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Parents urge Long Beach Unified to keep facilitators who connect families to schools
Summary
At a Long Beach Unified listening session, parents and staff stressed that dedicated facilitators and coordinators — not occasional events or secretarial interactions — are central to building trust and increasing participation, and urged the district to sustain those positions.
Parents, school leaders and district staff at a Long Beach Unified listening session urged the district to preserve and expand facilitator and coordinator positions that connect families to schools.
"El puente real está formado por los facilitadores, los coordinadores. Ellos conocen las realidades de las familias y del distrito," said Damaris Santana, a parent, arguing that facilitators create human connections that secretarial staff do not. Principal Tolentina of Grant School said those staff make families feel welcomed and “no existe esa misma relación con las secretarias.” Dr. Brown, who led the session, reminded the board that the report being discussed draws on focus groups and surveys about participation and decision‑making.
Speakers described concrete outcomes from sustained facilitation: parents who initially attended workshops later served as leaders and mentors, and facilitators helped form parent‑to‑parent connections during school events. One parent asked the board to consider how closing a facilitator position would disrupt those relationships, saying, "cuando se cierra ese puesto, no vamos a saber qué hacer." Dr. Baker thanked participants and said the district will continue addressing these staffing and relationship issues in future meetings.
The board took no formal action at the session; members said they had heard the parents’ recommendations and signaled further discussion would follow in upcoming meetings.
