Last spring, we reported on a ceremony that was the first of its kind for Des Moines Public Schools, a localized version of a national model aimed at educating immigrant parents about transition to a new culture.
Last night, we attended a customized spinoff, the inaugural graduation from a new DMPS program called the Family Alliance.
Twenty-six parents completed a nine-week course at Edmunds Elementary, the site of last night’s ceremony, developed by the district’s Bilingual Family Liaisons. The BFLs are a corps of 25 facilitators who are at the service of families not only new to the district, but recently arrived in a foreign country.
“The work they do is so important and so appreciated by the families they serve,” said BFL Supervisor Laura Secory. “Tonight we congratulate this first group of graduates, but they are not the last and their learning is not done.”
This first cohort of graduates comes from three countries – Sudan, South Sudan and Somalia – and includes parents of students who attend eight different DMPS schools.
“Family Alliance is a program designed to empower families with the tools necessary to ensure the academic success of their children,” said BFL Almardi Abdalla, one of the FA coordinators who emceed commencement exercises.
Weekly sessions covered topics ranging from district attendance policies to parent rights and included guest speakers from community agencies. In addition to this fast-track, intensive section of the FA curriculum, monthly ones are held throughout the school year on Saturday mornings at Hoover High (Vietnamese); South Union Elementary (Nepalis); and Hiatt Middle School, East High and Perkins Elementary (Spanish) to accommodate parents who cannot attend regular weeknight sessions.
“We started with 30 in this group,” said Abdalla, “and lost four because of their jobs. So, the monthly groups on Saturdays are another good option. And we offer them in native languages. The FLI course (last spring’s program linked above) is only in English.”
Despite temperatures plunging toward record lows last night, the mood was celebratory for the potluck of African foods that preceded the awarding of certificates. And even if the weather outside wasn’t what’s customary for commencements, the program did include the traditional feature of a guest speaker.
Monica Akuien was a powerful one.
She’s a BFL who came to America as a Sudanese refugee in 1998 and has worked for DMPS since 2001. Along with Abdalla and Abdi Abdinoor, she led the Edmunds group. Her journey here began on foot between camps in Ethiopia and Kenya, carrying one of her children with the other five in tow. The trek took as long as the course her audience has just finished.
“You don’t just leave your country for no reason,” she said. “We were fleeing from a war.”
Upon arrival in America, life became safer, but not easy. She spoke English, but transportation was an issue, and her children struggled at first in school. Her eldest son got in trouble for defending himself at high school. “He later went to DMACC,” she said, “and from there to the University of Iowa. Now he’s a pharmacist in Cedar Falls.”
Another son ran away from elementary school one day, in part because they kept pronouncing his name wrong. But she brought him back. “After he graduated, he joined the Marines. I said to him that we came here to get away from war, but it was what he wanted, and he was sent to Afghanistan. Now, he attends Drake University.”
Monica learned how to help her children take advantage of the opportunities that come with life in America, something she’s teaching others now.
“It isn’t easy,” she told the group that’s following in her footsteps, “but you’re doing it. Congratulations!”
