Waverley Elementary's Unlikely Advocate
When Frederick’s Waverley Elementary School is in the news, the news is generally not good. The school is the most overcrowded school in Frederick County at 156 percent capacity, with 17 portable classrooms.
[Pictured at left, Ana Mejia and Maria Rodriguez at Waverley Elementary School Cafeteria]
Waverley, in Frederick’s west end, is also one of 10 county schools designated a Title 1 school, which is based on the percentage of students who receive free and reduced-price meals. Title 1 schools also receive federal money for additional staffing, family involvement and professional development opportunities, along with supplemental materials and equipment, according to the Frederick County Public Schools website.
A number of its students are transient, often moving in and out of different schools based on where the cheapest housing is available throughout the city, said Board of Education’s Vice President Elizabeth Barrett.
Yet despite the school’s struggles, or maybe because of them, unlikely advocates are stepping up, challenging themselves and others to speak out and get involved. The staff, parents and students have formed a tight-knit community, and call themselves a family.
Maria Rodriguez cleans commercial buildings at night and doesn’t speak English. With six children, ranging from eight to 22 years old, the El Salvador native is a busy woman. In her native culture, parents do not typically get involved in their children’s schools, out of respect for teachers, or simply because they are overwhelmed trying to survive, according to Ana Mejia, community liaison at Waverly. Mejia also acts as interpreter for Spanish speaking parents.
Rodriguez’ children began attending Waverley in 2009. Like many of her peers, she did not participate in school activities or the PTA, trusting the school to do its best for her children while she worked hard to pay the bills. Her husband worked at night, and she babysat eight children during the day. “I never set foot at any of my children’s schools,” Rodriguez said. “I send you to school, let the school take care of you. That was my mentality.”
In 2013, she returned to California, where she’d lived before moving to Frederick. By that time, she said, two of her children had attended Waverley Elementary. One of her children was enrolled in special education.
Back in California, Rodriguez said she thought her special needs child would receive the same level of attention he had in Frederick. To her dismay, that was not the case. “I took for granted that the same care given here in treatment and assistance was going to be given in California,” Rodriguez said. “I was unpleasantly surprised to realize that they were putting him outside in the sun as discipline for fighting.”
She was frustrated that the special education designation was a lengthy process, despite his records from Frederick County. He was approved for special education assistance after a year, Rodriguez said. By that time, she had decided to return to Frederick County.
“I realized I had a voice. And I said to myself, if Waverly has done so much for my kids, what can I do for Waverly?”
Her family was in place to start the 2014-15 school year. She told Mejia about her experience in California. “Ana took me under her wings and explained … how to be the best advocate for my child,” Rodriguez said. “I realized I had a voice. And I said to myself, if Waverly has done so much for my kids, what can I do for Waverly?”
With encouragement from Mejia, she attended her first PTA meeting and became an official volunteer in charge of the hospitality committee. The friends she’d left behind when she returned to California were still here, so Rodriguez got them involved, too. Now the PTA’s second vice president, Rodriguez said she doesn’t care about titles, she just wants to motivate others to try to help.
The PTA raises money for building improvements, new items for classrooms. Currently, Rodriguez is working with companies and businesses who can sponsor the school. She is determined to get a new marquee, said Principal Jan Hollenbeck. With community involvement come opportunities for partnerships and mentors, Hollenbeck said.
Parental involvement was scarce and unfocused for a long time, Mejia said. The value of having parents participating in their children’s school is that children are less liable to get into trouble and receive more encouragement to go to college, she said.
Now in her 7th year at Waverley, Mejia, a former teacher in El Salvador, said that initial attendance at her Family Involvement Team meetings drew between 6 - 8 people. “It was evident we had a lot of work to do to engage these parents,” she said. She started recruiting, one by one.
Mejia asked permission to tie monthly Table Talk meetings [Pictured below, courtesy of Jan Hollenbeck, September 2016] to a a food drop from the Maryland Food Bank. Now, 80 to 100 parents come to learn, to brainstorm and to participate in planning activities and events for the school. After each meeting, they take 40 to 50 pounds of food home.
“All I want is for those parents to get through that door. It is our job to make them feel welcome and to understand that we care about their children,” Mejia said.
The staff at Waverley is unique, according to Rodriguez. She recognizes that despite their busy schedules, they are accessible to parents and make time to listen to concerns. “They always have a smiling face for us,” she said.
When parents have trusting relationships with staff and know that they are supportive, the children benefit, said Hollenbeck. “It’s extremely important to keep communication open,” she said.
Frederick City Alderman Josh Bokee met Rodriguez through various school events and at PTA meetings. Despite having a higher concentration of low-income and first-generation immigrant families, Bokee said, Waverly parents want the same thing for their children as parents from more affluent schools, a good education and the opportunity for a bright future.
Rodriguez, he said, doesn’t let the language barrier stop her from advocating for the kids at Waverly, or from representing the school at every opportunity.
But Rodriguez does consider language her handicap. “If I speak English, I will knock on doors and talk to more people about Waverly,” she said. That may soon change.
Mejia, who is widely regarded as the catalyst for increasing parental involvement, wants to start a program to teach parents English. They often cannot take advantage of other language programs in the area, she said, because many are illiterate in their own language.
As a teacher in El Salvador, Mejia said when students didn’t show up for school, she and other teachers visited at home to discover that a young one was kept at home to help with other children, or for planting season. Education, she said, took a back seat to surviving.
Hollenbeck, who recently transferred from Urbana Elementary, said that although the community needs are “a little different” between the two schools, parents want the same for their kids: a happy, safe environment where children can learn and have positive relationships.
“I feel blessed here. The staff and parents, for the most part, care deeply for the kids and the community. They want to ensure that they are fed, safe, healthy and have high expectations for learning,” she said. The state and county expectations, she said, “are intense.”
At the center of a redistricting debate last year, Waverly Elementary’s student body will likely be split when a new west end school, Butterfly Ridge is built next year. Barrett met Rodriguez over a year ago. “There was a moment in Frederick County when the redistricting conversation was going to turn ugly as people rallied for a new school in Frederick and Urbana,” Barrett said.
Barrett was heartened to find people like Maria Rodriguez who stood up and said they did not want to be part of the argument over who needs a new school more, she said.
“Her brand of advocacy was really impressive, not divisive,” she said. “She’s a tremendous speaker, and she uses social media very well to communicate.”
Rodriguez’ children help her with her Facebook page, and travel with her to interpret when Mejia is unavailable. Rodriguez’ children are proud that their mother is so active and respected. They, and the children of Waverley, are her biggest inspiration, she said. “Seeing the faces of the children gives me big satisfaction,” she said. “I know my own children are proud of the job I am doing. They say their mom works hard with the PTA.”
