madres unidas video

David Sweet-Cordero In September of 2001, International Community School opened its doors with a celebration. The new small school knows as I.C.S, is located in the heart of the Oakland's Fruitvale District, on the corner of International Boulevard in 29 Avenue. 

00:01:35[music] 

00:01:45David Sweet-Cordero I.C.S. was one of five new small autonomous schools, opening around the city, that fall. This was a result of years of organizing by teachers, parents and community members with a support of Oakland Community Organizations or OCO and their allies. 

00:02:05Ofelia Martinez Good afternoon everyone. My name is Ofelia Martinez. I have two children who will attend I.C.S. I just want to say that I'm very happy because all of our dreams have come true, and we just hope for the support of the parents to be able to make a difference. Thank You. 

00:02:30David Sweet-Cordero At the same time a unique parent research team was formed to explore the role of parents in the development of the New Small School. Traditionally, research on educational reforms is conducted by professional researchers, evaluators and academics. But, in this case a research grant from the James Irvine Foundation brought together five parents from the New Small School and a graduate student, to design a collective participatory research project. 

00:03:00Baudelia Chavez Madres Unidas is a group made up of 5 people as you can see now. And our main objective was to find out, because we had concerns, what is happening inside a small school? And we're all here because we're united by the same purpose, and that purpose is our children. 

00:03:30David Sweet-Cordero Baudelia Chavez was a social worker Guadalajara, Mexico, before immigrating to Oakland, 12 years ago. She's been active in community affairs, ever since moving to Fruitvale. She's also member of St. Elizabeth's Catholic Church, where she was first introduced to O.C.O. O.C.O is a federation of 40 congregations that organizes communities in East and West Oakland. In 1999, O.C.O spearheaded a campaign to relieve over crowding and improve education in Oakland's flatlands, through the creation of new small autonomous schools. In public city wide actions, O.C.O members successfully pressured city and state officials to provide funds, policy and facilities for new small schools. The new small autonomous schools policy was passed in May, 2000, and the difficult work of creating and opening the schools began. As a parent leader with OCO, Baudelia, organize parents at Hawthorne Elementary to join the design team and help plan a new small school. 

00:04:35Baudelia Chavez We were giving them information, about what a small school is, because they didn't have any idea. They confused "small school" simply with size; they didn't understand what a small school was. 

00:04:50David Sweet-Cordero Hawthorne was one of Oakland's most over crowded schools. Serving 1400 students in a building designed for 700. It's located in the densely populated Fruitvale neighborhood. Home to people of diverse cultures and backgrounds, Fruitvale has experienced the largest growth in this Latino population, in the past 10 years. With Mexican markets, Taco trucks and a variety of services for Spanish speakers, the neighborhood continued to attract many Mexican and Central American immigrants. Fruitvale has been home to Ofelia Martinez, ever since she emigrated from El Salvador, 12 years ago. Ofelia attended high school in Oakland for two years, but dropped out when her son was born. She's determined to give her children a better education than she had. From the time they started at Hawthorne, she was very active at the school. Her experience motivated her to become a part of the design team for a new small school. 

00:05:50Ofelia Martinez It made me really sad to see all the problems in my children's school. My children were constantly coming home with blood on their shirts, because they had problems with children outside, there wasn't enough space for them to play. So I felt frustrated, I didn't know what to do, I mean, what do I do? I said, I can't move to another neighborhood, I don't have that possibility. What can I do to improve my children's school? And I saw an opening, I saw like a door open to continue and it was going to be an opportunity to change the school my children attended. 

00:06:30David Sweet-Cordero Well, organizing parents at Hawthorne, Baudelia and Ofelia met Andrea Dyrness, a PhD student at UC Berkeley's graduate school of education. 

00:06:40Ofelia Martinez She participated helping the parents, sometimes translating different activities, and she told us about the project she had in mind, about the history of the school. 

00:06:55David Sweet-Cordero Andrea had a long standing interest in school reform and community organizing in both United States and Latin America. A Dual citizen of Costa Rica and the U.S, she had lived and worked in Central America before starting graduate school. In Oakland, she was drawn to the Latino Immigrant community. 

00:07:15Andrea Dyrness I Came to grad school believing that research would only be effective and meaningful to the extent the involve people from the community in the research process and that was really confirmed for me, when I met Baudelia, and Kamalina and Ofelia at those Hawthorne meetings. I saw their real interest and dedication to the process of planning the new small school and also some of their frustration as there wasn't always opportunity for parents to participate in a meaningful way. 

00:07:35David Sweet-Cordero The idea for a Participatory Research Project was born. 

00:07:40Andrea Dyrness Well, the most important thing about Participatory Research is that the whole process is owned by the people in the community. From choosing the questions to, to answer, to actually planning the research and most importantly, analyzing the results. The community owns the results and they can take action based on those results. 

00:08:00Baudelia Chavez I was motivated from the moment I heard the word "research," it caught my attention. Because I said well, research what? I'm going to find out, what it is that we need to know? What is it that we hope to do through this research? I've always liked to discover new things. 

00:08:20David Sweet-Cordero For Baudelia and Ofelia, the research project was a natural extension of their involvement in the creation of I.C.S. 

