Boerne ISD’s Experience

 At what stage of development is your Dual Language Program?  Are parents “beginning to talk?” Are there parent requests for more information?  Are there parents who might take an interest in a leadership role?

 Contacted parents who we thought might be interested in taking a leadership role: ◦ Included parents from each campus ◦ Included parents from both language groups ◦ Solicited names of parents from campus staff and parents

 Sent letter/ to interested parents: “I would like to form a Dual Language Parent Support Group and invite you to help me in getting it organized. My thinking at this point is that it would operate much like our G/T Parent Support Group – it would have its own leadership and conduct its own parent meetings, but would work with BISD staff to advocate for the program. The Parent Support Group leadership team would serve as a liaison between BISD staff and parents of students in the Dual Language Program. This group would bring forth needs, concerns, and interests of parents to the schools and would help communicate information from the schools to parents. Those in leadership might also serve in an advisory role when program decisions are made.”

 Initial meeting: ◦ Invited chairman of G/T parent support group to discuss steps taken in forming that parent support group ◦ Elected secretary ◦ Discussed “vision” of the support group and brainstormed what each member hoped the group might accomplish

 Second meeting: ◦ Created a name for the organization: A dvocating for M ultilingual I nterests and G rowth o f S tudents ◦ Wrote a draft of the Mission Statement

 Third Meeting: ◦ Revised Mission Statement: The mission of the AMIGOS is to partner with BISD to advocate for excellence in the Dual Language Program. The AMIGOS strive to provide family support, communication, and information to achieve the program goal of students becoming bilingual, bi- literate and bi-cultural.

 Third Meeting: ◦ Wrote Program Goals: The AMIGOS will:  Advocate for Dual Language program needs and success  Provide support and educational information to families of Dual Language students  Facilitate the flow of communication between families of Dual Language students, BISD staff and community

 Third Meeting: ◦ Discussed organizational structure of the group:  Leadership-2 representatives per campus  Operational guidelines/ground rules-Roberts rule of order for leadership group, and if needed, also applied in mass meetings  Communication structure- /fliers/own webpage(eventually)  Meeting schedule-Once a semester with all parents; leadership group meets once a month

 Fourth Meeting: ◦ Developed survey for parents to complete at a scheduled Family Science Night:  What is the most positive thing you have experienced as a result of your child participating in the Dual Language Program?  What has been your biggest concern about your child’s involvement with the program?  Also asked questions about child’s progress in the program, satisfaction with communication, preferred method of communication, plus a few additional questions to determine participation in program activities.

 Presentation at Family Science Night: ◦ Introduced the committee members ◦ Gave a general overview of the AMIGOS mission and goals ◦ Distributed survey to parents

 Fifth Meeting: ◦ Reviewed survey results ◦ Discussed having a presence at our Back to School parent meetings. ◦ Discussed the first parent meeting

 Sixth Meeting: ◦ Gave everyone a yellow AMIGOS t-shirt to wear at the Meet the Teacher Night and Parent Orientation meetings ◦ Decided to hold first meeting in conjunction with the Dual Language Family Literacy Night A dvocating for M ulti-lingual I nterests and G rowth O f S tudents

 Seventh Meeting: ◦ Set Objectives for : Advocacy  Make a presence (wear t-shirts) at back to school parent meetings  Sponsor Dual Language Literacy Workshop  Give presentation to School Board after new Superintendent is hired

 Objectives for : ◦ Support and Information to Dual Language Families  Give presentation at Family Literacy Night  Sponsor Dual Language Literacy Workshop  Provide information on website and through handouts at meetings.

 Objectives for : ◦ Communication  Provide AMIGOS information on website.  Request additional curriculum information to be posted on website.  Request a resource link on website.  Provide handout at parent meetings with mission, goals, and objectives of AMIGOS, as well as contact information for campus representatives.

 Turn over leadership to parents  Involve other parents  Implement activities included in objectives