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October 26, 2005
Visit to Bellevue
No, just to clarify, I didn't say visit to Bellview as in Mental Hospital. I said Bellevue, as in a wonderful little school district in Santa Rosa, California. http://student.santarosa.edu/~dchosa/bellevue.html
I was in Sonoma County recently for a meeting. I'm known for visiting schools when I go to an area so I can find out what someone else is doing. I was very clear as I visited several schools that I wanted to "steal ideas," find out and share what great things they were doing, and particularly focus on what they were doing at their school with and for parents.
At Bellevue I met with Paula Sutherland, the Director of Curriculum, and there was certainly no lack of enthusiasm on her part as she talked about their Afterschool program, the evening programs they run for parents new to this country, and the many connections they have with other partners to help provided learning opportunities in their area.
What I was most interested in was their support for first time families to the United States. Their area seems to be a starting place for many immigrant families. The school, according the data from the California Department of Education, has 221 Hispanic students, 72 Caucasion students, and 17 Asian students. It makes sense to talk about the needs of the community being the needs of non-English speakers and what to do about helping them learn English as well as the subjects taught in school.
The school did a very wise thing. They sat down with the parents and asked, "What do you need from your schools?"
The parents said they needed help learning English. They wanted to help their children be successful in school and to do that they needed to learn the language. Bellevue responded in a big way.
They set up classes at night for parents to learn English and other skills necessary to live in this country. According to Paula, four nights a week the parking lots are full to overflowing. There is even a bus to bring parents to class. Their preschool program runs at night in conjunction with class time, so little ones can come to school too.
I wasn't there to see their evening programs, but I did visit their Afterschool tutorials where one on one tutors from the 
local community college and Americore helped students with their studies. I like what I saw. More than that, I liked what I felt. It was a warm, friendly, safe place for children and their families.
Many of us in California are in school communities where there are a lot of English learners. We're always trying to find ways to provide the assistance needed to make this transition a succeess for everyone involved.
Thanks for the great visit to both Paula and Bellevue School. Keep up the great work.
Posted by Dr Joni at October 26, 2005 01:53 PM