Modesto City Schools to hire parent ambassadors. What does the district seek in applicants?
To better engage families with their children’s educations, Modesto City Schools is preparing to launch a Parent Ambassadors program for the upcoming school year.
Eventually, there will be an ambassador at each school, the Board of Education was told at its June 7 meeting. They will connect parents to internal and external resources, answer questions and share information on ways to get involved with student activities and athletics, school activities, parent groups and more.
The presentation by district staff was met with comments by trustees about such things as ensuring those hired know the school communities and reflect the district’s diversity and languages. Staff also was asked how effectiveness will be measured.
In May, using AB 86 money — $300,000, according to the presentation at the meeting — the board approved funding for the program’s first year. That will hire 12 initial ambassadors — seven elementary, two junior high and four high school — and an ambassador coordinator. The ambassadors, who will be part-time employees, will spread their hours across schools to make sure all are covered.
The program came out of an identified need to build deeper relationships with parents, district communications chief Krista Noonan told trustees. It’s “about supplementing the efforts that the sites are already doing and to add an additional component of that relationship building and the trust building,” she said.
Answering a question by board member Abel Maestas on how the ambassador program will affect school PTA groups, some of which are “pretty robust,” Noonan said, “I see it as being a great collaboration.”
A glimpse at what ambassadors will do
Madie Herrera, Modesto City Schools’ director of parent engagement and outreach, showed the board some example schedules of what ambassadors at elementary, middle and high schools will do.
Responsibilities will include calling families to share information on after-school programs, greeting parents and handing out flyers at school, recruiting for the English-learner parent advisory committee, attending open houses and spreading the word on tutoring information.
Addressing the challenge of engaging with families, Herrera said it sometimes comes down to a lack of interest by parents, but it also can be lack of awareness and lack of time.
Trustee John Ervin III said it also can be a lack of trust, especially among Black parents. He asked if the district will strive for diversity among its ambassadors, and he was assured it will.
Board member Chad Brown agreed that to build trust, the district needs to reach out to families who feel excluded, often because of a language barrier. He asked if each ambassador will be multilingual. Herrera replied that while being bilingual will be a strong consideration, “we don’t want to exclude anyone for the mere fact they don’t speak two languages.” Noonan later told The Bee that the district will “highly prefer” bilingual candidates.
Do ambassadors have to be parents?
There appeared to be some confusion about who’s eligible to be an ambassador, with several trustees referring to them as “parents.” Trustee Cindy Marks ended up asking staff if candidates need to have children in the district.
Noonan said the district doesn’t plan to make it a requirement that ambassadors have kids in the schools. For example, she said, perhaps a part-time employee at a school already has built relationships with that community and has a passion for the school and neighborhood. Such a person would make a strong ambassador.
A few trustees voiced that ambassadors should reside in the school community, and ideally would be people familiar to its residents.
Asked how effectiveness of the ambassadors will be measured, Herrera said her department already has a database to track participation by parents and will create a new one to measure engagement that arises through this program. The database and surveys also will tell the district “what parents are walking away with when it comes to this program,” she said.
During the presentation to the board, Herrera said ambassadors will get 12 hours of initial training and will receive ongoing supervision and support from their coordinator, from Parent Engagement & Outreach staff and through collaboration with school administrators.
Board Vice President Adolfo Lopez said he liked hearing that the district isn’t just saying, “Hey, help us out,” but is investing in the ambassadors and possibly helping shape community leaders.
By providing professional development to the ambassadors, he said, “maybe this is a steppingstone to something bigger in their community.”
The Parent Ambassadors slide presentation given to the board is an attachment to the June 7 meeting agenda, at bit.ly/3cGpe2r.
This story was originally published June 16, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
