Developing a Partnership with Parents - MCPS Staff Bulletin article: Cathrine Shinn, assistant principal at Rachel Carson Elementary School, talks about the effort to reach out to Spanish-speaking parents in the community.
While all other communities are within walking distance of Rachel Carson Elementary School, the Governor’s Square apartment community in Gaithersburg is nearly five miles away.
Many students living in this community are second-language learners and impacted by poverty. With geographic, language and economic barriers, the community seemed isolated.
Parents were often unaware of events and meetings taking place at the school, which meant they were unable to actively engage in school meetings and events. In March 2009, parent volunteer Alex Stavitsky-Zeineddin became an active and integral part of an initiative to reach out to parents in this community. Stavitsky-Zeineddin spoke fluent Spanish and offered valuable insight about cultural and educational patterns that were different for the families we wished to reach.
