By Kim Hilsenbeck

Julietta Rodriguez, a third-grade bilingual teacher at Hays CISD’s Camino Real in Niederwald, thinks parents should be involved in their children’s education. After all, her own parents always prioritized education for her and her siblings.

“My mom was always on top of us to do homework, school was a priority. ‘You will go to bed early,’” Rodriguez recalled her mother saying during her childhood, despite the fact that her mother never made it beyond fourth grade. Her father went to college for two years until financial setbacks derailed his plans.

But that didn’t stop them from encouraging their children.

“My dad always said, ‘When you go to college,’ and ‘You will go to college,’” she said.

Rodriguez said she grew up in a high poverty, Spanish-dominant home, like many of the children she now teaches.

Last Thursday evening Rodriguez hosted her year-end family appreciation party and awards ceremony in the Camino Real cafeteria.

“I grew up very poor,” she said. “I remember my mother looking for pennies so we could buy milk.”

So while high poverty areas historically show gaps in education compared to higher income areas, Rodriguez believes that it’s not the only factor that makes a difference.

One of the biggest issues she sees is non-English speaking parents not becoming as involved in their child’s education. In part, it could be the language barriers. But she also thinks there are cultural differences as well.

“It’s cultural; the Anglo culture has a priority on school, being independent, being successful,” she said. “Latino culture is different; it’s more centered on the family unit. They work and live but don’t aim for that same Anglo success.”

When she started teaching at the campus five years ago, she noticed many parents were hesitant to contact her with questions about their child’s progress or to talk with her about issues or concerns.

But she had an idea to help foster better communication – an organized monthly parent meeting. She envisioned it would be a comfortable, easy way to establish a better method of communication with parents and to foster a relationship with her students’ families.

“I wanted a time where they could come in to talk with me, ask questions, get information and learn more about how their child was doing in school,” she said.

After the first meeting, which was a success, she set up another parent meeting the following month. But she didn’t know if anyone would attend a second time.

“I thought, ‘Will anyone show up this time?’ but when just as many attended the second month,” she said.

That was three years ago, and the momentum continued.

Now two classes later, Rodriguez said 80 to 90 percent of her 20 students’ families show up each month.

“I joke with them and treat them more like a friend,” she said. “When students know I can call mom and she trusts me, they realize they can’t tell mom one thing and me another.”

Rodriguez also incentivizes attendance at the meetings with small prizes she buys with her own money. The first three students to show up get a prize.

Ana Avila said her son, Imanol Avila, urges her to get to the meetings early.

“He has won a prize three months in a row,” she said.

Ana works in the kitchen at Camino Real. She said the monthly meetings are a good way for her to communicate with her sons teacher.

Camino Real has two other bilingual classes and three other monolingual third-grade classes. Each has a teacher ratio of about 21:1.

Rodriguez said she is the district’s only teacher who hosts a monthly parent meeting for bilingual students.

Thursday’s annual year-end celebration includes dinner and an award presentation. The families all bring a potluck dish to share and everyone is dressed in their finest clothes – little girls in sparkly dresses and boys in shirts and ties. Ana’s son has on an argyle sweater vest, looking very dapper.

The evening consists of sharing dinner, camaraderie and awards. The students eagerly wait to hear if their name is called. The excitement, if they hear it, is infectious.

Rodriguez speaks to the group entirely in Spanish for the duration of the meeting.

Camino Real is her first teaching job out of college.

She went to a high school in Houston and attended college near Dallas. She grew up a native Spanish speaker in a low-socioeconomic household. Yet her English is perfect with nary a trace of a Spanish accent.

She thinks one thing that made a difference was that her parents enrolled her in Head Start, a federal taxpayer-funded pre-K program for low-income students. She went to an all English Head Start class.

When she started kinder, the school enrolled her in bilingual classes through third grade.

“I read a lot,” she said. “I loved books; I was self taught.”

Rodriguez said the fact that education was a priority in her household made a difference in the lives of her and her siblings. The reinforcement from her parents worked, she believes. Her sister is also a teacher; her brother is studying to be a nurse.

She tries to reinforce education and its importance to her students.

“I tell them, ‘You always have to work hard, you can do this,’” she said.