A parent mentor works with students at North Elementary School in Waukegan last school year. - Original Credit: News-Sun (Waukegan District 60/HANDOUT)
“A three-way collaboration between HACES, United Way of Lake County and the Waukegan public schools gives students more attention in the classroom, and parents an opportunity to both understand what happens in school and a potential career path. […]
‘The mentors work with students in a classroom, and learn how the education system works,’ Alicia Garcia, HACES’ (Hispanic American Community Education and Services) director of programs, said. ‘It teaches how to advocate for your own child.’ […]
North Principal Nicole Lemberger said there were six mentors a year ago, she hopes to have eight to 10 this year and she would like to have one for each classroom. […]
‘They give students a strong growth consistency,’ she said. ‘They can work in monolingual, bilingual and diverse learner classrooms. They learn skills to help them parent their own children at home.’
Lemberger said the mentors help expand learning because they can work with one group of students, while the teacher helps another and the paraprofessional assists still a third. Without them, the small groups cannot function simultaneously.”