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Board hears expanded family and equity advisory work including La Plaza, parent leadership groups and Chuukese support
Summary
District staff summarized growth and changes in family advisory structures: La Plaza, community‑schools parent leadership, Chuukese parent support, special‑services outreach to IEP families, and advisory breakouts aimed at literacy, math and HiCap input.
Interim Associate Superintendent Janelle Ephraim and a team of staff told the Vancouver School District board that family advisories have expanded in scope and participation and are feeding changes to district practice.
Ephraim summarized the equity advisory’s origin in an audit by the UCLA Center for Civil Rights Remedies and described its role: recommending policy and procedure changes, monitoring outcomes and acting as a two‑way conduit with diverse communities. She said equity advisory members provided written reflections to the board endorsing the committee’s role in connecting communities to district decisions.
Presenters then described several standing and newer advisory efforts. Lucy Estrada Guzman said La Plaza, now hosted at Fort Vancouver High School, offers ESL, GED and computer classes and is supported by 16 CTE interns; she reported more than 100 parents and students attend and noted cultural dinners and credit opportunities for interns. Carla Felts summarized a decade of community schools parent‑family leadership advisory work, emphasizing translation and culturally aware phrasing in policy communications. Twin San described a Chuukese parent support group that meets monthly to build parent leadership and improve communication at McLaughlin Middle School.
Barb Lorenzo, interim special services, discussed outreach to families with students who receive special education services; she said interim staff are attending IEP and 504 meetings to improve navigation for multilingual and special‑needs families and cited an OSPI special‑education survey with several hundred responses so far.
Nut graf: District staff framed these advisories as a sustained, multi‑year effort to bring family voice into curriculum, discipline and program planning, while acknowledging remaining barriers to engagement for some language communities and older students.
Board members thanked presenters and asked practical questions — for example whether breakout resources used for engaged families could be packaged and distributed to all families. Staff said some materials live inside instructional tools and could be systematized with communications support.
What’s next: family advisory breakout sessions scheduled for March 26, regular La Plaza meetings, and student advisory events; staff said they will continue to use advisory feedback in policy implementation and family outreach.
