Anne Arundel County Public Schools, MD Parent's Corner, 30 Oct 2017

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From YouTube: Parents Corner - November - 2017

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Kate Talks with Yvette Poole, International Student Registrar, International Student & Family Welcome Center about the Services Provided to Students & Families Entering AACPS for the First Time.

A

Hi I'm Kate Bruce and thanks for joining us on parents corner today, I'm interviewing Yvette pool from the IWC high Evette thanks for joining me today. Thanks for having me Kate, can you tell me a little about what the IWC is.

B

The IWC, which stands for our international student and family Welcome Center, is the first point of contact for students and families that are coming new into our school system that are coming from outside of the country. So.

A

Who would register at the IWC so.

B

We register students grades 1st through 12th that are coming from another country and speak another language at home other than English, okay,.

A

And I understand that you used to have a different title and you used to be located somewhere new. Can you tell me where you are located now? We.

B

Moved to a new location recently, as you said so, we are now near the Naval Academy stadium here in Annapolis. Our address is 14 11, Cedar, Park Road, and the new address. A new location is great because it's more easily accessible to our students and families, and it's a really nice Welcome Center, as our title reflects great.

A

Yeah, we want all of our families to feel very welcome when they come to in Arundel County Schools. So what does your office look like? How many staff members do you have, and what does everybody do.

B

So we currently have seven staff members, including myself, so we have two registrar's, including me, and we registered the students, make sure they have all their paperwork necessary to register for school, determine grade placement and determine whether they qualify for extra support with English at school, which is our English language acquisition, program or ela program. We also have a bilingual interpreter, or clerk she's, usually the one that takes the appointments takes. The phone calls make sure that everyone knows what documents they need to bring.

B

We also have a counselor on staff, which is great because she meets individually with the high school students and their families to go over their transcripts to determine what credits L receive to make sure they get all the credits that they're entitled to and to go over how our school system works as far as credits and what's necessary for graduation.

B

We also have a social worker on staff, which is wonderful, because she really helps the students and the families with any necessities that they may need past leaving our office, since we do have students many times or families that come through. That may have had some past experiences that they may need help with, and then we have a parent involvement specialist who also works with the with the parents and also the bilingual facilitators at the schools to make sure that they have resources as well. Wow.

A

So kind of sounds like the parents come to the IWC, but the IWC stays with the parents even after they leave that initial time. Yes,.

B

And I forgot to mention: we also have a pupil personnel worker, our pvw, and she helps us a lot of times, especially in the beginning, when we have students or families that may have some hardships or dealing with some issues with homelessness or other special circumstances, and they may need some information and special care. So we can get them started into school, but we definitely try to give them the resources that they need and put them in contact with who's going to help them out later on, as well. Yeah.

A

Okay, so when a new family, parent or legal guardian comes to the IWC with their child or children, what should they be prepared to bring so.

B

They would bring the same sort of documents that you would bring to school. Any other family would bring to a school to register a child, so that would include proof of birth like their birth certificate or passport proof of vaccinations or immunizations school records if they have them and then proof of residency or that they live in our County. So like a lease or mortgage documentation such as that, okay.

A

And if a parent does need to come to the IWC and/or legal guardian, should they just show up whenever they want make an appointment? What you all prefer, it's.

B

Best if they make an appointment.

A

B

Because a lot of times, if people just walk in, they may not have all the necessary documents and then they would end up needing to return and that way they can gather up everything that they need. So they're always welcome to call us or email us, but if they walk in, we will definitely help them. And if we're able to see them right there right, then we surely will. But we also do need the students and sometimes a family may walk in, but they don't have the students with them.

B

So we do also need the students well.

A

Yeah, so when a family makes an appointment, can you tell us a little bit about what that appointment entails how long they should expect to be with you all things like that, so.

B

For an appointment, an appointment generally runs at least an hour, and the reason for that is because we, along with the paperwork and the documentation that we make copies of, there's paperwork that we fill out or we help them fill out. But we also do some testing with the students so for the students we generally do that English proficiency testing with them to see if they qualify for that extra support with English at school and then, depending on their grade level.

B

We may also do some math testing with them, or some native literacy tests with them and if they're a high school student, they would meet with our counselor and to go over those transcripts and give other information so anywhere from an our to longer than that.

A

What we kind of talked about this, but what ages typically, will someone come to see you if they're registering for a pre-kindergarten or kindergarten? Should they come to see you or also, if we have a student, that's over 18? Where would they go so.

B

For students that are pre-k age or kindergarten age, they could register directly with the school. If there's any question about that, families are always welcome to call us and we can refer them to the appropriate school or we can.

