Ray Moreno:
Making an impact in our schools

By LETICIA LINN

A backpack carried from school every day brings more than books and pencils: it also contains a lot of information about how children are doing. A group of parents recently learned that at the Impact in the School-Parent Initiative group,. Now, those same parents are checking their youngsters' bags daily in order to know how they can help their children to be better students.

Photos: Julie Wiatt

Ray Moreno

The Impact in the School group, now in its second year, will gather those parents again on March 21 to train them as future leaders in their children's schools and to have influence in key educational decisions, said Ray Moreno, director of this program that works with minority parents in East Silver Spring, Takoma Park, and Piney Branch Elementary Schools.

"We are talking about schools with around 1200 students, where more than the 50 percent are immigrants or minority," said Moreno. "Our community is diverse and sometimes the leadership does not represent that multicultural conformation."

Moreno said the reason they working to build new leaders among these parents--most are immigrants from Latin America or Africa or are African-American--is so they can have a more representative decision-making group working to improve the schools.

Before and after

"Now I can approach teachers and ask what I want to know about my kids without fear," said Alexa Boleno, mother of two MCPS students, ages 4 and 7. Boleno came to the United States when she was 14 and graduated from high school here. "Knowledge is power."

After going to Impact group meetings, Boleno realized how many tools she has to help her children reach their potential at school. She said that many parents coming from Latin American countries do not know how the educational system works. Boleno said that sometimes, because of that, he or she is afraid to ask a teacher a question that might not sound intelligent.

"You don't know whom you can talk with or whom you should ask about your son or your daughter," said Boleno, who did not continue her studies after high school. "My mother did not know all these tools existed when I was in school. I wish she had known so I could have had a better educational background."

Boleno has a daughter in second grade, and she knew the key questions to ask her teacher when she felt her child was having some troubles adjusting to her class. A suitable programmatic transfer was arranged for her daughter, thanks to the concerns Boleno raised. Within months, Boleno could see a great difference: her daughter's performance went up "a hundred percent," and she is happier in school.

"Before going to the Impact group I did not know that those educational programs existed," Boleno said. "It is so important for the Latino community that parents get involved in the educational process."

Bladimir Duenas, an engineer that came from Peru with his family almost five years ago, liked the goal of the group and the multicultural concept behind it. He said twhat he learned at the group helped him to know what the school has to offer for his 7-year-old daughter.

Duenas and his wife were glad to become more involved in their daughter's education. He said it is different from his own country, where one might have fewer options in the educational programs, and parents are sometimes less involved in the process.

Duenas said they were interested in having a program after school where his daughter attends, and in the Impact group, he learned how to work within the school's structure to make that idea a reality. "As parents we got encouraged to be involved with the school and with the decisions," he said.

Start without end

The idea for this program was born out of a leadership training program called Impact Silver Spring. This initiative gives potential leaders from Silver Spring the tools to be more active in different facets of the community. Moreno was a particpant in Impact Silver Spring with a focus in education, specifically in narrowing the achievement gap that exists for minority students in this community's schools.

Moreno's first goal was to try to explain the achievement gap to parents in his community, and to let them know the school has many strategies in place that are intended to close it. He knocked on many doors in order to be heard. Finally, he had a group of parents ready to learn everything from how to read report cards to what extracurricular programs are available for their children in school.

After an introductory training lasting through five or six meetings, the Impact in the School parents decided to go more in-depth. In a second round of meetings, the group went into more detail about educational programs available and assessments. After two years, the group continues to seek information and set new goals for itself.

So far, this first class of nearly 70 parents has had a substantial impact in their kids' educational experiences, according to the first evaluations of the program, Moreno said. The group now hopes to reach the 700 parents from the three campuses where Impact in the School is working,who could benefit from the same type of parent education.

"We focused on immigrants and minorities for this training and educational program," admitted Moreno. Yet, he said that anyone can come, because the group's mission is to help parents to help their children in performing better at school.

"Creating a positive learning environment has a direct impact in the children's performance at school," Moreno said. "Our parents are having a great level of interaction with their children."

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