Principal Does His Home Work Too

The children drop everything and come running when they see the white van drive through their Nyeland Acres neighborhood.

It’s not ice cream--it’s their principal.

The man behind the wheel is Garry Galvan of Rio Real Elementary School in El Rio. He spends his after-school hours on Wednesdays visiting the homes of his 750 students--most of whom are from migrant Latino families.

Galvan, usually accompanied by one of his 30 teachers, visits the families to “reinforce the connection between the school and the home,” he said. “Both are the center of kids’ lives.”

The “community walk” idea at Rio Real surfaced about two years ago after other approaches, such as monthly coffee klatches, failed to boost parent participation.

“Rather than not know why the parents aren’t coming to school, we go to them and end up getting a much higher percentage involved,” Galvan said.

Rio Real isn’t alone. Schools across Ventura County are trying new approaches to get parents into classrooms.

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Sheridan Way Elementary School in Ventura, for example, has a parent center on campus, and the Pleasant Valley Elementary School District holds a parent institute twice a year.

Both offer parents lessons on how to get more involved with their children’s education, from helping with homework to raising a child’s self-esteem to volunteering in the classroom.

“There’s a whole body of research that says when parents get involved in their children’s education, the kids do better in school,” said Ventura County Supt. of Schools Charles Weis.

Overall, parental involvement seems to be on the increase in Ventura County, Weis said.

“We’ve been telling parents over and over again that it’s the most important thing they can do,” he said. “Employers have also been realizing this and providing that opportunity to their employees.”

In fact, state law permits parents, grandparents and guardians to take off up to 40 hours of work per year to participate in the school activities of their children and grandchildren in kindergarten through 12th grade.

These provisions will be extended Jan. 1 to include workers with children in day care or preschool. The legislation grew out of research indicating that early parental involvement is beneficial in the education of their children.

At Rio Real, pounding the pavement has paid off: Parent participation in school-wide events has soared from about 35% to nearly 75% of parents.

Since Galvan and his staff took their show on the road, more parents also volunteer--about 40 are on campus on a regular basis; another 20 or so assist from home, preparing classroom materials.

“I sincerely believe this happened based on reaching out to the community and saying ‘We are here to help and to listen, but we need your help to really make a difference,’ ” Galvan said.

Increased parental involvement, Galvan says, also may be the

reason his students seem to do better in middle school than children from other schools of similar size and composition. There has also been a significant decrease in problems and suspensions at the school since the community walks began.

Weis praises Galvan’s approach.

“What Garry is doing is tremendously important, especially given the population he’s working with,” Weis said. “Our schools tend to disenfranchise certain types of parents. It’s especially important to reach out to those from migrant families and to those who have not been involved in the schools.”

Several administrators from Rio Elementary School District have joined Galvan on his community walks.

“He has been able to increase the participation of the Hispanic population a notch above the other schools because of that personal touch of walking out in the community,” said Assistant Supt. David Lopez in charge of educational services. “Given the opportunity of making that contact in a language they understand, they feel that they are welcome.”

In fact, some Rio Real parents have become so comfortable participating in their children’s education that they have practically taken to chasing Galvan down in his van for roadside conferences.

On a recent afternoon, Galvan and fourth-grade teacher Wanda Kelly interrupted their trip to Nyeland Acres after a parent flagged them down for an impromptu conference about homework.

“This is it, this is exactly what it’s all about,” Galvan said.

Once in the neighborhood, he and Kelly visited the home of Omar Munoz, one of Kelly’s students.

Hugging them, Omar and classmates greeted the pair in a mixture of Spanish and English.

Omar offered everyone popcorn and soda and showed off awards he had earned in Kelly’s classroom, while his mother conversed in Spanish with Galvan and Kelly.

“My parents don’t understand all of Omar’s homework needs, so I help and my sister and brother help, too,” said Omar’s adult sister, Olivia Garcia.

The home visits are important, Garcia said, because if problems ever arise, families can feel comfortable working with Galvan and Kelly to help children.

The visits also enable the principal and teacher to see their students in a different light.

“You find out things on a visit that you never would have known about,” Galvan said. “You also see the student in a different environment. You see them more expressive and relaxed.”

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Kelly said making the connection between home and school is crucial to a child’s success.

“If the child knows the teacher, the principal and parents are in communication, he is more likely to be stimulated and respond,” Kelly said. “If there is no connection between the parent and the school, the child is left helpless because he doesn’t have the resources.”

The payoff from the community walks can be seen on campus: Any day of the week, parents can be seen helping in the classrooms of Rio Real Elementary School. They assist students with reading or math, run photocopies or prepare art materials.

“It really makes your kids feel important and lets them know that you think school is important,” said Martha Lemos, who has four children at Rio Real.

“We have our kids here, but we’re here for all of them--to us, they’re all our kids,” Lemos said.

A lot of students need one-on-one attention and they would not get it if it weren’t for all the parent volunteers, Kelly said of her class of 31.

There’s a big push for more computers in the classroom, Kelly said, “but if I had my druthers, I’d rather have another parent than another computer any time.”