Family First: Greenleaf Firms up Family Engagement Focus

The Williams and Carcano families both have three children at Greenleaf Elementary School, so the ability of staff to involve parents is of great importance to them. “[The Greenleaf community] is helping just fabulously with my family,” says Joey Williams, whose children are 5th-grader Jordan, 4th-grader Leerane, and 2nd-grader Freenita. “The school is really close-knit, and they are like family to me. The staff is very lovable, considerate, caring, and patient.”

“I have always admired how the principal and staff understand each individual student’s needs,” says Erika Carcano. She cites the board on Principal Monica Thomas’s office wall where Greenleaf tracks every single student’s academic progress. “The staff and everyone go out of their way to be in contact with the parents…so they understand how their kids are developing academically, and based on that they are able to participate and help their children achieve.”

Not only does Carcano speak frequently with all of her kids’ teachers about how she can support their learning, but she’s involved on a larger scale as a Parent Representative. In that role, she’s involved in decisions and goals at the classroom and school level, and is responsible for sharing those with other students’ families.

Carcano also praises the school’s whole-child focus, an approach embodied by the music story on page one. (Carcano’s daughter Katherine is the flutist quoted in that article.) “It’s not simply academically that we’re trying to advance our students,” she says, “but really trying to understand the child as a whole, including what’s happening at home. Greenleaf really looks at the child holistically.”

Williams concurs. “Academically, socially, and emotionally they have built students’ self-esteem up to where they can be great in every avenue,” she says. “My children have matured a lot. The things we have been going through, inside and outside of the home, [Greenleaf staff] have allowed their counselors to come and talk to my children, and they’ve helped them overcome major hurdles.”

“What I like most about Greenleaf is learning more every day at school,” reflects Carcano’s daughter, 5th-grader Katherine. “My favorite subject is Language Arts.” Her sister Samantha sides with Math, while her brother Angel says he can’t decide – he likes Math and Language Arts equally.

Carcano is proud that all three scored Proficient on the recent California Standards Test (CST), but she’s hoping they can all move up to Advanced. “I’m sharing with them the importance of continuing to advance and how that’s going to benefit them in the future,” she says.

As we reported in the last Greenleaf Scholar, our school-wide CST scores showed some of the most impressive growth in all of Oakland, and our Academic Performance Index (API) score rose to 777. Two short years since opening, we are already just shy of 800, the state target.

“Scholastically, oh my goodness, they’ve really improved tremendously,” says Williams. “And why is that? [Because the school community] is so spirited and loving and meaning business at the same time. It’s just a beautiful learning party!”