counsel and a private evaluation to assess her son’s struggles as well as his gifts.

“When he started at Vintage, he was two grades behind in English language arts, because it was the hardest subject for him, so he was put in intervention. But teachers got very creative about finding a way to reward him when he was focused.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that 11 percent of all U.S. children ages 4-17 have been diagnosed with ADHD. Boys are nearly three times as likely to be diagnosed with the disorder. Symptoms include trouble concentrating, paying attention, staying organized, and remembering details.

Martin first noticed her son’s struggles when he was in preschool and throughout kindergarten when he was at a different school. “He was being misunderstood by teachers as they focused on his behavior and were missing his talents.” She had to learn how to navigate Taylor’s ADHD challenges and then learn about IEP’s.

Martin believes all kids, including those with ADHD like her son, have their own gifts and that they just need extra support. She found that support by developing the right IEP at the right school. But that process was not easy, so Martin decided to write a book about her experience: “Finding Einstein: My IEP Journey.” She hopes it provides hope and help for parents like her.

“Having an IEP doesn’t mean your student doesn’t have intelligence or they don’t have anything to contribute. They need extra support, and a good IEP can make the difference.”

How did you know your son needed an IEP?

My son had a 504 plan with accommodations that the teacher was not really following. My son didn’t want to go to school or was spending a lot of time outside of the classroom because he didn’t feel right. He was going to transition to first grade, so I thought it was the right time to get counseling and find something else and the IEP was the next step. Once you find the right school team, you sit down and start a conversation on what are the academic goals for your child.

You don’t need to have a degree in education to know what kind of support your child needs most.

How did you know the right school and the right IEP for your son?

You know your child’s IEP plan is working because you have to see an improvement. With my son, I could see how he was improving every year. Not only was he meeting grade standards, but in math he was above standards. I expected that because the school’s focus in math and science was one of the reasons why I chose Vintage magnet. I knew he could do better in that setting. He is now a top student in his class.

Also, my son’s teachers discovered he had an artistic talent, and they encouraged that and let him draw in class when he was done with his assignments. He got better and better. He’s so good at it now that he was chosen to represent his class in an art contest for LAUSD. He has fun there, he’s popular among his friends. It has to do a lot with just being a mom and feeling what’s the right place for your child.

What would you like other parents to be aware of when finding the right support for children with learning differences?

Do the research on all the options the school district can offer you. Don’t be embarrassed to ask. You may find something you know your son is really good at, then match it with your child’s talents. That your child has an IEP is not something to be ashamed of. If you get that extra support your child needs, you will be able to see their real brilliance. As a parent, you don’t have to know everything about education, you just need to know your kid to find what’s best for him.