Wednesday, Oct. 31, 2007
Adults are discovering that furthering their education can also have positive effects on children, families and the overall community, say county officials and parents who have become involved in a host of activities sponsored by schools, colleges and nonprofits.
‘‘Whatever gets parents involved in the community is a good thing,” said Jackie Dean, president of the PTSA at Wheaton High School, who attended Monday night’s Hispanic Heritage Celebration and parent resource night at Wheaton High School.
The parent resource night is one of several methods of outreach. Individual schools offer programs for parents such as literacy nights to teach parents the importance of reading to their children. The school system offers the Parent Academy, a series of workshops on topics that range from school psychology to establishing good credit, and even county centers like the Charles W. Gilchrist Center for Cultural Diversity work in partnerships with nonprofits and corporations to offer afternoon and evening classes for immigrants and their families.
During Wheaton’s parent resource night, parents could get information and ask questions of representatives from organizations including the county’s Department of Health and Human Services, nonprofit groups, Latino Economic Development Corp., and even Bank of America and The Catholic University of America School of Nursing.
Janice Kelly, a Wheaton High School parent, said programs like the Parent Academy helps parents learn valuable information and skills, and gives parents a centralized place to go for information.
‘‘Sometimes you don’t know where to go or where to start. ... If you don’t get the information, it can get overwhelming,” Kelly said.
Chris Miller, a parent who has attended literacy nights at Bel Pre Elementary School in Silver Spring, said the event is meant to teach parents the importance of reading to their children, but also could helps parents become better teachers at home.
‘‘[Literacy night] gives parents an opportunity to see what their children get during the day and what they can do with their homes,” Miller said. ‘‘It bridges the gap.”
The county school system hopes to create even more parent involvement through education with the newly formed Parent Academy.
Deirdria Roberson, director of Family and Community Partnerships, said the Parent Academy isn’t only trying to help parents improve their parenting skills for their children’s education, but also how to deal with the issues that often affect families and the community.
Parents are getting information about how to help children with their homework and standardized tests, and parents can sit in on workshops about how to manage money, establish credit, save for college and even buy a home. There are programs about conflict resolution and positive discipline, Roberson said.
All the workshop topics are created through partnerships with county agencies that have specialties in those areas.
‘‘The fruitful outcome we want is improved parent communication with school and with child,” she said.
Roberson said more than 300 parents have attended workshops since the Parent Academy started at the beginning of the school year. The programs are in the evening and at schools so parents will be familiar with the location. Child care is also offered.
While adults often get their fix of education through the school system, the county Department of Recreation and Montgomery College, and partnerships between the two, also offer educational opportunities for adults.
Barb Gaffney, a program manager for the recreation department, said some of the more popular courses include exercise and fitness classes, wellness classes and unique activities like horseback riding or dog obedience.
The Charles W. Gilchrist Center for Cultural Diversity in Wheaton is a part of the recreation department but focuses on a specific segment of the adult population that benefits from free education.
Martiza Rivera-Cohen, director at the Gilchrist Center, said adult education is especially important in Montgomery County, which has a large percentage of immigrant adults and parents.
‘‘I hope that we’re making it less traumatic for adults to be able to learn English, get citizen classes, but it is a process,” Rivera-Cohen said.
She also said while many of the classes are created to help the individual adults assimilate into American society, it is ultimately something that will benefit children, families and the entire society.
‘‘It is beautiful that these classes are helping parents that have not have been able to help children with their homework because they don’t speak the language,” she said.
Rivera-Cohen said the Gilchrist Center also started the Gilchrist Family Learning Connections, which allows parents and children to come to the center together for free or low-cost classes.
But it’s not just immigrant parents that need adult education, Rivera-Cohen said. In fact, the Gilchrist Center has been organizing a Spanish class for members of the Wheaton Clean and Safe Team, so they are better able to communicate with residents and the many Latino business owners in the area.
‘‘We are trying to address the needs of the community,” she said. ‘‘... But there is always more that can be done, absolutely.”