00:08:30Ofelia Martinez I mean, they're together, because it's the same thing. Madres Unidas is like something we want to do to improve the new school. 

00:08:45David Sweet-Cordero In addition to Andrea, Baudelia and Ofelia, three other parents joined the research team. Karmalina Speriqurta(ph) is a single mother, who's son attended the new small school. She had participated in the meetings at Hawthorne and wanted to continue her involvement. For Maelia Carias, participating at her son's school was a new experience. 

00:09:05Maelia Carias I never used to go to the meetings. I just looked at the flyers and I wasn't interested. I just dropped my son off at school and went to work, and then picked him up after school and that was all. 

00:09:20David Sweet-Cordero After 16 years in the U.S, Maelia still found it difficult to interact with other parents. 

00:09:30Maelia Carias I'm very shy, I don't know what to say, or maybe one comes here very distrustful of people. 

00:09:45David Sweet-Cordero Maelia studied through 10th grade in Guatemala, but hasn't continued her education in the U.S. She has worked as a care taker for the elderly and as a house cleaner. Like Baudelia, she was interested in research. 

00:10:00Maelia Carias What caught my attention was research, because I didn't know what research was. I wanted to know, how do you do it, what does it mean? And that was what most motivated me. 

00:10:10David Sweet-Cordero Ofelia sister, Carman Chavez learned about the poor conditions of Oakland Public Schools, when her older son enrolled in a local junior high. 

00:10:25Carman Chavez It's very bad. Because I have a thirteen-year-old son and he tells me how inside classes some boys smoke marijuana at lunch time. 

00:10:35UNKNOWN And what have you done? 

00:10:40Carman Chavez Well, the first thing that occurred to us is to pull him out of the school. 

00:10:45UNKNOWN Where did you send him? 

00:10:45Carman Chavez He went to El Salvador. 

00:10:50David Sweet-Cordero When I.C.S. opened, Carman's younger son was in pre-school and she hoped to send him to the new small school. She joined the Parent Research Team, eager for the chance to get involved, but uncertain about her ability to do research. 

00:11:05Carman Chavez For me research was something that seem very important when they told me, but at the same time, I thought that a normal mother like myself who was always with her son, I thought I wasn't going to be able to. 

00:11:20David Sweet-Cordero Carman completed the 9th grade in El Salvador, before emigrating into U.S. In Oakland, she was certified as Nurse's Assistant and now works in a convalescent home. 

00:11:30Andrea Dyrness So, we thought that this range of experience was really important and one thing we had all in common was that, none of us had done a participatory research project before, so we were collectively inventing and as we went along. 

00:11:45Carman Chavez Well, first we had the meetings, the first meeting was at my sister's house, and there we thought about where we would keep meeting. And she offered her house for us to keep meeting on Fridays. And we always meet here in my sister's house, sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the living room. 

00:12:10David Sweet-Cordero Here in Ofelia's kitchen to discuss a name for their group. 

00:12:10UNKNOWN Mothers! 

00:12:15Baudelia Chavez There's another word, I don't know. Like one who struggles, but there's another word… 

00:12:20Carman Chavez Oh, mothers interested, something that- 

00:12:25Ofelia Martinez -Mothers interested in their children's wellbeing. 

00:12:25Baudelia Chavez No. 

00:12:25UNKNOWN -Yes, that sounds good! 

00:12:30Ofelia Martinez Mothers dedicated to the wellbeing, to the academic success of their children, but abbreviated. Because that's what we've always done, dedicate ourselves to- speak, Baudelia! 

00:12:45UNKNOWN Why so quiet, Baudelia? 

00:12:50Baudelia Chavez It's that I've never been on camera before! 

00:12:50David Sweet-Cordero While, research was new to the mothers, they all had years of experience with their children's education and strong ideas about the importance of education in their community. In order to built on this experience, and create a common base of knowledge for the group, the first few meetings were spent discussing a set of general questions. 

00:13:15Carman Chavez The questions were simple, but at the same time made you think a lot, like for example, one question said, what is education? And education is really broad, and everyone had different… 

00:13:30UNKNOWN -Opinions. 

00:13:30Carman Chavez Opinions to say, like education at church, education at home, education at school. So, first we educated ourselves a bit. And then we did the work of the research. 

00:13:45Baudelia Chavez Well, the process was long. I remember when we first started meeting, we asked, what do we want? We did like a brainstorm. What is it we want to research? 

00:13:55David Sweet-Cordero Together they decided on the goals of the study. To document the history of the new small school and explore aspects of the new small schools reform. To examine the role of parents in the new school. And, to make positive contribution to the school in the form of new knowledge, recommendations, and improved communication 

00:14:20Maelia Carias And this has kept us united, as our name say, Mothers United. 

00:14:25Baudelia Chavez because our goal has been always to discover what we don't know, in order to improve this school and help it function better for our children and for all the children. 

00:14:40David Sweet-Cordero Once the team had decided on their goals, they discussed different research methods. They chose a design that included focus groups with parents, teachers and students, and individual interviews with the principal, parents, O.C.O Organizers and community members. They also planned to observe classrooms, the playground, and the cafeteria. 

