Highlights from Year One at
Hommocks Middle School
Empowering Parents: At the same time the PALMS committee was formed at the school, the facilitator, the bilingual social worker for the school, began meetings to bring together Latino parents. School leaders felt that by meeting with a small group of parents they could help them develop as leaders and encourage more parents to become involved at the school. In addition, parents said they felt more comfortable first meeting with a group of peers before coming to more formal meetings with school administrators and teachers from the PALMS Committee. This was especially true for parents who did not feel comfortable attending meetings held in English. In the Spring, this group, Padres Unidos por la Educación, met with school staff from the PALMS Committee to discuss future events for parents. This meeting was held in Spanish and translated into English, so that parents could most clearly articulate their ideas for future events at the school. During this meeting, the PALMS committee learned that parents hoped that any future events for parents would include opportunities to meet with teachers and to improve communication with their own children. Padres Unidos por la Educación, now has its own elected leadership team and regularly draws 10-15 parents to its weekly meetings.
Setting a Strong Vision: With strong support from the principal, the newly-hired social worker was chosen to facilitate the PALMS Committee at Hommocks. The large team came together with many ideas for improving outreach to families at their school. They used these ideas to inform the strong vision they created to guide all of their future work:
The future of our children depends on what we do today. We believe that school, and family partnerships can open the door to higher education for all our students. We will form an active community, committed to learning from each other to achieve our common goal.
During this period, the Padres Unidos members also created a vision of family/school partnership:
The school will be an inclusive and participatory space, suitable to the growth and comprehensive formation of all members of its educational community. We are motivated by the highest expectations and a solid commitment to make use of all available resources in order to prepare families with the necessary tools to make sure our children have access to post-secondary education. (translated from the original Spanish)
Both visions reflect a strong commitment to working collaboratively to help students go on to pursue postsecondary education.
Learning from Data: The team administered the surveys in the PALMS toolkit to students, parents, and teachers to learn more about attitudes about higher education, sense of belonging, and how welcoming the school feels to parents. The data bolstered the feelings many staff had about teachers’ attitudes, students’ sense of belonging, and parents’level of information regarding postsecondary education. For example, the survey showed that Latino parents had high expectations that their children would go to college, but few reported that they had spoken with school staff about college or knew the steps needed to help their children. The results of the study helped the school set their goals for change and begin to plan future activities and programs. In addition they used this data to present about PALMS to a meeting of the board of the Mamaroneck Union Free School District to garner wider support for their outreach efforts. (Read an article about the school board meeting that appeared in the Larchmont Gazette.)
Working with Partners: For the past few years administrators at Hommocks have been working with the executive director of the Hispanic Resource Center (HRC) in Larchmont/Mamaroneck on many school initiatives. The HRC reaches out to newly-arrived immigrant families with many direct services to help their transition into a new community. The inclusion of the executive director, who is also the parent of a Hommocks student, on the PALMS committee was a natural step. As the team made their plans throughout the year, she provided value insight about the community they are working to serve.
Crisis Relief: In April 2007,
the Hommocks community was hit hard by major flooding in Larchmont. The high
school was used as a shelter for families forced from their homes. The gym
at one elementary school was underwater, and some classes were temporarily
moved to Hommocks.
Most of the families affected by the flooding were Hispanic. The PALMS team
decided that any plans they were undertaking for parent outreach events should
be put on hold to address the crisis. Teachers, administrators, parents,
and students came together in an overwhelming show of support. PTA members
helped fold and organize clothing, staff collected cash donations, and the
lacrosse team held a car wash. Approximately a ton of clothing, diapers,
linens, shoes, and other critical items were collected and distributed to
families in need. The Hommocks staff, lead by the PALMS Committee, worked
closely with Padres Unidos to publicize the event, held in a municipal
parking lot near a local church. This close connection and the trust that
had been developed over the year through the work of the PALMS Committee,
allowed Hommocks to reach the community faster than other organizations and
to offer needed assistance quickly.
