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The United
Independent
School District
is located
in Laredo, Texas.
Laredo
is the
fastest growing city in the state and the second fastest
growing city in the United States.
Known as the “Gateway to Mexico,”
Laredo
is located
on the north bank of the Rio Grande
River. It
is only 150 miles south of San Antonio, 150 miles west of the
port
of Corpus
Christi
, 150 miles
north of highly industrialized Monterrey, Mexico
and
just across the Rio Grande
from
Nuevo Laredo, Mexico.
WHAT PEOPLE SAY: “Friendliest people…small town feel with the
conveniences of a modern city…the heart of the transportation
industry…the best white-tail deer in Texas…haven for those
seeking warm weather…a city with vision…historically rich
community.”
Community
involvement benefits
teachers, students, parents, and
volunteers.
Because everyone works together, partnerships
are established and lessons are learned.
Click on
the channels at the left for links to Community Resources.
Community Involvement:
·
Community/Partners
Dialogue - Leaders of each campus meet on a monthly basis by
feeder patterns and invite parent and community members. The
purpose of these sessions is to discuss educational issues and
programs and brainstorm solutions/ideas for improvement.
·
The
district invites parents from every campus to participate in
“feeder school” public meetings to discuss educational issues.
Feeder schools are identified as (
Alexander
High
School
,
United
High
School
,
United
South
High
School
and
Lyndon
B.
Johnson
High
School
).
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The Title I, Part B Even Start Family Literacy Program -
Provides family literacy services in adult education, early
childhood and parenting education, parent and child together
(PACT time). The program goals are to: 1) assist parents in
becoming full partners in their children’s education, 2)
assist children receiving early childhood education to reach
their full potential, 3) assist families with parenting
strategies in child growth and development and education
process for children birth through seven years, and 4)
provide adult education literacy training for parents in
family units participating in the program.
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The Even Start Family Literacy Program - In collaboration
with Laredo Community College, the program provides ESL, Pre
GED, and GED classes to more than 80 parents of children
attending elementary school in the southeast part of the
district. The Early Childhood Component of Even Start
provides services for over 75 students, ages 0-3.
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All Title I, Part A campuses in the district provide
parental training sessions in academic and non-academic
areas. The following campuses have a Community Liaison Aide
(CLA) whose role is to provide communication between home,
school and community: Juarez/Lincoln Elementary, Perez
Elementary, Zaffirini Elementary, Kazen Elementary, Salinas
Elementary, and Muller Elementary.
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The 21 st Century Community Learning Centers
Program - In collaboration with Laredo Community College and
Job SER/Jobs for Progress provide adult education and
literacy at the following campuses: Los Obispos Middle
School (46 participants) and Juarez/Lincoln Elementary
(11participants).
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Parent Night - Provide academic information to parents in
the areas of the different graduation plans available to
students, Financial Aid Nights, and TAKS/Nights to explain
requirements of such tests.
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Drug Awareness and Prevention - Licensed Chemical Dependency
Counselors (LCDC) provide parental training sessions in the
areas of Drug Awareness and Prevention and Gang Awareness at
the Middle and High Schools. Licensed Chemical Dependency
Counselors (LCDC) provide parental training to S.T.E.P.
Academy parents and students in the area of Drug Awareness
by means of a power-point presentation, pamphlets that
assist parents on how to talk to their children about drugs,
and Q&A participation.
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The district maintains a database of parents that have
applied to volunteer. Principals are provided with lists of
parents that have complied with criteria and are eligible to
volunteer. (All requirements have been met.)
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Partnership with Webb County Head Start program – The
district provides parent-training sessions during a two-day
conference. For several years, United ISD personnel have
provided parent trainings in the bilingual program.
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Special Education – The program provides training for
parents of students receiving special education services.
Meetings provide information that explains the specific
rights and responsibilities of the parent in the special
education process. In an effort to ensure that parents can
attend, the district provides childcare and conducts several
meetings in the evening.
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United ISD provides meetings that are specifically designed
to meet the needs of parents of children with certain
disabilities. Two in particular are for parents of
children with visual impairments and for parents of children
with autism spectrum disorders.
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The district conducts support group meetings and trainings
for the parents of visually impaired children. These
meetings are on weekends and conducted by Dr. Cristina
Fernandez, teacher for the Visually Impaired.
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The district conducts quarterly meetings for the parents of
children with autism and related disorders. Wood Coston,
behavior strategist, and Mike Daniels, consultant for
students with autism and related disorders, meet with the
parents individually and provide training to help parents
understand their child’s educational and behavioral needs.
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Computer Literacy Classes for Parents were implemented
through Project Millennium in the fall of 1999. The classes
are offered each semester at approximately 15 campuses
throughout the district and are held twice a week in
two-hour sessions. Parents are given the opportunity to
learn skills such as keyboarding, word processing,
spreadsheets, databases, Internet research, and English
Language Acquisition in this 40-hour program. Childcare is
provided for the parents’ children between the ages of 4–10.
To date, the Computer Literacy Classes for Parents has
served over 1,600 parents.
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Project Millennium Tech-Mobile provides adult education and
literacy opportunities to parents and community members at
various community center sites. The tech-mobile offers
basic computer literacy skills and ESL computer based
programs for parents to improve their literacy skills. The
mobile unit promote parental involvement in rural areas of
our district.
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