00:15:05Baudelia Chavez We made a work plan with a lot of activities, objectives what we hoped to accomplish, how were we going to do it, what activities we had to do, who was going to do it, how were they going to do it? 

00:15:20Ofelia Martinez And we also had a purpose for each interview, for example the focus group with students, why it is important to interview the children? How it is going to help our research? Or why are we going to interview someone, for example, OCO, BayCES, why do we want to interview them? We have to have an objective that we need to document, not just because we want to interview a mom. 

00:15:45David Sweet-Cordero With this in mind, the parents came up with questions for each interview and focus group. In practice, focus groups they took turns as facilitators and participants discussing amongst themselves, the questions they planned to ask other parents. 

00:16:00Baudelia Chavez Why do you think this school was founded? Do you think there was a goal, a reason for this school to be founded? 

00:16:10UNKNOWN I think it was because there are schools with too many children, and to reduce the number of children, we can open a small school so that the other school is left with less students, and the small school can have like 200. And there will be more control over the children, and the education will be more advanced. 

00:16:35Ofelia Martinez I think a small school should also have a goal of higher academic achievement, that's very important. 

00:16:55David Sweet-Cordero They also spent time learning how to use a video camera, so that they could tape the interviews in focus groups. 

00:17:00Andrea Dyrness Now you're recording. 

00:17:05David Sweet-Cordero Making the transition from the practice session, at Ofelia's house, to the actual interviews and focus groups at the school was both exciting and challenging. 

00:17:15[music] 

00:17:25Ofelia Martinez The first interview was with the principal of I.C.S. And I remember I was very nervous, my hands were so cold, because even though I knew her, and I had spoken with her, I had never been face-to-face with her. 

00:17:40David Sweet-Cordero In the interview, Ofelia gained a new understanding of what a principal had to go through, to open the new school. 

00:17:50Ofelia Martinez She said they didn't have phones for months, they were without phones, they didn't have a lot of necessary things that the district was supposed to have ready. She told us that they didn't even have a copy machine and she had to buy a copy machine with her own money. I didn't know any of that before interviewing her. 

00:18:15David Sweet-Cordero Through out the research, the parents discovered many reasons to be proud of the new small school. They were most impressed by what they heard from the students. Students liked being in a school where everyone knows each other and where the whole school gathers every morning, to sing songs and share poems. 

00:18:35[sil.] 

00:18:45UNKNOWN I'm happy to be here and I'll make this as a great day. 

00:18:50UNKNOWN Hurray! 

00:18:50UNKNOWN Alright, real quickly. 

00:18:55UNKNOWN I thought this was a good school because at Hawthorne there were always conflicts and here they try to resolve conflicts and they don't want conflicts. That's why they invented this school so there wouldn't be anymore conflicts like there were at Hawthorne. 

00:19:15David Sweet-Cordero They're also learning to care about their community and issues of social justice. 

00:19:25UNKNOWN And, in our class, umm… we did these process of essays, like we wrote the, umm… we wrote the letter to the President, mayors, to people, to care, like… about umm… our world, like see what's happening…. I wrote a letter to the President Bush. 

00:19:45UNKNOWN Really? 

00:19:45UNKNOWN Saying that umm… that I really cared about this world and I want to stop every war in this world. 

00:19:55David Sweet-Cordero After each research activity, the parents wrote a report on what they had learned and their personal reflections on the experience. In her reflection on the focus group with English speaking students, Ofelia wrote. 

00:20:10Ofelia Martinez This interview made me feel something deep and moving in my heart, because I said the need for more small schools. I would like for all children to have the opportunity to attend a small school: the children appear very interested and enthusiastic, they feel heard and protected, they knew the names of all the teachers. This interview made me think differently, now I feel happy, I think positively. Now I feel that all the sacrifices we as parents made to achieve this school were worth it. 

00:20:45David Sweet-Cordero The mothers found the students and parents received more personal attention at the new small school. They were particularly moved, when they interviewed a father, who's wife had left him with their four children. 

00:21:00Carman Chavez When we got to his house and began the interview, he started telling us things we never would have thought or imagined. Like, for example, he received a lot of help on the weekends to take care of his children. A teacher takes the youngest children every weekend, she takes them on Friday, until Monday when she brings them back to school. They stay in her house, often. And during vacations she's taken all 4 of them to Disneyland! And were impressed by that because that's something that doesn't happen in other schools. 

00:21:55David Sweet-Cordero This sense of community and personal attention is one of the reasons Oakland organizers ecame interested in the new small school movement. Researchers shown that well, designed small schools produce a sense of belonging, high expectations from student academic work, teaching and learning that is student-centered, a decrease in violence and an increase in parent involvement. But small schools are by definition small, with a limited number of spaces. I.C.S, capped submission for the first year at 240. It was also the first new school to open, in the Fruitvale-San Antonia neighborhood in 40 years. Who was going to get in? It was decided that the children, of parents who had participated in the organizing, would have first priority. The remaining students, would be chosen by lottery, with two spots in each grade, reserved for students with special needs. The parent researchers had been have part of this selection process and believed it had been followed, but in the course of their research, they found differently. After conducting three focus groups with parents, and asking how they learned about the school, Ofelia wrote. 

