Unique Volunteer Opportunity, Arlington VA

My name is Linda Boner and I have a volunteer opportunity in which some of you may be interested. Last fall, the Key School (Arlington, VA) PTA co-sponsored a course in basic personal finance (money, banking, credit) taught in Spanish to interested Escuela Key parents. The goal was to provide a course that the parents wanted and would find useful and to encourage parents to recognize the importance of basic mathematics skills (for themselves and for their children).

If you are interested, more detailed information follows. If you’re not interested or able to volunteer, but know of someone who might be, please pass this along. My contact information is at the bottom of the message. Thank you!

First, let me tell you a little about Key School. Arlington County, Virginia is a very close-in suburb of Washington, DC. The county is ethnically very diverse with a large Hispanic population. Key School is a public school with about 520 students in K-5 (plus a Montessori preschool). The curriculum is dual-language partial immersion. The students spend ½ day working in English (reading, language arts, social studies, art, PE, music) and ½ day working in Spanish (reading, language arts, science, math). The student body is balanced - about ½ come from families that speak English natively and ½ from families that speak Spanish natively. The Immersion program was so successful in Arlington, that this school year a second all-Immersion school was added in the County (Claremont Elementary). The Immersion program option continues on through high school.

The Key PTA jumped at the chance to sponsor the Personal Finance class. Key School also has another parent organization, Padres Unidos. Padres Unidos works with (mostly) recently immigrant families to help them learn how to operate in the US school system - e.g., the food programs, what parent/teacher conferences are for and how to use them, etc. It also serves as an outreach group to any parents who need a little extra help with their children in school. Padres Unidos is a major supporter of this course and provides great administrative support for it.

The personal finance course we offered last fall was well received and through word of mouth, we have had had numerous requests to repeat the course this spring. (We've also many requests from the "graduates" of this course for several other courses in more advanced personal finance, computers, etc! I'm in the process of developing those courses also). The course began with about 10 "students" and ended with nearly 25! Many of the original attendees encouraged their wives to also attend. The school provided classroom space and materials. They also provided an aide to keep the school's computer lab open for any children who needed to accompany their parent(s)! I loved that the parents' brought their children - what a great way to show their kids that they support education!

The curriculum we used (and which was well received by both the volunteer teachers and the students) was developed by the FDIC and we plan to use it again. The materials is basic. The course runs for 6 weeks, beginning the week of April 12th. The course will be either on Tuesday or Thursday from 7 pm to 8:30 pm. If we can keep the same format as was used last Fall, each team of volunteers (2 volunteers) would each teach 3 weeks. Two of my volunteer teachers are returning for the spring, but the other two are not as they are already committed as volunteer baseball coaches this spring.

Any of your members who are interested, can contact me via email or phone as indicated below. I'm happy to answer questions, provide samples of the curriculum materials, etc.

Thank you for your support last Fall and for your help again this Spring!

Best regards,
Linda

Linda Hearne Boner
linda.boner@ferc.gov
202-502-8874