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Latino families in Longmont face difficulties as school year begins

With online learning, there is an expectation that things will remain challenging for all, which brings up concerns about how Latino children will fare, something ELPASO and Cornerstone Boulder aim to address through one-on-one support. 
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Lupita Cardona and her children receive a gift bag from the ELPASO VOZ program. (Photo courtesy of ELPASO)

(Read this story in Spanish here.)

While Rosa Rubio’s 4-year-old daughter has done well on her first few days back in school, she said it has been a challenging week with the online format for her first-grade son. “Last year he did really well in school, met a lot of friends and liked kindergarten a lot, but with the pandemic everything changed,”she said.

Rubio is worried about sending her children to school in person but acknowledges that online learning presents difficulties for her children and her family. 

“My son had his first session and just went to bed, he was bored and didn’t like it … I’m struggling with him,” she said. “With my son's first class I was very nervous, my friend kept calling me every five minutes because she also needed that emotional support, I’m not the only one experiencing this.”

Rubio’s experience is not unique. According to the Abriendo Puertas/Latino Decisions National Parent Survey, 83% of Latino parents or caregivers are concerned about their children attending school from home, as well as their children not learning enough from online schooling, something of which ELPASO, an anti-racist organization committed to the Latino parent voice, is well aware. 

“We are having the same problems again, I’m not sure we have fixed things in the last six months. We were all hoping that all this would end in September, but we are still experiencing this tragedy and the parents are in the same situation as before. … The outcomes for families are going to differ drastically,” said Tere Garcia, executive director of ELPASO, which is an acronym for Engaged Latino Parents Advancing Students Outcomes.

ELPASO has been supporting Latino families in Longmont since 2017 through direct community outreach, by providing a parent leadership program and engaging with them in community organizing. 

With the arrival of COVID-19, ELPASO has had to pivot and adapt to provide timely help to families struggling with the online school format. 

“We had to make adjustments to the program we had been doing for the past three years. I had to adjust to the situation to account for the socioemotional and mental impacts that our parents are experiencing. … We are now providing the kind of information to lessen the trauma parents are experiencing around their children’s education,” Garcia said.

Damary Yanes, a school readiness coordinator in Longmont for ELPASO, understands the need for increased and new kinds of support, specifically with more information and navigation. 

“During our first interview, I leave a paper with all of the resources related to education, WIC (the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children), help with child care, etc. Since the pandemic started, we have realized that many of the difficulties are related to parents’ finances, like paying for rent, as well as finding the right resources,” she said.

She has seen up close what the challenges have been for Latino families during the coronavirus pandemic, including work schedules, child care and issues with technology. 

“There is a very big barrier with technology for Hispanic people. The fear that parents feel, the distrust of online classes. The kids get distracted easily, they don’t like it,” she said.

Among the kinds of new supports ELPASO will be providing are materials that teach the basics of computer literacy. 

“Forget about whether they have a computer or not, the issue is the technical aspect. These families have to deal with the English language, their native language and now with the computer language. Forget about whether the kids are learning to read or about science, we are barely dealing with mom and dad feeling comfortable enough to sit in front of the computer,” Garcia said.

One-on-one support also is among the planned changes for added support to families. 

“Another thing that we are looking at is having tutors for the children. Last year we worked with Cornerstone church and now we are doing it again. … We have a lot of parents who want the help of tutors, and we are trying to figure out how to pair the tutor with the kid who needs them,” Garcia said.

Kari Quesada, pastor of family and kids at Cornerstone Boulder and a Longmont resident, has partnered ELPASO in the past to donate funds and provide one-on-one tutoring. For this school year, she has recruited more than 20 potential tutors who will be paired up with families across the county.  

“In working with ELPASO, we are aware of the education gap that already existed between white and Latino families, and realized that moving things online is going to widen that gap. We began a conversation and asked Tere what the needs are with their families, and she mentioned that the kids … are struggling to get the one-on-one attention,” she said.

According to the Latino Decisions survey, one-on-one support is something that “could greatly improve the educational experience for Latino and immigrant families.”

With online learning, there is an expectation that things will remain challenging, and parent voice and personal support will remain important as the rest of the school year unfolds.  

“We saw this need with ELPASO and realized this is something we are interested in supporting, empowering the Latino community. … As parents we feel like our hands are tied right now, and I know parents for whom English is their second language, their voice is even less heard and are in even more need right now,” Quesada said.

For more information on ELPASO programs or to get involved, click here.

Silvia Romero Solís

About the Author: Silvia Romero Solís

Después de viajar por el mundo, Silvia llegó a establecerse en Longmont. Ella busca usar su experiencia en comunicaciones y cultura para crear más equidad y diversidad en las noticias de Longmont.
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