00:23:15Ofelia Martinez I was really amazed to hear so many parents say their children got into the school because the principal helped them. It's very rare to hear that they are there because they participated in meetings or they were picked in the lottery or simply because the father or mother was interested. 

00:23:35Baudelia Chavez People got in who don't belong to the community, who never participated, who don't meet any of the requirements and they are in. And some people who met requirements but for whatever reasons missed some meetings, were left out. 

00:23:50David Sweet-Cordero The mothers decided to interview some parents and children who didn't get into the new school. Baudelia, and Carmelina, had a reviewing interview with one of these parents. 

00:24:05Baudelia Chavez We tried to do home visits with these people, but it was very difficult for me because one of them was someone who had worked closely with me during the organizing process. She was very angry, and truthfully, I let her speak her mind, because I felt responsible, I felt really bad, but the truth is I didn't realize what had happened because I didn't know her children didn't make it into the school. So I said, okay, tell me whatever you want, I'm here to listen, because the truth was, I knew she had participated. 

UNKNOWN She was left very despairing and from that moment on she says that she's not going to go to any more meetings, and now what this parent does, she advises other parents not to attend the meetings, because those who attend the meetings aren't rewarded. 

00:24:55[non-English narration] 

00:25:00David Sweet-Cordero Through interviews like these, the parent researchers learned that the selection process hadn't worked the way they hoped it would and that it had harmful consequences for some members of the community. 

00:25:15Ofelia Martinez I feel that the lottery for students was unfair, and I feel that I, as a parent who played a role in that, I recognize that I made a mistake. And this research has served to help me recognize my own mistakes. I would have liked to see the admissions process happen again, to have another plan, do it differently. So I think this research is very important because people or parents who want to start a new school, they can see the mistakes we made, and learn from us. 

00:26:00Ofelia Martinez Hi! 

00:26:00Carman Chavez Hi! 

00:26:05David Sweet-Cordero Throughout the year, Madres Unidas continued to meet every Friday at Ofelia's house. It was a time for them to debrief, analyze, and evaluate their work. 

00:26:15Ofelia Martinez It's informal, our way of working. We drink coffee, sometimes there's food, but the work is always very serious, and we take it seriously. 

00:26:25[non-English narration] 

00:26:30David Sweet-Cordero The team struggled to find a balance between a relaxed work environment and productive and focused medians. One solution was the stone. 

00:26:40Maelia Carias When someone got off- topic, and started on other topics that weren't what we were discussing, we would pound the stone, so the person off-topic would be quiet. 

00:27:00Ofelia Martinez I collect stones, this one looks like a potato. We pounded this one when we got off-topic, and then everyone would be attentive! 

00:27:10Carman Chavez But also something that was nice that we did and I would recommended, is to give the first 15 minutes to share personal experiences. 

00:27:20Ofelia Martinez Sometimes it was even half an hour, it was really nice because there was trust, 

00:27:25Baudelia Chavez We shared, we learned something that wasn't just, we got to know each other not just as co-workers, but as something more familiar. 

00:27:35David Sweet-Cordero Confianza or the feeling of trust in community that emerged out of these medians became the foundation for supportive working relationships. During Friday meetings, the parents could give each other constructive feedback on their performance as researchers. 

00:27:50Ofelia Martinez In Confianza we could say to each other. "Oh, you weren't looking at the person when you asked the questions, you were reading." And something important we learned is that we have to be making eye contact with the people we're talking to, and all these little things we learned among ourselves little by little, because we are a group that works with much confianza. 

00:28:20David Sweet-Cordero Confianza, and group solidarity also gave the mothers the confidence to step into new roles. 

00:28:25Ofelia Martinez We made a plan where each mother had a different role, like we all took turns doing each job. For example, one time it was my co-worker's turn to be the videographer and it was my turn to interview the parents, another time it would be her turn. So, we combined our efforts really well so that each of us would have the same opportunity, to have the same experience in different aspects. My name is Ofelia Martinez and I'm the mother of 2 children. Right now I'm the videographer, I'm part of the team. I'm the videographer. Learning. 

00:29:10David Sweet-Cordero The mothers realized that if parents were going to come to the focus groups, there would have to be child-care. So, watching children became part of the research. 

00:29:25Carman Chavez One time it was my turn to watch the kids, and like 25 of them came! And some were big, some were small. So I had two little boys that I had to carry in my arms and others climbed up on the table, and others ran under it, and it was really hard because I was just one person for all those children! 

00:29:50David Sweet-Cordero Other roles, presented their own challenges. 

00:29:55UNKNOWN For me it was an experience being the note-taker, because you have to be able to write fast, and I can't write fast. However, I feel useful and I need to have more experience. 

00:30:10David Sweet-Cordero Organizing the focus groups prove to be one of the most daunting tasks. 

00:30:20Baudelia Chavez It wasn't just a matter of calling parents on the phone, no! You have to do one-to-ones with them, because we had to educate them about what we were trying to do, we had to motivate them so that they would attend, we had to chat, sometimes we would take 4, 5 or 10 minutes trying to convince them. 

