Family Specialists stand by to support District families

It was a busy morning for Dr. Glendelia Zavala, the Family Specialist at Montgomery Elementary, as she made phone calls to parents in both English and Spanish.

“We’re open to families calling us at any time. We want our parents to feel comfortable to reach out to us, which they have been, and we respond to whatever need they have,” she said.  

Zavala has been with North East ISD for seven years.

As a Family Specialist, Dr. Zavala supports families both in and out of the classroom by offering things like health and wellness workshops, community agency resources and virtual parenting classes.

She also serves as the PTA liaison and the LPAC (language proficiency committee) point of contact at Montgomery.

“We want to build the trust in the community so that they will become more involved in their child’s education because their role is to be their child’s first and most important teacher, but our role here is to support them through a great education on our campus,” Dr. Zavala explained.

While students learn from home, she said the Montgomery leadership team has developed a variety of ways to stay connected to families.

“We have created the ‘Mustang Family Outreach Support System’ for our teachers and our families. We’re having to reach out to every single family. Phone calls have been made, a few home visits with social distancing and so forth, to make sure that we have reached every single student that’s enrolled at Montgomery,” she added.

At the start of the school year, the campus distributed over 300 Chromebooks, iPads and hotspots.

Recently, Montgomery also created an online space where parents could chat via Zoom with administrators and campus staff.

“Parents have questions and many times they don’t know who to speak to, but this opportunity gave them to speak directly to our principal and the rest of our leadership team in answering their questions,” Dr. Zavala said.

She said she felt a calling to become a teacher at a young age.

“When I was a little girl, I would play school with my siblings. I am the oldest of eight children. My mom raised us as a single parent, so I was kind of like a second mom to my brothers and sisters. We would play school and she would observe me and say you would be a great teacher,” Dr. Zavala recalled.

With over 25 years of experience, Dr. Zavala said she’s right where she wants to be.

“When this opportunity came up with North East ISD, I just jumped at it. I love working with families. I love empowering others especially through education because education is the key to success,” she said.

To learn more about NEISD Family Engagement, click here: https://www.neisd.net/familyengagement

Because #NEISDcares!