B

You know double check to see if maybe they do need to come to our office or not for our older students, students can be in school up until the age of twenty-one, so if they are kind of close to that older age, it is nice if they give us a call too, because then our counselor can talk with them to determine what their academic history is and kind of. What some of their options are.

A

B

A

So after the appointment is finished and the testing has been done, do you place the student in a particular grade or how is that decision made based on their experience or their testing? So.

B

We determine their grade level based on their academic history and also their age, but we make a recommendation to the school. What grade that they'll be placed into, and then the school makes the final decision as far as what grade the student will actually be placed. Okay,.

A

And what else leaves with the family once they leave the IWC.

B

So a lot of times it's the first time that the family is not only in our county but also our country, so we try to provide them with other resources that they may like. So sometimes we give them information about English classes or other resources in the community or in their area.

B

We also provide them with information to staff that can assist them past, leaving our office, so that might be they're bilingual facilitator that can help them in their home language at the school to be that connection for them also, the Registrar registration set very and even their counselor, and once they do leave our office, we generally do send an email to the school to the principal to that secretary to the teachers that is going to help them with English all that's to all those staff.

B

Members I'm so they're aware: hey you're, getting this new student, here's a little bit information about them where they're coming from so we try to kind of give them an overview about our whole school system from school calendar to bus stops. So if their school uses uniforms to kind of give them information, that'll help them moving forward. Okay,.

A

Yeah wow, it sounds like the IWC is a really good support team really good program to have on your on your side. If you're a new student in the county yeah, we.

B

Really we really try to help. You know as much as we can. You know I try to place myself if I'm new somewhere. What is all the information that I would need to try to know where to go? Yeah yeah.

A

Is there anything else that stands out about the IWC that you want to share with us anything about the history or the going on just anything else? In the last few minutes of the show that you'd like to that you'd, like our viewers to know I.

B

Think, what's in what's nice about our office, is that we see students from all over the world, so we're used to having families come to us, whether they speak the same language as us or not not to worry, because we can get interpreters. I can help them. You know, should they need to have one during your appointment and and we really want to make them feel comfortable when they come to our office. So we encourage people.

B

If you have any questions at all or they're not sure, do I need to go there not go there, not to be afraid to contact us schools many times, sometimes families or relatives through word-of-mouth, or they just walk into it. They're the homeschool that they may end up going to. They go into the school a lot of times the school staff. There will call us and we make appointments right from there. So, if that's you know, that's the best way that they want to do it. They can do that as.

A

Well, yeah that sounds good all right. Well, I, really appreciate all the information. I think I learned a lot. Our viewers learned a lot sounds like the International Welcome Center is going very well. So thank you for joining me on parent's corner today and thank you viewers for tuning. In till next time, I'm Kate, Ruth.

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New kindergarten, first and second grade curriculums are designed to engage students in a variety of learning opportunities that involve collaboration, conversation and creativity.

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One learning block that is devoted to movement and healthy minds and bodies supports a cooperative classroom and a feeling of connectedness in move-move-move, healthy minds and bodies, activities, support oral language development and prepare the brain for new information. The use of repetition and movement offers an opportunity to review content across various learning block. The positive effects of physical activity on the young brain provides a focus and a readiness to learn already ask your child. How move-move-move helped them learn today.

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Today, I come to you with exciting news about school meals. School meals offer students a healthy school breakfast and lunch every day. Students are offered unlimited choices of fresh fruits and vegetables. Students are encouraged to select up to 2 cups of fresh produce each day at lunch from our unique salad bars. You may also monitor your child's school meals online. At my payments Plus.

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This is a convenient tool we offer to all parents to make managing your school meal accounts a simple process to learn more about my payments plus simply visit WWF, Amin's, plus calm or call 877 237 0 9 4 6 each year, families have the ability to apply for free or reduced-price meals. The application to apply is online parents. You may log on to apply for meals, a ACPs org. The process is fast, easy, convenient and it's accessible from any computer. Remember.

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If you receive meal benefits last year, you must complete a new application each school year. Thank you for this opportunity to provide you this valuable information pertaining to school meals, school meals, fuel, your child's brain and body for academic excellence. If you have any questions regarding the healthy school meals offered, please contact me at 4:10 2 to 250 900, hi I'm.

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Jani Porter Roanoke, County, Public, Schools Department of Transportation is raising the level of awareness for the safety of your children as we transport them to and from school.

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When a school bus stops to load students as a driver, this is what you will see at 150 feet. The bus will activate hazard lights at 100 feet. The bus driver will activate the amber lights, they will start slowing down at 10 feet before the bus stops. They will turn on the red bus lights. There stop sign will come out and students will begin to load once all students are on board safely. The bus driver will turn off red light and move forward at this time. It is safe for the motorist to resume movement.