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Beltsville Elementary School staff is hopeful a beginner's English class at the Beltsville Library will help non-English proficient parents become more involved in their children's education.

The 90-hour class, put on by the Literacy Council of Prince George's County, is held Monday and Wednesday mornings, which instructor Shawnee Holmberg said makes the class more accessible to parents who don't work during the day.

"There are so many parents who have kids in school but don't work," Holmberg said. "I think this is probably the only class that does mornings."

The Literacy Council has been running the classes for five years, although this is the first time in the Beltsville Library. The class will end in December.

Classes are open to the public, but when the class at the nearby library was announced, Marie Smith, parent liaison at Beltsville Elementary, sent a flier home with every student.

Holmberg said that even though not everyone in the class is a Beltsville Elementary parent, most of them have children, and she focuses on activities that will help parents involve themselves in their children's education.

"There are things we can do that we can't do in the evening. We're going to do things such as book reports," she said. "We have the library right there. Their children have to do book reports, and they'll have to do them."

Holmberg also said one of the first things she will do is teach parents how to write a note when their child is absent from school.

"This is a life skill," she said. "We also require of them that they need to give a note to me when they're not here. You're here to learn and if you miss a day, you miss a lot of information."

Holmberg said 14 of the 25 people signed up to take the class are Beltsville parents.

Jenni Winters, Beltsville Elementary's English as a Second Language teacher, said she was surprised and pleased at the turnout.

"Parents will have better communication with the school," Winters said. "They'll feel more comfortable coming into the school, speaking with the teachers and helping with homework. When they have a certain level of proficiency, they can be more active in the school."

Beltsville resident Mayra Cruz has four children, two of whom go to Beltsville. She just began taking the class and said learning English will allow her to with their schoolwork.

"I have four children, so I need to communicate with the people in the school," Cruz said in Spanish. "I would like to help with the meetings in the school and also with my children's projects."

Cruz said she finds the class preferable to other available English classes because the library is within walking distance of her house, and because it is only $10 per student.

"I need the class," Cruz said. "I am very content with this class. I am learning a very important thing."

Winters said the school is currently looking into forming its own partnership with the Literacy Council.

"We decided to support the program because there are so many of our parents involved," she said. "We're all interested in getting parent involvement from the school and we are going to support them in anything they want to do in the future."

Staff writer Elahe Izadi contributed to this report.

E-mail Jonah Schuman at jschuman@gazette.net.