Workers irreplaceable bridge between schools, families

In past years, we have shared information about our Federal Programs Department, covering all the varied activities which, in fact, have changed during the last couple of years.

Now called LCARS, the acronym stands for Language, Culture, & At-Risk Services. Under the LCARS umbrella, we have our Family Services partnering with schools to increase school attendance, help with community resources, empowering families to become self-sufficient. In addition, Family Services advocates for families and students and works to promote higher education. Our Family Services team is truly remarkable, comprised of social workers and family liaisons working with each of our school sites.

Our LCARS department also works with Title I of “Every Student Succeeds Act” (ESSA) and Title I schools. The Title III and Migrant programs, along with the Bilingual programs and the Equity Council also fall under LCARS. This is one busy department.

Recently focusing on Family Services, I had the opportunity to shadow social worker Raymond Beachum and family liaison Mary Helen Urioste on a typical day. The first thing learned was, there is no typical day.

Beachum and Urioste work primarily with the three middle schools – Gattis, Marshall, and Yucca – along Cameo Elementary schools and serve as an irreplaceable bridge between schools and families.

Daily, they pick up a list of referrals from each school and work their way through the list. This may include home visits; checking on attendance issues, helping families in need when unexpected emergencies occur; hand delivering official documents from the schools to homes, where needed; assisting families with community services; helping students who are homeless or struggling in other ways, and much more.

Beachum and Urioste are also health workers and Urioste a notary, so they’re prepared to handle whatever they encounter. They cover a varying number of referrals in a day; anywhere from 6 to 14, and Urioste offered, “One day we had 23.” They also log anywhere from 250 to 350 miles per week in vehicles designated specifically for this purpose.

Some may question the nature of “helping” and how, exactly, this plays out; there is, of course, a fine line between enabling and empowering. For those who know Beachum and Urioste personally, it’s no surprise to learn they both have hearts of solid gold. The knowledge and skills they demonstrated throughout the limited window I experienced were only outweighed by the compassion and concern for our students and their families. It was clear they were all about empowerment and encouragement.

They should actually both be wearing superpower capes, but I guess the material would just get tangled in the car doors as they get in and out.

Cindy Kleyn-Kennedy is the Instructional Technology Coordinator for the Clovis Municipal Schools and can be reached at:

[email protected]