THE OFFICIAL WEB SITE OF THE MADISON TIMES WEEKLY NEWSPAPER

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FAST graduation at Nuestro Mundo Community School

Melding a school and a community together

by Jonathan Gramling

While Nuestro Mundo Community School, the dual-immersion charter school that began operating at Frank Allis Elementary School last September, is a proven concept and the staff and students have been selected, the task of learning community building still remains. In order to reach its goals and meet its mission, the parents, students, and staff of Nuestro Mundo need to establish a solid working relationship and esprit de corps.

UW Professor Lynn McDonald who developed the Families and Schools Together (FAST) program in the late 1980s, saw this as an excellent opportunity to use FAST as a community-building mechanism. She contacted the Nuestro Mundo board and the rest is history as they say.

Diane Johnson, a 12-year FAST program veteran, was hired to coordinate the eight-week program that meets for three hours once per week. Johnson, who has been an educational assistant at Mendota Elementary School for eight years, was a FAST program participant when she first moved to the Madison area and knows the program inside out.

FAST promotes togetherness and positive communication within the family unit and also seeks to create a larger support group of parents and students to help them meet the challenges of school and home life. It uses individual and group play and exercises to create a positive and supportive bonding environment.

On December 6, the Nuestro Mundo FAST program held its graduation ceremony for the five families that successfully completed the program at Frank Allis Schhol. After participating in many of the normal FAST activities, the families lined up for their graduation exercise. As traditional graduation music was played, the families marched together wearing graduation caps they had made themselves. Debora Gil Casado and Bryan Grau, two Nuestro Mundo board members, handed out certificates to the families and handed out graduation presents to them.

Grau felt the families had benefited from the program. "It looks like the families here really got close," Grau observed. "There's a possibility that FAST may even be back here next year for more parents to take advantage of. If the parents feel strongly enough that this is a worthwhile program, then we'll find a way to invest in it. This is community building around a new school. In addition to FAST, we also have our site leadership council. Parents participate in that as well. It's important that families get together and feel this is their place. Another part of the steps is to use that to direct the future of the school. I think this is a good beginning. FAST demonstrates what is possible within the school, families from different backgrounds coming together to have a good time, to promote strong family values, and excellent education."

To ensure that the benefits of the FAST experience are carried on into the future, a FASTWORKS support group will be held at the school once per month. The melding of a learning community has begun.