Citing success in a Salinas school, Greenfield looks at an Indigenous-serving program.

The state of California is trying to transform the education system beyond classroom instruction to make it more accessible for parents to get information they need to support students. One effort is to close the gap between educators and parents, especially with those who speak Mexican Indigenous languages.

In January, Santa Rita Union School District in Salinas added services in Mixteco, available during and after school, from 10am-6pm. The district is working with the nonprofit Centro Binacional Para El Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño, or The Binational Center for Oaxacan Indigenous Development.

Summer Prather-Smith, director of engagement and school climate at SRUSD, says the idea originated because parents wanted additional support in Mixteco.

Now, parents in Greenfield are demanding an Indigenous after-school program in Greenfield Union School District. On Thursday, June 13, more than 50 people attended a school board meeting to show their support.

South County has the largest concentration of Mexican Indigenous people in Monterey County; Greenfield’s nickname is Little Oxnard, a nod to the large Indigenous population in that Southern California city.

Parents say some children have faced bullying and discrimination at school.

Prather-Smith says it is too soon to know quantitatively the impact on students’ success, but qualitatively, staff have observed a difference. Having Mixteco speakers on campus “has really helped us to make sure that our students feel included in our spaces,” she says. Two Centro Binacional staff work at the SRUSD resource center at Santa Rita Elementary. They assist teachers, parents and students with things ranging from homework help to managing a mental health crisis. The cost to SRUSD is $230,000 to date.

Clarisa Reyes-Becerra, the nonprofit’s program director, says the program at Santa Rita is working. Kids feel confident to speak their native language and parents are getting more involved in their kids’ education. “We saw the success there and we thought, ‘Why not in Greenfield too?’ The parents are having similar concerns,” she says.

Both SRUSD and GUSD’s boards have passed resolutions against speech denigrating Indigenous students. The day after Greenfield’s was approved, the superintendent’s office reached out to CBDIO to talk about starting to build a similar program to Santa Rita’s for the 2024-25 school year.