Strategic Priority 3

The purpose of Family Advocacy is for teachers to build meaningful and lasting relationships with students and families while teaching social-emotional character development and college and career readiness standards. Teacher advocates will authentically understand their students’ interests and backgrounds, producing a climate of acceptance and building a sense of community within their advocacy group.

Lusia Requenes grew up in the Argentine neighborhood of Kansas City, Kansas. She smiles big when pointing out the school parking lot where she rode her bike as a kid. She has fond memories of her time as a student at Emerson Elementary and her parent’s commitment to her educational progress, even when language barriers presented some challenges.

Lusia became an engaged parent many years later when her children started attending Emerson Elementary. Still, as involved as she was, she recognized an opportunity to make a greater impact by contributing to the school’s communication efforts with parents and guardians. When a Family Engagement Specialist position became available, she immediately applied. She saw this not only as a way to be better informed but also to help enhance how the school communicated with parents.

Lusia’s newfound passion for family engagement grew exponentially as she learned about the multiple ways she could keep families connected with Emerson Elementary. One of her first commitments was to meet families where they are and inform them about school performance scores and how they could take a more active role in supporting student and school success. She created school handbooks that provided easy-to-digest information about the school and district.

Another high-touch tool Lusia soon added to her community engagement approach was porch visits. She started knocking on the front doors of students’ homes to welcome families, introduce herself, and build connections and relationships. Before long, she sold her school administrators and teachers the importance of this personal approach.

Lusia, along with the school counselor, nurse, and social worker, would go on visits as the Family and Student Support Team (FASST). They provided resources that helped alleviate the family struggles and barriers that kept them from focusing on their children’s education at home. Lusia added, “The most important thing is the follow-up. At Emerson Elementary, we keep each other accountable, and we also keep our parents accountable.”

One of the clearest statistics that showcases the diversity in KCKPS is that 72 different languages are spoken in the homes of our students. That number doesn’t reflect the experiences many of those families endured before they got to the district.

When Kumar Monger moved to the United States in 2011, it was the last step in a journey that began when his family had to flee Bhutan in 1994 due to ethnic persecution. Monger spent over a decade in a refugee camp in Nepal, living in a bamboo hut with his parents and family. Eventually, Monger was resettled in the U.S., separated from most of his family.

“We were helpless at the beginning. It’s very hard to end up in a new environment, new culture, new law, new

everything,” said Monger. That feeling of helplessness inspired Monger to dedicate his career to helping others. Now, as a Bilingual Outreach Worker in the English Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)/Migrant department at KCKPS, Monger helps families struggling with language barriers.

“Many times, we have parents that enroll, but their students aren’t caught up with their immunizations, and they don’t know where to go,” said Director of ESOL/ Migrant Programs Jacqueline Rodriguez. “So the team will help that parent find a place and even schedule an appointment for them. And then they follow up to get the documentation.”

When ESOL Family Advocate Saw Kaw moved to the U.S. from Myanmar in 2006, he only knew one person. “I knew that I needed education because I spoke zero English, so I went back to college,” said Kaw. “Then I started to help in the community with a little interpreting.” Like Monger, Kaw realized that he could help others who move here in similar situations. “Families have a lot of barriers, especially when they first move and migrate here,” said Kaw.

Rodriguez said the life experiences of her team help them relate. “I think that’s the most important thing and what makes them so unique and vital for the district,” said Rodriguez. “They go above and beyond because they have that connection to the lived experience.”