English Learner Parent Advisory Council Meeting Information

The district held an EL-PAC- English Learner Parent Advisory Council Meeting on May 22, 2024.  

The event was well attended by Multi Lingual families and their children.  Interpreting was provided by Jimena De Paraja, GMRSD Spanish Language Community Liaison and Yana Bagirova, Russian language tutor.  District Pupil Services Director, Dianne Ellis, reviewed a slide show of student support and curriculum and instruction updates to share with English learning families. 

The presentation recognized the importance of consistent school attendance, curriculum updates in the district and in the department, with our new ESL curricuum, as well as the value of bilingualism and the earning of the State Seal of Biliteracy by three of our class of 2024 graduates!  District families declined appointing representatives or electing officers to lead the EL-PAC in favor of everyone having a voice.  Additionally, the group would like to meet twice a year, once in the fall and once in the Spring.  In addition to family events in the district that included elementary literacy, math, and science nights, as well as our secondary schools extravaganza, the group may also be interested in having a cultural event that celebrates the diverse backgrounds of our families. Families were also invited to participate in a district improvement plan survey and to consider if there were any budgetary or program changes they wanted addressed.  

Children were invited to bring home books that were on display at the event, with bi-lingual titles available, courtesy of Jeanne Powers, our Director of Teaching and Learning.

Special thanks to Cielito Lindo, for providing tamales for this event, to our district ESL teachers, Lea Wulfkuhle, Lana Herzig, and Jess Hesse, who were in attendance, our family engagement coordinator, Stacey Langknecht, and to our student services office staff, Rachel Vachula and Deb Morse, who helped coordinate on event logistics.