By Max Rosenberg and Lauren Farberman
Theme Editors
The Manhattan Beach Unified School District has begun tackling recent issues of social inclusion among its campuses, initiating a number of events and programs that specifically target language barriers and cultural diversity for international students.
MBUSD’s efforts to implement this year’s Board of Trustees’ Social Inclusion Goal began three years ago in reaction to a change in California state funding for public schools that allocated more funds for schools with higher ratios of “English-learning” students. With these increased funds, the district was able to put more money toward addressing the needs of the international students, MBUSD Superintendent Dr. Michael Matthews said.
This year’s Social Inclusion Goal finds its roots in a district committee
Two years ago, instigated by this new mandate, the district founded the first-ever District English-Learners Advisory Committee, which is a group of district staff members aimed at extending a helping hand to “English-learning” families in the MBUSD community. MBUSD Teacher on Special Assignment Jim Hands, a former Mira Costa Spanish teacher, heads DELAC, and the committee has since expanded with the addition of new efforts on and off campus, such as International Day, a series of coffee meetings, the Welcome Wagon and a professional development program called Facing History, Matthews said.
“When we formed DELAC, we found that we had families from the same foreign countries that did not even know each other,” Hands said. “I thought that was silly, so I wanted to help bring these families together by creating an event that allowed them to share their cultures.”
Hands, Educational Services Department host first-ever International Day
Organized by Hands, along with several other members of the Educational Services Department, the district’s Dec. 3 International Day was its first event directed toward its families of “English-learners,” Hands said. International Day took place from 2 to 4 p.m. at the District Office, located on Peck Avenue, where over 75 families participated, representing a total of 18 different countries.
The event was conducted to show different cultures around the world and included booths in which families displayed traditional food from their respective countries of origin, Hands said. Represented nations included Korea, Spain and Brazil. Attendees also participated in activities such as puzzles and board games originating from different nations.
“I think it was very successful, and it exceeded my expectations,” Hands said. “I was totally confident in the families, but people are busy. What surprised me was that even [local families] showed up because they thought it was a neat idea.”
The district hopes that International Day initiated connections among people who have moved to Manhattan Beach from foreign countries and effectively bolstered a sense of community within the district, Hands said. In hosting the event, he hopes that it also served as an information hub and support network for families of different cultural backgrounds, he said.
Branching off of the short-term goals of International Day, long-term ambitions for the district’s social inclusion efforts include the creation of a network of “English-learning” families that functions independently of the district and flows throughout the local community, Hands said.
“The original intent was just to get everyone to know each other because common experiences can be shared from one another to bond families with similar backgrounds,” Hands said. “Now that families have connected through International Day, they can continue to help each other with language barriers or any other problems they could possibly face.”
District plans to tackle language barriers through coffee meetings, Welcome Wagon, Facing History in coming months
In hopes of furthering its efforts at social inclusion, the district plans to offer its own coffee meetings with members of the Educational Services Department to provide support for parents instead of students. These meetings, which are available to parents of students in the district who are currently learning English, are created to discuss and address any obstacles that they may be facing.
The Welcome Wagon system intends to put international students in contact with current MBUSD students from the same country who have already acclimated to life in Manhattan Beach, Assistant Superintendent Dr. Brett Geithman said. The district hopes that this connection system will make the transition from a different country more comfortable for students.
“It is difficult enough for [English-learning] students in the district to deal with a language barrier,” Hands said. “It can create a feeling of isolation, and that is something I hope our efforts can help eliminate.”
Furthermore, the district hopes to work with the organization, Facing History, which helps educate instructors on methods through which they can provide a safer and more inviting environment in the classroom. According to the company’s website, teachers at participating schools attend Professional Development workshops to gain knowledge on encouraging social inclusion in the classroom.
“By training our teachers with Facing History, we see it as a long-term effort to ensure we understand how to address cultural inclusion issues in the classroom,” Matthews said.
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