Input

Voting was spread across many ideas, but there were a few trends that emerged: 

• #40: NEW - Unisex bathrooms at all schools (include hygiene kits for all genders) (10 votes)
• #31: NEW - In school social worker to help with homeless youth (8 votes)
• #2: 7 Votes - C Mental Health - Add mental health counseling services at all levels, NEW - preferably at least one bi-lingual, NEW - specific to suicide prevention at 8th grade, NEW - counseling groups for students (7 votes)
• #23: 3 Votes - Expanded homeless support program/staffing that reaches all schools, NEW - provide jobs for homeless youth and give credits for their work, NEW - more online classes NEW - provide this service outside of school times so students don't miss class (5 votes)

In addition to the voting, students participating in small group discussions facilitated by a peer. Here are the notes taken during the those table conversations: 

What are we already doing that is helpful?

• Many of the teachers are very engaging and form good relationships with students
• Counselors at CGHS and LMS are available and helpful
• After school programs such as Homework Club, Pride and Youth Equity Council
• Senior Seminar helps to prepare for future
• College and career counseling
• On-site McKinney-Vento liaison
• CTE and Next Step classes

• Add mental health counselors at all levels
• Increased academic support
• Increased bilingual support
• More resources for community learning center
• More preschool and kindergarten readiness
• Additional middle school teaching staff
• Funds for libraries
• Training to help raise cultural awareness of staff
• More diverse staff
• Behavior specialist

• Automotive program (higher level skills as well as basic like how to change oil, tires, etc)
• Student lounge
• More hands-on learning
• Sign language class
• Cursive writing class
• Adult preparation class (e.g. applying for jobs, doing taxes, obtaining housing)
• Reduce plastic waste and carbon footprint
• Later start time to school schedule
• More class options for freshman
• Non-binary bathrooms
• One-on-one support – especially for seniors
• More teacher aides
• School-provided showers, food pantry, temporary housing, social services

For this input session parents gathered in groups of 4-6 and answered 3 basic questions: 

1. What are we already doing that is helpful
2. From our list of ideas, what do you think would be the most impactful?
3. What other ideas do you have?

There was a facilitator at each table that spoke Spanish and took notes. For our group that included Mam speaking families there was some interpreting into their native language. 

After the two sessions, our facilitators got together and discussed the themes that emerged. They then voted on behalf of the families for the ideas that would be the most impactful. Other groups participated in a “spend your dots” activity where each person got 5 votes. There were 50 total LatinX parents who participated in one of the two sessions - totaling 250 votes. The total votes assigned to each of these themes was assigned by spreading those 250 votes out proportionally according to how the facilitators voted. 

The eight (8) themes and the votes associated with each:  

• #19: More preschool and kindergarten readiness, including parenting education (50 votes) 
• #14: Equity Training for staff, as well as equity curriculum for students (OWLS, Welcoming schools), district equity coordinator (50 votes) 
• #17: Extended learning opportunities (after school and/or summer) targeted to at-risk students (40 votes) 
• #8: TS Bilingual - Expand district' ELD program including staffing, program options, curriculum, professional development. NEW - Recruit and hire additional bi-lingual teachers and teachers who have skills to best support under-served student groups. NEW - this is especially needed at LMS (35 votes) 
• #2: C Mental Health - Add mental health counseling services at all levels, NEW - preferably at least one bi-lingual, NEW - specific to suicide prevention at 8th grade, NEW - counseling groups for students (30 votes) 
• #50 NEW - Parent support specifically for the Spanish speaking population: provide translators so they can understand robocalls/school documents, have regular parent meetings so they can talk/share/learn English and other parenting strategies (25 votes) 
• #4: C High School Focus - Guidance counselor that works with 5th year students and GED students to work at CGHS and Kennedy. NEW: Make at least one of these counselors bilingual (10 votes) 
• #32: NEW - Increase funding for food service - more nutritious food, no sugary breakfast food (10 votes)

List of all the ideas discussed at the table groups: 

What are we already doing that is helpful?

-        Support from literacy specialists

-        Educational assistants

-        Family resource center

o   Resources to start school

o   Available programs

-        ELL program

-        Provision of translated documents

-        Provision of translators

-        Dojo working for some (not all) to improve communication with families

-        Opportunities for families to communicate with schools

-        Having smaller schools

-        Counselors in high schools to help with scholarships

-        Safety protocols that are already in place for students

-        Online math resources for homework help

-        Teachers available before and after school to help students

-        Many clubs and activities for students to participate in

-     It is a lot of help with translations in Spanish, but we need more bilingual people.

-     The schools have an improved security system.

-        Supportive staff who provide support to students who have moved from Guatemala

Which of the new ideas would be most helpful?

-        More counseling

-        More teachers

-        Better nutrition

-        More transportation routes to get closer to homes and have less crowded buses

-        After school care

-        Homework help

-        Social skills instruction

-        More support for students in SPED program

-        More bilingual staff members – Mam and Spanish

-        Bilingual classes in Mam

-        Community learning

-        Provide English instruction for parents

-        More math and English classes

-        Homework club for after school

-        Summer school

-     We need bilingual people in Lincoln Middle School to help with the Spanish speakers.

-     More math teachers who can speak English and Spanish that can help with understanding.

-     More school transportation. Buses are full of kids. A lot of bus harassment.

-     After school programs at Bohemia, Lincoln and CGHS.

-     More counselors

-     Summer school, but not only for the migrant program.

-        More classes in art, PE and music

-        More preschool instruction

What other ideas do you have?

-        Tutors and after school homework help

-        English classes for parents

-        Summer school

-        Smaller ELD classes

-        More focus on preparing students for adult life

-        Longer school year

-        Help with applying for scholarships

-        Teach more cultural awareness

-        Learning from other diverse districts (e.g. Woodburn, 4J)

-        Family nights

-        More extracurricular programs

-        More music classes

-        Communicate emergency procedures to families in a way they can understand

-        More bus stops for preschool students (to get stops closer to homes)

-        More speech specialists

-        Workshops for parents to get to know each other and learn better ways to support their children

-        Community WiFi access available to families

-        More nutritional food

-        Parenting classes

-     Better school menus

-     Counseling and programs for parents

-     Phone calls and announcements in Spanish.

-        Offer additional support for students who fail classes

-        Full time preschool (5 days/week)