Tania Soliz has dealt with the education system in Philadelphia and she has noticed the striking differences between schools. Her oldest son recently graduated from high school and as a teacher herself she believes there are fundamental problems members of the Latine community have to deal with.
You don’t only have children, but you are also an active member of your community. How has your experience with the school district been so far?
I don’t know what happened or why, but my son, who recently graduated, just told me he had a teacher who told him he would never be able to graduate. This type of teacher should not be allowed to teach, I’m a teacher myself and I believe that teachers are here to motivate students, you know, not to tear them apart.
Have you ever requested special services for your child? Has your experience with it been different?
Yes, for my other son, and I’ve had a good experience so far. He is in special education and so far I can’t complain about any teachers or anything like that in this program.
What are some of the challenges you have had to navigate?
I’ve never had access to after-school [special education] programs. I’ve always had to pay for these programs because they don’t offer these programs for free and this is an issue that needs to be fixed because a lot of parents like me, have to comply with our work schedule until 5 p.m. or 6 pm. We need an after-school program for kids with special education, to help them with their homework or even get them to exercise a little. We could even avoid violence problems and all those kids in the streets if schools offered programs like this for free.
Evelyn Toriz and Tannia Soliz, members of VozColectiva
You mentioned the importance of offering a free after-school program for children in special education. Can you elaborate on your experience trying to find programs like this and explain why it’s so important?
The only resource I’ve tried to access is the after-school programs, especially one where they pick the kids up at their school and bring them directly to the program. Parents need to be able to stay at their jobs and complete their work hours without having to take a break.
How did you approach the language barrier? How has the language barrier affected the way you navigate the education system?
For a lot of parents who speak Spanish, it is really hard to navigate the education system. First of all, the language is obviously a problem. Second, we don’t really know where to go to find information about the school, they only tell us the link to the website to enroll our children, but there’s a lot of people who don’t even know how to use a computer and this is a problem that is usually ignored. The ones who can use a computer, well, that’s easier for them, but we should really remember that a lot of people don’t know how to navigate technology. For a lot of Latine parents, especially the ones who just arrived in the city to access information.
How are the teachers? Have you noticed any differences? How is your communication with them?
I’ve noticed a huge difference between teachers from 20 years ago and teachers today. One of my children is currently in school and teachers reach out before the school year even begins. They let us know they will be the ones teaching our children and communication is honestly excellent. We have all the apps and they will text you if anything happens. We have constant contact with parents and there’s a lot more communication now than in years prior.
As an active member of your community, have you noticed/heard any differences between different school districts? Have you ever heard stories from others that shocked you?
I’ve obviously noticed very huge differences between schools. But also I’ve noticed that if you pay there’s more and better attention for your children.
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