Inside a LAUSD Parent Center, Which Aims to Help Los Angeles Families Better Navigate School & District Services
A new center in Watts is one of 300 the district aims to open, to help parents navigate digital tools, access laptops & access charitable donations.
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Edwin Markham Middle School in the Watts community opened one of LAUSD鈥檚 first parent centers last month, part of a larger plan to add over 300 centers in schools across the district.
The center offers services to help parents support children through school, along with career workshops and financial stipends.
As the district introduces more digital tools and platforms, such as the parent portal and the AI chatbot program 鈥淓d,鈥 it can be challenging for parents to adjust to new technologies. The centers, especially in elementary schools, will target struggling parents early.
鈥淲e like to explain the resources we have for parents early to get them involved,鈥 said LA Unified鈥檚 chief facilities officer Krisztina Tokes. 鈥淚t just makes sense.鈥
At the new center鈥檚 opening, parents were assured they had a 鈥渉ome鈥 at the school and were encouraged to take advantage of the resources offered. Besides workshops to help promote career, financial, and child-rearing success, parents will also have access to laptops on loan as well as Change Reaction, a new program helping struggling families make ends meet with charitable donations.
鈥淭his is a safe place for students, but the support of parents matters,鈥 said Lenya Crowell who helped found the parent center. 鈥淲e have got to keep our parents updated.鈥
LAUSD engagement officer Antonio Plascencia Jr. said bilingual programs are offered through parent centers across the district; and that remote sessions would also be offered.
鈥淓very research study that we have seen from over 50 years shows that when we engage and empower our students and our families we accelerate outcomes,鈥 said Plascencia.
Mexican-born Markham Middle School principal Juana 鈥淵umi鈥 Kawasaki described how a parent center in the community where she grew up helped her parents acclimate to life in the United States and acquire the know-how to help Kawasaki be successful later in life.
鈥淚 am who I am because of the parent center,鈥 Kawasaki said.
This article is part of a collaboration between The 74 and the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.
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