EAST WHITTIER – East Whittier parents will have 13 opportunities this year to attend workshops that cover updates on educational topics, safety tips and ways to support student achievement.

The workshops are part of a program of 20 classes that grew out of the District’s outreach efforts in 2015-16, in which parents asked for a robust program to help them become engaged in their children’s education. Many of the workshops are presented by the District’s teachers, instructional coaches, nurses and school social workers.

“As a student, math was not my favorite subject,” parent of a Ceres Elementary first-grader Sabrina Giron said. “The math workshops have helped me recall concepts that I had long forgotten and have helped rebuild my confidence in the subject so that I can help my child.”

Parents can choose from various topics such as internet safety, preventing bullying, computer basics and how to get children excited about science, reading and writing.

“We are really focused this year on beefing up parent education opportunities,” Assistant Superintendent of Educational Services Gabriela Tavitian said. “This year we have increased our offering from five to 20 universal topics after receiving positive feedback from parents.”

Already, parents have been able to take seven workshops, learning to interpret scores for California’s new standardized testing on math and English language arts, receiving first aid tips and learning techniques for inspiring student success.

“We created these workshops because we know how essential parent involvement throughout the learning process is to student academic development,” Superintendent Mary Branca said. “It’s truly amazing to see the parents’ eagerness to learn.”

East Whittier City School District leaders also advocate for parents to join the Parent Teacher Association or Parent Faculty Organization at their children’s school as another avenue to remaining engaged.

Upcoming workshops and topics:

The following workshops are available at 9 a.m. at Laurel Elementary, 13550 E. Lambert Road:

  • Wednesday, Nov. 2, 2016: How children learn
  • Wednesday, Jan. 11, 2017: Bullying
  • Wednesday, Feb. 1, 2017: Internet safety
  • Wednesday, March 1, 2017: Drug prevention
  • Wednesday, April 5, 2017: Computer basics

The following upcoming workshops are available from 9-11 a.m. at the Dorothy F. Fagan Education Center and the Staff Development Center, both located at the District office at 14535 Whittier Blvd. Babysitting services will be available at the Staff Development Center:

  • Thursday, Feb. 9, 2017: Helping your child become a reading and writing rock star
  • Thursday, Feb. 16, 2017: Helping your child become a reading and writing rock star
  • Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017: Helping your child become a reading and writing rock star
  • Thursday, March 2, 2017: Helping your child become a reading and writing rock star
  • Thursday, April 6, 2017: Raising confident mathematicians
  • Thursday, April 13, 2017: Raising confident mathematicians
  • Thursday, April 20, 2017: Raising confident mathematicians
  • Thursday, April 27, 2017: Raising confident mathematicians