Parents of Hispanic Students Invited to Education Forum

Hispanic students in Anne Arundel County come from a variety of backgrounds with some families having been in the country for generations and others recently moving into the area, making it hard to navigate the public school system.

It’s with this in mind that Anne Arundel County Public Schools (AACPS) began hosting forums like the one being held at . The forum will be conducted in both Spanish and English.

“We wanted to make sure we were reaching out to Hispanic parents,” said Ellen Olsen, ESOL family and community outreach specialist for AACPS. “Parents want to learn more about the school system and ways to better support their children through the school system.”

AACPS began hosting the forums in spring 2009, holding a few per year in different areas of the county. They held a forum at Germantown Elementary School in November and plan to hold another one April 13 at a school in the Fort Meade area, she said. Annapolis, Glen Burnie and Fort Meade are the areas in the county with the highest Hispanic populations, Olsen said.

About 7 percent of the county’s nearly 75,000 students were Hispanic in 2010, up from about 4 percent in 2005, according to 2010 Maryland Student Assessment data. In comparison, in Glen Burnie about 18 percent of the 500 students at were Hispanic in 2010 and nearly 20 percent of the 312 students at were Hispanic.

The Hispanic Education Forum will feature workshops on mental health, school safety, college and career readiness and teaching parents how to help their children with their homework. Olsen said the school system held a focus group with parents last school year to help format the forums and determine the four areas that parents wanted to focus on.

“As a bilingual facilitator we do a lot of programs for the schools,” said Angela Swecker, bilingual family and community outreach facilitator at Woodside and Marley elementary schools. “Many of them are clueless about how the school system works here so that’s why we [host the forums].”

Olsen said the forums allows parents to ask questions of school officials as well as other parents.

“We connect with [parents] and they feel more welcome in the school system and they know what to look for [during] the school year,” Swecker said.

The forum will begin with a light dinner and some opening statements before parents are encouraged to attend two of the four workshops. Child care will be provided and older students are encouraged to attend the workshops with their parents, Olsen said.

Swecker with lead the workshop on helping students with homework. She hosts a Homework Club at Woodside for ESOL students.