00:30:40David Sweet-Cordero Making phone calls was especially difficult for Maelia and Carman, who were shy and didn't know a lot of other parents. 

00:30:50Carman Chavez I had to learn what to say, for example, 'My name is Carman Chavez and I'm working with Andrea from the University of Berkeley and with BayCES.' like 2 lines that I had to write down So I could learn them by heart, to be able to introduce myself and say that to people. Otherwise, sometimes when it was time to talk, I would even forget my own name! 

00:31:15Maelia Carias Well, for me it was difficult with the parents, because they would ask for an explanation beforehand to know what the research was about, and I would give them the information, and I would explain it, and finally they would say, 'No! I can't go." 

00:31:35David Sweet-Cordero And, even when parents agreed to attend, that didn't mean they would actually show up. 

00:31:45UNKNOWN The only time I felt sad is when we invited like 8 parents who were going to do a focus group, and only one father showed up! And that time I felt said, and we couldn't do anything, and we lost like 2 hours because we were there waiting from 5: 30 until 6:00 or something, and only one showed up. 

00:32:15David Sweet-Cordero Despite the challenges of getting parents to participate, the mothers, succeeded in conducting three focus groups and six individual interviews with parents. The research team also did two focus groups, with teachers. All of whom had taught at Hawthorne and had been part of the team that designed the I.C.S proposal. 

00:32:35UNKNOWN But for me, wanting to be involved with reform has to do with 10 years in Oakland, I'm loving these children and thinking that they deserve, so much more than I got, and feeling frustrated that no matter how hard I worked, the way it was set up, I couldn't give them what they needed and it broke my heart. 

00:33:05David Sweet-Cordero The focus group with teachers, gave the parents a greater understanding of the pressures the teachers were under during the planning and first year of the new small school. These focus groups also revealed a difference in perspective, between teachers and parents on a number of issues. One area of contrast was around the question of what it means to be on an autonomous school. A central aspect of the new small schools reform, autonomy was a mysterious word for parents. 

00:33:35Ofelia Martinez We also discovered that the majority of parents didn't know what an autonomous school is, they didn't know what autonomy means. 

00:33:45UNKNOWN –We didn't know either! 

00:33:50Ofelia Martinez We didn't know ourselves! We learned it! And all of that information I feel should come from the school, but through our research we have learned what the needs are. 

00:34:05David Sweet-Cordero When they asked parents, what they understood by autonomy, they were often met with blank stares! 

00:34:10UNKNOWN Do you as parents know that this is an autonomous school? 

00:34:15UNKNOWN What's that? 

00:34:20UNKNOWN Specifically, what is autonomy, because many of us don't know. Nobody can explain, or has an idea? 

00:34:30[non-English narration] 

00:34:35UNKNOWN Something to do with the University. 

00:34:40UNKNOWN No, that's the Autonomous University of Mexico! 

00:34:45UNKNOWN That's what it sounds like! 

00:34:50David Sweet-Cordero The teachers had a different reaction to the same question. 

00:34:55UNKNOWN The next question is what do you understand by autonomy? 

00:35:00Andrea Dyrness Well, the biggest thing is like we, we spent a year, you know, working two jobs, creating the school, proving to them, they approved our proposal, you know, what I mean like, we said this is what we wanna do and this is why we know how to do it. Here's a researcher that support it. And they not trusting us to do that, you know, they're forcing all these other things on us. Which is… it's just not autonomy. 

UNKNOWN Either one should hear other people… 

00:35:25David Sweet-Cordero The parent researchers also explored the different reasons parents and teachers had, for starting a new small school. 

00:35:30UNKNOWN Just a thought of, of starting a new school with people that have the same commitment and the same beliefs and the same drive to educate the kids, was just such a phenomenal change. 

00:35:45David Sweet-Cordero Although teachers and parents share the goal of creating something better for the children, teachers were more likely to mention the desire, to collaborate with each other, than the need to work with parents and the community. 

00:36:00UNKNOWN It was very interesting to hear the teachers say that they never planned to have a new small school; they only wanted to work together at Hawthorne. I have been thinking about this ever since I heard those responses and I feel that this school was founded more by the effort of parents and the community because the teachers didn't have that goal. At no point did they mention that they worked with parents or representatives from the community. And they do need the parents' help but they feel that it is the parents who should inform other parents. This makes me feel little sad. 

00:36:40David Sweet-Cordero When they asked parents about founding of the school, the mothers were also disappointed. 

00:36:45Baudelia Chavez I also remember something I discovered. one of our main goals was to find out if parents knew the history of the school, how it was started, why it got started, what the process had been, and it made me sad to learn that the majority of parents don't know. They don't know the origin of the school, they don't know how it was founded, who founded it, why it was founded. 

00:37:15Maelia Carias Another thing I learned was that the parents don't their rights in the school. This is hard because I myself didn't know them either, until now, as I working on this research, I'm finding out about our rights. 

