Mission CISD’s Parental Involvement Department is making sure parents have the tools and resources they need to become active partners in their child’s education. On April 5, parents attended the quarterly District Advisory Council (DAC) meeting held at the Mission Collegiate High School library. The group includes five parent representatives from each of the district campuses who meet to learn about and help influence district policies and programs that affect their children and all district students.
“I like to get involved and get ahead of issues coming up,” said DAC Vice-President Rosie Salinas. She has been a part of the DAC for four years and she says it has had a positive effect in her children’s schooling; she has a child in Mission Junior High School and another at Veterans Memorial High School.
“It shows them that Mom is there giving them support and that I have their back so that we can share in their achievements, because we did it together.”
DAC Secretary Claudia Olivarez said she found that applying what she learned through the Parental Involvement programs helped her better understand how to communicate with her child and that, in turn, helped him be more calm, secure and confident.
“I would ask myself, why doesn’t he understand me,” she said. “The Parenting Partners classes teach you how to take a break and communicate and that calmed him. I learned I wasn’t being clear with him and that’s why he didn’t understand. I needed to also give him space to understand on his own.” Olivarez said practicing what she learned through the parenting classes helped her see her child grow and has enabled her to have better patterns of communication from an early age.
Olivarez said she also found a support group. “You meet other parents who are going through the same things or have older children and you can learn from them. Sometimes you just need to hear it, too, that you’re doing a good job as a parent.” It’s not easy managing home and work responsibilities, but she said “if you have time to check Facebook, you have time to go on the Mission CISD page and find out what’s happening in your child’s school.”
As the day’s speaker Vicente Morales said, “There is no greater challenge than raising a family, and conscious parenting is the only way.”
To learn more about the Parenting Partners classes or how you can get involved in any of the Parental Involvement programs, contact the Parental Liaison at your child’s school or call the district’s Parental Involvement Department at 956-323-5350.