This article originally appeared in the November-December 2005 issue of the Children's Advocate, published by Action Alliance for Children.

Grassroots Snapshot:

San Jose parents keep school open—for now

By Claudia Miller

Brenda Almazan was worried when she heard that her daughter’s school, Lowell Elementary in San Jose, might close. “This was the third year we were on the list. We needed to let the school board know we didn’t want to be shut down,” says Almazan, who is also the school’s registrar.

Almazan and others recruited parents and launched a campaign to keep the school open. After parents attended a school board meeting, talked with media, held marches, and met with the superintendent, San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD) announced Lowell will stay open this year.

Parent concerns

“It would be hard for my daughter to adjust to a new (school),” says parent Maria Cabrera, “We would have to leave a lot earlier to walk to school.” Other parents worried about having to cross neighborhoods filled with construction sites, halfway houses, and liquor stores, says Lorena Solorio, Lowell’s after-school program coordinator who helped organize parents.

Most of Lowell’s students learn English at school and get free or reduced-priced school lunches. Lowell also has “the highest (test) scores in the downtown area,” says Almazan proudly. Parents wondered how another school could “handle our children when they weren’t doing so great educating their own,” adds Solorio.

Parent campaign

“Parents said, ‘It won’t matter what we do.’ But we (said), ‘That may be the case, but let’s try and see what happens,’” says Almazan. Cabrera and other parents had taken a parent leadership course offered by the Mexican American Legal Defense and Education Fund (MALDEF). Drawing on what they learned, they worked to:

• Bring parents together: Parents talked with others about the possible closure, while they picked up and dropped off their kids, “until many families were involved,” Almazan says. Then parents held meetings after school.

• Speak out: Parents made signs calling for Lowell to remain open and about 70 parents attended a school board meeting. Though they “only spoke Spanish and couldn’t ask questions, (they) were very encouraged,” Solorio recalls.

• Organize marches: Parents called Spanish-language media and marched, with their kids, to downtown San Jose and later to the district office.

• Meet with the superintendent: When more than 100 parents arrived at the SJUSD office, the superintendent invited them in to talk.

More parent involvement

Lowell stayed open this year—but Karen Fuqua, SJUSD’s public information officer, says the parents “did not have an impact.” Their campaign was “very heartwarming,” she adds, but “set criteria” determined school closures. “Parents from (most) schools were pleading their case.”

But Lowell parents “believe they (kept the school open),” says Almazan. Now “a lot more parents are involved in their kids’ education, coming to parenting classes and school meetings.” Parents formed Las Familias Unidas, a club to talk about school issues and bring families together. Parents have another year’s reprieve—SJUSD is not planning to close schools next year.

“This has brought me closer to my children, staff, and other parents,” says Cabrera. “By uniting, we can accomplish great things.”

• Las Familias Unidas, Lowell Elementary, 408-535-6243

• MALDEF, 213-629-2512

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Extra resources from the Children’s Advocate bulletin

• Parent Leadership Starter Kit provides parent leadership tools, checklists of what to look for in your school, and tips for using data, report cards, and the No Child Left Behind Act. $8.50. KSA-Plus Communications, (703) 528-7100; summary online at http://www.parents.ksaplus.com

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