Our West Springfield family liaison, Andrea Howard, serves as a link between our families and our school. She facilitates family-school communication, which empowers families to become more active partners in their children’s education.

Ms. Howard works in our school and community to help families get the information and assistance they need to support their children at home and ensure their academic success. She represents a variety of cultures, languages, and races and is one component in our school’s effort to enhance family involvement.

Ms. Howard is available Tuesday – Friday from 8:30 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. and can be reached at 703-912-4409 or @email. To assist families who speak other languages, Ms. Howard speaks Spanish.

When families are engaged in their child’s education, the children:

• Achieve higher grades
• Attend school regularly
• Display better social skills
• Graduate and pursue post-secondary learning

Children from diverse cultural backgrounds tend to do better when parents and professionals collaborate to bridge the gap between the culture at home and the culture at school. Family liaisons help build that bridge. The family liaison connects families to the resources and services they need to thrive.

Who are Family Liaisons?

Family liaisons are school staff members who work anywhere from 4 hours a week to 40 hours a week. They are knowledgeable about district wide programs, services, resources and community resources. All family liaisons speak English and often speak an additional language. They represent many cultures and ethnicities. Family liaisons support all families and school staff by helping:

• Facilitate communication
• Build relationships
• Make families feel welcome, trusted and valued
• Provide FCPS and human service’s resources and information
• Encourage parent engagement in their children’s education
• Connect parents to what their children are learning
• Promote understanding of families’ cultural diversity
• Arrange for interpreters

Helpful Resources for Families:

Family Resource Center offers a wide range of resources for families to help support the success of all students, including those with learning challenges, special needs, and disabilities. Resources include:

• Webinars on topics related to children and education
• Lending Library of more than 10,000 resources
• Digital Resources
• Confidential Consultations

Helping Children Learn Newsletter (available in English and Spanish)

Parent Advocacy Handbook: Elementary School (Grades K-6)

Parent Information Phone Lines (available in eight languages: Amharic, Arabic, Chinese, Farsi, Korean, Spanish, Urdu, Vietnamese)

Quick Tips Parents Library (series of quick tips from The Parent Institute on a variety of topics – available in English and Spanish)

School Success Ideas for Families (English)/Ideas para el éxito escolar (Spanish)

Screen Activity Reports (weekly report of a student’s internet activity on a FCPS device)

Technology Support (answers to many questions about student technology and basic troubleshooting)

Online Tutoring Services (available to all FCPS students at no cost as a resource for support and enrichment)