Building bridges between schools and the Latino community

Gladis Martinez

by Julie Fanselow

September 26, 2005 | Focus on Study Circles, Vol.16, No.2 | Montgomery County, Maryland

 

Gladis Martinez, an Americorps volunteer
for the Montgomery County Public Schools
Study Circles Program, helps organize study circles and recruit Spanish-speaking parents into discussions.

In Latin American countries—including Guatemala, where Gladis Martinez grew up—parents are not expected to get involved in their children’s schools. But soon after she came to the United States and had children of her own, Martinez learned that in North America, parental involvement is not only encouraged, it’s expected. Martinez took this lesson to heart. Now, as an Americorps volunteer for the Montgomery County Public Schools Study Circles Program, she is carrying that message to other Spanishspeaking parents.

Martinez found her calling when she took part in study circles in the fall of 2004. The Montgomery County schools serve about 140,000 students in the Washington, D.C., suburbs. The district uses study circles to look at the ways that student achievement is linked to issues of race and ethnicity and to explore ways to narrow the achievement gap and encourage students to succeed—regardless of their race, ethnicity, or economic background.

Study Circles Program Director John Landesman knew he needed a Spanish-speaking parent who could reach out to other Latinas and Latinos, and he quickly realized Martinez had these skills. If study circles are a bridge for better communication between parents and the schools, then “Gladis is the on-ramp to the bridge,” he says. Martinez doesn’t just call people to invite them to study circles, he adds. “She shows up the first night to make them feel comfortable—to show them it’s something they can do.”

Martinez began volunteering at her daughter’s school when Gabriela, now 21, was in kindergarten. At the same time, she worked hard to learn English, making it a priority because she realized it was the best way to help her children succeed in school. Today, in addition to her Americorps duties, Martinez is active at both Brookhaven Elementary, where her daughters Elizabeth and Victoria attend, and at Parkland Middle School, where her son Daniel is enrolled.

As her children advance through the school system, Martinez says she hopes to train other parent volunteers to pick up

where she and other activists have left off. She also is working to earn her own high school diploma through GED classes. Eventually, she says she would like a job where she can draw on the lessons she’s learned as a volunteer—perhaps as a parent advocate in the schools. “This job is helping me put my ideas together and say what I want to say,” says Martinez.

Although she is now bilingual, Martinez remembers her own struggles to communicate for years after she came to the United States. But she insists the language barrier shouldn’t keep parents from learning about their children’s schools. “Someone said to me, ‘I don’t write and I don’t read,’ and I said, ‘That’s OK. You can hear,’” she says. (The Montgomery County circles use simultaneous language translation through live interpreters.) Martinez also works to help Spanishspeaking parents recognize how schools operate differently here than in their native countries. She acknowledges that racial and cultural barriers exist. “We’re not going to deny that,” Martinez says. “ But we are living here and we want the best for our kids.”

Montgomery County Public School's study circle program at a glance:

City and state: Montgomery County, Maryland
District population: More than 140,000 students
Focus of study circles: Student achievement, race and race relations
Number of study circle participants to date: More than 350

Read more in our fall 2005 special issue of Focus

Learn more: Education