OUR ANSWER TO THE REALITY THAT MANY REFUGEE PARENTS FEEL DISCONNECTED FROM SCHOOL, ISOLATED, AND UNABLE TO EMPOWER THEIR PRE-K KIDS?
A PARENT PARTNERSHIP PROGRAM. After decades of protracted exile, surviving conflict and persecution, our families finally arrive in the United States, ready to re-build their lives. However, this new beginning is full of unimaginable bureaucratic hurdles and leads, almost immediately, to a sense of utter alienation in this new country. And for refugees who are illiterate, even filling out simple forms is a nightmare. If you think native-born Americans hate bureaucracies and red tape, imagine how much refugees dread them. Schools become a “no go” zone for parents, as schools’ bureaucratic forms, procedures and customs are totally alien to refugees who never went to school themselves. Even physically entering a school is challenging to parents, as they are met by a locked door, a buzzer and an intercom, with a disembodied voice of a security Pictured: Simran Arora, Family/School Partnership Program Coordinator, with guard demanding, “what is the current and soon to be FORA students and their mom purpose of your visit.”
Page 17
