Parent article: Anne Attouah on return to in-person school

My name is Anne Attouah, I am from Ivory Coast in west Africa. I am a mother of four kids with my oldest currently in college, my second kid is in high school at Overland High School. 

My seven-year-old is in first grade in a language immersion school and she is learning Spanish at a very young age. My youngest is five, in preschool and just got accepted at his sister’s school to study Spanish as well. 

Also, I am so happy about the free universal preschool bill that passed because I believe it will be a game-changer for many families in our community. It will help a lot of parents save money.

As a busy mom, I make it a point to spend an hour or more with my kids each day to go over their homework and talk about school. I wish I had the time to be part of their school’s PTO (Parent Teacher Organization) to share ideas. 

I make an effort regardless of the time to always participate in the scheduled parent-teacher conference. It is a great time to discuss my kids’ academic progress and their behavior in class. It is an opportunity to ask the teacher questions on how to help my kids with what they are lacking academically. Going back to school in person has been golden for me and my kids.

This year has been an improvement for my kids. In-person classes have made a huge difference. My kids were fully remote last year. At the beginning of school my kids were really behind academically. As the year goes by, I have seen a huge improvement. 

As a community it is our responsibility to help our kids academically to the best of our abilities and utilize the resources we have to help them.