00:37:35David Sweet-Cordero The I.C.S. Proposal called for a more active and integrated role for parents. In contrast to the disenfranchisement often felt by the parents, their voices will be valued and they will play a vital role in the decision-making processes of the school. One of the main goals with Madres Unidas, was to evaluate parent participation at the school and to see whether the relationship between teachers and parents had changed. Both parents and teachers told the mothers, that their communication with each other was greatly improved. Events like accountability-night helped. The school made a formal presentation on it's achievement in the first year and teachers met individually with parents to discuss their child's progress. 

00:38:25[sil.] 

00:38:30David Sweet-Cordero Despite improved communication, the transition to new and fundamentally different roles for parents in the school was difficult to achieve. The mothers found parents confused, uninformed and in some cases, disillusioned about the possibilities for participation in the school. Particularly inside for was the case of one father, who was selected for the school's English language advisory community. 

00:38:55Ofelia Martinez We wanted to interview him because we wanted to ask him what it was like on the committee, what he had learned, what he thought about the ELAC committee, and what information he would have for the parents. But to our surprise, when we went to interview him he told us that they had never called him, that he was waiting for all that time for them to call him. but he had never received a call. We asked him why he didn't go to the school to ask why they never called him? And he said because he felt embarrassed. He was sad because nobody had called him and 6 months had passed. This interview helped me a lot to know that it's not just me that feels sad and disillusioned with how ICS is working. I could find answers to some of my questions, for example, I wonder, why don't more parents come to the meetings? Now I know, like the father said, there's a lot of enthusiasm at the school but there's no action. I think that as parents as we get tired of listening, participating, helping. Just so that in the end we don't see anything concrete. 

00:40:05David Sweet-Cordero Many parents were frustrated with school policies and practices that excluded parent voice. For example, multi-age classrooms had been a source of conflict between teachers and parents, since the school's planning phases. Teachers felt strongly that team teaching in multi-age classrooms would improve instruction for all students. Because parents didn't agree, the schools proposals, said this point would be negotiated with the parents. Instead, teachers began implementing team teaching in the lower grades, in the first year. In their research, the mothers learned that teachers plan to continue and expand it to more grades next year. Well, many parents continue to be opposed. Lacking a forum to voice their issues, parents often use the focus groups to air their complaints. After assisting with her first parent focus group, Carmen wrote. 

00:41:00Carmen This meeting didn't seem very productive to me. The parents didn't talk much, and the few who talked, it was almost all complaints, and they thought that we would be able to solve their problems. This really worries me, because we're going to bring the problems to light, but we can't solve them right now. 

00:41:25David Sweet-Cordero As the mothers finish their research activities and turned to analysis, they faced a difficult question. What to do about the problems they identified? Reflecting on this question, Baudelia wrote. 

00:41:40David Sweet-Cordero "In order to maintain the participation and function of this school, it is imperative to take into account the opinions of all those who participated in our interviews. Spoken words are like leaves in the wind. They soon disappear from memory and attention. That is why it has been important to observe, record, take video, because the images will remain rooted in the memory of those who are really interested in knowing and making a change." 

00:42:10David Sweet-Cordero In the Spring, the research team prepared several public presentations of their findings. Beginning with the conference at the center for popular education and participatory research or CPEPR at UC Berkeley. At the conference they talked about the need to take action on their findings. 

00:42:30Baudelia Chavez We wouldn't be successful if we just knew this and left it there. 

00:42:35Andrea Dyrness I think there's so much more responsibility, there's more people to be accountable to, there's much more urgent need to take action and not just let this research, for researcher's sake and obviously that's the point of paricipatory research. But when you actually do it and you realize, I don't have a choice here, we can't just criticize what's going on, we actually have to do something, because these are our neighbors, these are our friends, these are, you know, people who are angry at the way things have happened, something has to change. 

00:43:00Ofelia Martinez To me, research means seeing results, and seeing what do we want to do with these results? We have in our hands what we investigated, but what can we do? 

00:43:15David Sweet-Cordero Perhaps the most challenging action undertaken by the group was the presentation of the research results to the school staff. 

00:43:25Andrea Dyrness Unlike the distance of an academic conference, at I.C.S. the parents were faced with the prospect of sharing critical feedback with their children's teachers, umm… who they have to see everyday and uh… with whom they have to have a positive relationship, so it was very stressful situation. 

00:43:45Baudelia Chavez I think sometimes the risk of doing research is that people don't understand what our objective is, why we're there, they don't understand, or they can misinterpret our research. They can say, 'They're just out to find the bad and nothing else.' 

00:44:00Raquel Rodiguez Jones 

00:44:004th grade teacher 

00:44:00Raquel Rodiguez Jones I've sort of felt the sense of anxiety. Not a lot, but just a little bit like, oh, what they gonna tell us? 'cause we know that they had been miscommunication and mistakes that we had made and everything got, you know, we felt like there are better ways to get off towards, through a year, at a new school. So, I was sort of feeling like hmm, okay here's the other perspective, what's… what are they gonna tell us. 

00:44:25Ofelia Martinez I felt nervous, very nervous, because I felt that I was going to hurt people, that people were probably going to be angry at our results. I wanted this to be known, but I didn't know how, without hurting someone. 

00:44:45David Sweet-Cordero To prepare for the presentation, the research team met with O.C.O- Organizers and school coaches from the Bay Area Coalition for Equitable Schools or BayCES. BayCes is a partner in the new small autonomous schools reform and had two coaches assisting at I.C.S. 

