When parents become the students: How Yakima County schools are reaching out to families

The smell of cheese zombies and a sense of ambition filled the air of Grandview High School’s cafeteria last week. Dozens of parents sat at tables munching away on the classic Yakima dish, along with tomato soup, as presenters took the stage. For the next hour parents learned how to support their children’s post-high school plans.

It can be a challenge for any parent to help kids navigate college applications, keep them out of trouble and talk about mental health. While there are books, and parents can turn to friends and family for advice, there historically has been little structured assistance. But some area schools are stepping in to help.

Across Yakima County, parent support classes like the one offered by Grandview School District give parents a chance to access to information on critical topics. School officials said they are looking to form strong relationships with families and make them feel more comfortable within the school system.

Class conditions

The classes vary district to district — and even within school districts — but share some similarities. Generally, the classes are held schools the evenings after kids get out of class and parents get out of work.

Topics covered differ, but often repeat similar themes. Some classes are geared toward specific demographics, such as migrant students. There are classes that offer guidance on how to navigate elements of the educational system, including college admissions and financial aid. And some classes cover more personal topics, like mental health and gang prevention.

Strengthening Families is a popular model for parent support classes used throughout Washington, including in the Yakima School District. Family and Community Engagement Supervisor Anita Quintana said the classes cover topics like raising adolescents and how to handle stress.

Kimberly Rayl, director of teaching and learning in the Mabton School District, helped plan the district’s upcoming Parent Institute Day, scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 25. The annual event takes up most of the morning and early afternoon as parents choose between over a dozen topics.

Rayl said the district reached out to is staff and community partners to find compile a list of topics to discuss at Parent Institute. Community partners include Yakima Neighborhood Health, Yakima Valley Partners for Education and Yakima Valley College’s College Assistance Migrant Program.

Schools often provide food for families and offer childcare for young children so parents can focus on the event. Grandview Superintendent Henry Strom said these measures are taken to remove barriers that could stop families from attending.

“Recognizing that many of our families work, a barrier is going to work, coming home and having to fix dinner and then get your kids ready or yourself ready then to go to an activity,” Strom said in an interview before he was placed on leave this week.

He said the district intentionally scheduled its classes to start later in the evening, generally around 6 p.m., so parents do not feel rushed.

Grandview is in the midst of its Parent University series, which features approximately one class per month. Each of the district’s schools trade off serving as hosts for the classes. Topics covered include school safety, college and career readiness and social media awareness.

Language access is crucial at the events, particularly in districts with many Spanish-speaking families like Grandview and Mabton.

At Grandview’s Parent University class last week, much of the presentation on college and career readiness was in Spanish. Personal translation devices were available for folks to hear the content in English. Grandview High School secretary Angelica Lopez provided translation services. Rayl said Mabton’s Parent Institute will offer English, Spanish and bilingual sessions.

In the past, YSD partnered with Yakima Valley Farm Workers Clinic to offer a Spanish-language program called Los Niños Bien Educados, which translates to Well Educated Children, Quintana said. Through 12 meetings, the course covered ways to improve self-esteem in children.

Building connections

School officials said these classes are one way to build better relationships with their students’ families. The benefits of these classes are layered.

The pandemic took a toll on the connections between schools and their students, as most students could not physically come to campus for months. But it also highlighted the importance of supporting students not just in academics but making sure their physical and emotional needs are met.

“If a child doesn’t feel like their social and emotional needs are met, or just basic health and safety needs are met, it’s very hard for them to engage academically,” said Kayla Monroe, East Valley School District’s director of student success.

She said the district identified more students who needed support after returning from the early pandemic. As students feel more supported by their schools and families, they will be more likely to engage academically.

In the past, individual East Valley schools offered engagement nights for their families. Toward the end of last school year, the district began to host Family Nights for all families focused on topics like social emotional learning.

Inviting parents to campus makes them feel more comfortable in the school environment, Rayl said.

“We want to feel like they (families) feel a sense of belonging and connection with the district and with the buildings and the staff,” she said.

Once parents feel comfortable, schools can more easily collaborate with them. Rayl said schools get valuable feedback from parents under these circumstance.

Strom said these classes help empower parents and help them understand what a positive school environment should look like. Having that baseline knowledge can help them know when to speak up if their students experience problems at school.

“And I’m hoping that that will parlay into them not being afraid to pick up the phone and call the teacher, call the principal, the central office, the superintendent,” Strom said.

Parental perspective

As schools continue to fine tune their family engagement classes, parent feedback lets schools know how they’re doing. YSD collects parent surveys each year and works with its Parent Advisory Council to determine the topics that would be most useful to cover and the times that work best for families, Quintana said.

After the college and career readiness class in Grandview, school staff urged parents to fill out a survey about their experiences.

Gisel Sandoval came to event to learn about opportunities for her son, who is in eighth grade. She said she wants him to have the kinds of experiences she could not access. She believes the lessons will pay off in the long run.

She encouraged other parents to come to the classes.

“It doesn’t take a lot of time to come in and learn different new things,” she said.

Maria Herrera said most of the information was not new to her, as she has already raised four children and watched them go through the post-high school experience. But she felt newer parents could learn a lot from these classes.

She enjoyed hearing from a Grandview graduate who was a migrant student who won a national award and now attends Heritage University. She said it’s important for students to see that kids like them can succeed.

Her first-grade daughter Analeese Covarurbio spent the evening upstairs in the child care area. She’d been asking for months to come to one of these nights and Herrera finally agreed. After the tasty cheese zombies and the fun time upstairs, Covarurbio considered the night a success.