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Angie Murphy, current president, Stamford PLTI Alumni Association, welcomes participants and community partners at the Café Follow-up meeting attended by 50 people representing Stamford’s many diverse communities.
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Beryl Williams, PLTI Alumna and SPS Family Resource Facilitator, contributes much to keep the Conversation continuing. Here she records notes, but was also a table-host, presenter on family engagement at the Café and baked wonderful desserts for all to enjoy.
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Juan Pazmino, SPS Family Resource Facilitator, translates the discussion into Spanish. Juan has strong relationships with leaders and families in the Hispanic community. Through his outreach, many new people joined the Conversation. Approximately one-third of the “Café” participants represented the Hispanic community.
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Donn Reid served as moderator and “Train Conductor”, as people moved from table-to-table during the Café Conversation. Donn used his train whistle to keep us moving, on time and on-track. A professional facilitator, Donn volunteered since the beginning and was recently recognized by the Volunteer Center for his contributions to the Conversation process.
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On October 22, 2007, 115 people, representing Stamford’s diversity, came together to find how best to meet community needs as the SPS develops the new Office of Family Engagement and specific ways to engage parents in their children’s education. Shown here are parents, educators, school administrators, community representatives and a member of the Board of Education.
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At a public forum in June, 2007, committee recommendations and outcomes were presented. Conversation co-chair and SPS director of student support services, Mike Meyer, announced that SPS will establish a Spanish bi-lingual family info line, with other languages to be added later.
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Ana Gallegos speaks with committee members. The committee later gathered 400 names and successfully petitioned Stamford Public Schools to establish an information line for Spanish-speaking parents.
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Shown in front are Ana Gallegos and Antonia Better-Wirz, co-chairs of the Language Barriers Committee, pictured with Donn Reid. Other committees: Achievement Gap, Special Needs and Communication are seen in the background.
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Eva Weller summarizes the Community Conversation process at the Follow-up meeting held in December, 2006. Participants defined common themes and areas of concern discussed at the October event.
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Stamford Public Schools (SPS) provided a centrally located school to hold the event. Invitation flyers were printed in English, Spanish and Haitian Creole to reach diverse groups in the city. Participants were randomly selected to form five small discussion groups held in classrooms. One discussion was held in Spanish. Ana Gallegos, PLTI Alumna, records the notes in Spanish.
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