00:45:05Ofelia Martinez It helped us a lot to meet with BayCES. The advice they gave us impressive. I learned so much from them! After having the meeting with them, I felt better, I didn't feel so anxious anymore after we talked with BayCES, about how we would do it, how we could talk about truths but not directly like in a bad way, starting positively and not negatively. 

00:45:35Andrea Dyrness One of the most important thing the BayCES coaches did for us was, they helped us turn some of the critical findings into questions for the staff, so for example, from the difficult findings around the selection process, the parents raise the question, what is it mean to be community school? And when we talk about community what we're referring to, so that was among the questions that the parents posted themselves and to the staff in the presentation. 

00:45:55David Sweet-Cordero Their preparation paid off. 

00:46:00Ofelia Martinez I'm really happy, I feel proud of all the teachers, because in spite of listening to everything that we said, they behaved really nicely, really well, because they all, the majority congratulated us, they were happy with our research, and that made me feel really positive. I feel that something positive came out of our research. 

00:46:30Raquel Rodiguez Jones I remember feeling after the, the presentation, so incredibly, uh… appreciative of all the work they did and umm… and I mean, I think it just really came through like all of the different interviews they did, the work that they did, the research, the writing everything down and the reflection on everything, umm… the meetings in their homes and then… the way that they also were able form a relationship around, food and all this work, I just remember feeling like, my God! That's just the most incredible thing that's happened at the school this year. 

00:47:05AMY SALYER 

00:47:051st grade teacher 

00:47:05Amy Salyer And then I think, a few other things came up, maybe about umm… multi-age classrooms that also, I was like, "wow! I thought that, with sort of dealt with that and going on" but it what was obvious was, may be some teachers had thought we dealt with it but it hadn't been really dealt with from the mum's perspective. 

00:47:25NICOLE KNIGHT 

00:47:255th grade teacher 

00:47:25Nicole Knight And, I think that, umm… we get really, we get really involved in what we're doing as teachers that that there is always the danger of becoming umm… a separate entity from the parents and to become very umm… isolated and I know that they brought something to the table that we hadn't considered and I would love to see it happen in the future and may be allow us, in ways that would allow us to go even deeper and question ourselves in what we're doing and in a even deeper way. 

David Sweet-Cordero Experiencing new roles was most transformative for the parents who found in themselves, new skills and abilities. 

00:48:05Ofelia Martinez For me it has been such a help, because it has helped me to be stronger to learn to deal with people, to listen to other opinions even if I don't agree with that opinion. And that was difficult for me. because I always wanted to be in my opinion, I wanted to win and be the one who was right! And this had made me understand that there are different opinions and that we have to respect each of them. 

00:48:35Amy Salyer And I just saw some moms that I was just like wow! There are so awesome, I never had the opportunity to see this person in this light, maybe she goes around in her personal life all the time like this, but I've never seen her that way and that was umm… that was really fun for me. 

00:48:50JEANETTE BADAL 

00:48:50Kindergarten teacher 

00:48:50Jeanette Badal I think it's that sort of thing where, you know, this group of parents who're are not gonna go back to waiting to be given a piece of paper with the information, you know, and they know that they can seek out answers, solutions to problems and they got the tools to do that. 

00:49:15David Sweet-Cordero The experience of presenting publicly on their work, such as at the conference at UC Berkley was particularly influential for the mothers. 

00:49:20Carman Chavez At first it was horrible. I was so afraid from the time we started practicing here, it was like man! Like I was going to faint. My legs shook, and I thought I really wasn't going to be able to do it. And afterwards when the conference was over, Wow! It was like I said, if I could do that, now I can do more! And I also felt we were all very important, because we had gone to the University. 

00:50:00David Sweet-Cordero In addition to new skills, Madres Unidas brought new friendships and self confidence to parents who had previously felt isolated. 

00:50:10Maelia Carias For me it was hard, people would sometimes look at me and think I was snob, I think, and that's why people don't approach me. But now I know how to go up to them and greet them and at the same time get information from them! 

00:50:30[sil.] 

00:50:35Ofelia Martinez And she used to say that she would almost faint! just thinking about talking to a parent! She almost felt like she was going to faint! And all of this helped her! 

00:50:45Carman Chavez The truth is, I didn't have friends. I just looked at people. "Good morning, good bye." nothing more. They weren't my friends, they were people I saw at school everyday. In contrast, with this group Madres Unidas, I have more friends. But yes, for that I give thanks to God and to the opportunity that gave me this opportunity. because I have friends and I have a way to communicate with other parents. 

00:51:15David Sweet-Cordero As part of their action plan, the team proposed to start a parent center at the school. 

00:51:20Carman Chavez I hope the concerns of the parents will be resolved, that they won't just stay in the teachers' folders. I hope that the teachers don't waste this opportunity that they have with us and that they deal with the concerns and the problems, so that next year we don't have more. 

00:51:55Ofelia Martinez I think the role of the school should be to keep our community informed, to know what the needs of the community are. 

00:52:05David Sweet-Cordero Madres Unidas met with teachers through out the summer and obtained a small grant from CPEPR, to open a parent center in the fall of 2002. The center is the most visible result of the Parents research. 

