A place for the parents

To encourage family participation, the district creates new resource centers at 2 Westside schools.The Newport-Mesa Unified School District opened two parent resource centers last week at Westside Costa Mesa schools, seeking to improve communication between families and administrators in the district’s least affluent area.

Tony Valenzuela, the director of student and family services at Estancia High School and TeWinkle Middle School, hosted a pair of ribbon-cutting ceremonies at the schools Tuesday and Thursday evenings. The one-room centers feature literature, school newspapers and computers for parents to use throughout the school day.

The effort is part of the district’s Family Friendly Schools program, which was started this year to make parents feel more at home on secondary-school campuses. For Valenzuela, the former assistant principal of TeWinkle, cutting the two ribbons was a longtime dream.

“This parent center was conceived long ago,” he said. “It was a need we had for a long time, but we did not have any means of doing it.”

At the parent centers at both schools, visitors may log onto the computers to check their children’s grades or attendance records. Lisa Seacrest, a TeWinkle parent who was closely involved in founding the resource center, noted that many parents in the attendance area did not have Internet access at home.

“We have parents who want to stay in touch with teachers but don’t have [access to] the website,” said Seacrest, 43, whose daughter is in the seventh grade.

The TeWinkle center is located in the school’s former choir room, with four computers on a small table next to the grand piano.

During the opening ceremony, the room was lined with tables of food, streamers and nearly 100 parents who packed the small room at the front of the campus.

“We know that parent participation makes a difference for a child,” TeWinkle principal Dan Diehl told the crowd. “You being here tonight makes a difference for your kids.”

At the Estancia opening two days earlier, Valenzuela and principal Tom Antal addressed a small group of mostly Latino parents who gathered outside the small room in the commons. Afterward, Valenzuela and Antal cut the ribbon together.

Parents in attendance, most of whose children formerly attended TeWinkle, expressed gratitude for the new services. Valenzuela, who divides his time between the two schools, will work out of both centers.

“The parents need this center, especially because a lot of parents don’t speak English,” said Laura Abella, 40. “I think parents feel more comfortable with some people in the office speaking Spanish.”

This past summer, the Newport-Mesa district started its official push to make secondary school campuses more welcoming to parents.

The Family Friendly Schools initiative requires little money, with each school site posting new signs in the commons, sending out additional newsletters, planning potluck dinners and more.

TeWinkle, currently the subject of a federal Office for Civil Rights investigation, has already taken steps to improve community relations this year.

This fall, the school restarted its student newspaper and began scheduling meetings of the Parent Teacher Assn. and the English Learner Advisory Committee on the same nights.20051025iow4g2knDON LEACH / DAILY PILOT(LA)Parents of TeWinkle Middle School students gather for the opening of a new parent resource center, where they can use computers to look up their children’s grades and attendance records. A similar center opened at Estancia High School.