00:52:20Ofelia Martinez The Parent Center was a dream of all ours, of the group Madres Unidas, because we see that a Parent Center is like a place where parents feel at home. So we opened a small Center. We are sharing a classroom with a teacher, we have half a classroom, but we're happy because we can give out clothes to people, and parents come with questions, and we try to help them. 

00:53:00David Sweet-Cordero Beginning in January of 2003, the Center hosted its first Parent Workshop series on Domestic Violence prevention, in collaboration with La Clinica Vilarrasa, Maelia and Carman were the key organizers of this workshop. 

00:53:15Carman Chavez I'm thrilled, because the parents have responded. They're interested in the workshops we're finding for them, and they tell us what kinds of workshops they want to take. And if it's within our reach to find that workshop, we look for it to bring it to the school. 

00:53:35David Sweet-Cordero Ofelia is amazed at the transformation she has seen in her sister and Maelia, through their work at Parent Center. 

00:53:40Ofelia Martinez What impresses me most personally is that the two of them were the most quiet in the group, the ones who had the least opinions and ideas, they were almost always quiet, they would say that they couldn't. And now I've seen that, incredibly, the two of them are the ones who have organized the workshops, they have sought the information, they have made the phone calls to the parents. And now they're really famous and they're recognized throughout the school. People always ask for them. I feel very proud of them. 

00:54:25David Sweet-Cordero Maelia is now encouraging other parents to come to the school's meetings. 

00:54:30Maelia Carias I'm not so afraid of the parents anymore, because I call them and I say, "Hello?" And they answer and I say, " It's Maelia." And they say, "Oh yes! I already knew it was Maelia!" I take the opportunity and I tell them, come to the meeting, it's going to be interesting. I motivate them to come. Since I didn't have that motivation before, and now I do have it, I pass it on to the parents who attend the workshops. 

00:55:00Nicole Knight I see a lot parents, not, not only the parents who are involved in the parent's cell, but a lot more parents, becoming more involved and I think a lot of that can be attributed to the fact that there's a space and a place for that to happen. It's a huge milestone in our growth as a school and our communication with parents. 

00:55:15David Sweet-Cordero But there's still work to do. 

00:55:20Raquel Rodiguez Jones I still thought like there are things that are still not communicated well, but there are still things, there are gaps in our, our knowledge of each other and in our knowledge of what we gone through to get here. 

00:55:35David Sweet-Cordero Improving the relationships between teachers and parents is a continual challenge, but it's also rewarding. In February of 2003, the mothers from the parent center organized a luncheon to thank the teachers for all of their hard work. 

00:55:50Maelia Carias For the patience and dedication you have with children, not just the students who are doing well, but also those who are below grade-level. And for the parents here in the school who have had problems, and you've been here to support them. It's joy for us to have teachers like you. 

00:56:20Ofelia Martinez Today I want to thank you because I can go to work and enjoy peace of mind. 

00:56:30[sil.] 

00:56:35David Sweet-Cordero Madres Unidas continues to meet every Friday at Ofelia's house. From the original group, Carman, Maelia, and Ofelia remained and a new mother Annabelle has joined. They're planning a new research activities and workshops for parents. 

00:56:55Maelia Carias We meet every Friday, even it it's just to drink coffee, to chat or talk about something that happened in the Parent Center or at the school, and now we treat each other as friends, not just acquaintances. 

00:57:10David Sweet-Cordero International Community School, remains located under the bar tracks in Fruitvale and looks forward to moving into new sound proof facilities in the spring of 2004. 

00:57:25Ofelia Martinez For me, research means wanting to know more than you can see. For example, I see this school, but I don't know what's happening inside the school. So research is like something really broad that can be seen in different ways, but for me, it means wanting to know what's beyond what you can see. 

Madres Unidas helped to change some common misconceptions about Latina/o parents and their involvement in their children's education. First, there is a belief that these parents do not care about education. However, Madres Unidas showed that they actually care a lot and are willing to fight for better educational opportunities. Another myth is that Latina/o parents lack the knowledge to participate, but this group proved that they have important insights and experiences that contribute to improving schools. Additionally, some think that language barriers prevent these parents from getting involved. Yet, Madres Unidas demonstrated that parents can overcome these barriers and be active contributors, often with support from their community.

Madres Unidas’ approach to parent involvement is different from traditional methods. Traditional methods often invite parents to participate in a limited way, like just attending meetings, but Madres Unidas engaged them in meaningful research, allowing their voices to be heard. This group focused on collaboration, seeing parents as equal partners rather than just supporters of the school. They highlighted the importance of understanding the unique cultures and needs of their families, opposing the usual one-size-fits-all approach often seen in traditional models.

As a future educator, these ideas can inspire how we build relationships with parents. It’s important to partner with parents and value their experiences, as they play a key role in a child’s education. Educators should also think of themselves as facilitators for parent involvement, not the only authority in education. Finally, supporting bilingual and bicultural students is crucial. Educators need to create a welcoming and inclusive classroom, using teaching methods that respect and promote the diverse cultures and languages of their students and their families.