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Meeting Attendees:
Denize Vassao &  Franciele Mendes (ELPAC Co Presidents)
Marianne Wanusa De Assis (ELPAC secretary)
Liza Bento (teacher liaison)
Deb Jackson (PPS Director of MLE)

April 11 Multilingual Community Resource Fair (MCRF):

Event Recap:
Peabody Public Schools was thrilled with the turnout at the ELPAC’s Multilingual Community Resource Fair (MCRF), held at Higgins Middle School on the evening of April 11th. The MCRF offered a variety of information, resources, food, entertainment, and prizes, which were essential in welcoming hundreds of attendees and promoting the ELPAC’s mission to support our multilingual families in thriving within our schools and community.
From the welcoming decorations to the engaging entertainment for the children, the delicious food, thoughtful kids’ swag bags and T-shirts, and from the setup logistics to the extensive array of resources provided by community partners at the information tables, every detail was meticulously planned by the MCRF team (Emily Williams, Chelsea Mack, Molly Ryan, Jen Vaz, Kelsea Cowdell, Monica Contreras Uribe, and Deb Jackson). Donations of food and prizes from community partners, along with the support of all the PPS staff and student volunteers on the evening of the fair, were also crucial to the success of the event.

Debrief and Plans for Next Year's MCRF

1. Community Engagement Coordinators: Reached out to community organizations, restaurants, and vendors to encourage their participation in the event through charitable donations and setting up information tables.(Deb, Monica, Chelsea, ELPAC Officers)   

• Community was receptive but needed time to make a decision, last minute RSVPs, or businesses never responded to requests
• Need to start the planning process earlier next year.
• Create a better system for feedback and tracking of requests to restaurants and community organizations (spreadsheet), email requests with phone call follow up, provide an initial deadline for responses (without preventing participation)
• Additional community partners to invite: FKO, Peabody Sports, YMCA, tutoring organizations/Springboard, more representation from other religious organizations, disability supporting organizations, SEPAC (possible cosponsorship), Peabody Fire and Police Department, Peabody Public Health Department, Peabody Library
• Deb will provide the tax ID number to organizations that donates but needs signatures from ELPAC leadership on the letters before they can be distributed

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2. Entertainment Coordinators Organized entertainment activities such as music, face painting, and other engaging activities for children to ensure an enjoyable experience for all attendees. (Jen and Deb) 

• Children loved the music, definitely have a DJ at future events
• Balloonatic was okay as one provider
• Craft activities were enough
• Activities to add: Two face painters to keep lines shorter
• Add back to school event to raise awareness earlier in the year, provide school supplies and backpacks, share resources with new families

 
3. Stakeholder Communications Coordinators: Sent out invitations and promotional materials to all stakeholders including students, families, staff, school committee members, and other community partners to encourage attendance at the event. (Molly & Emily, ELPAC Officers)

• Flyers were good with graphics and translations
• Add a large banner for the ELPAC 
• Director of Student Services was helpful in coordinating families from Holiday Inn shelter with tickets for transportation from hotel (approximately 100 attendees)

 
4. Logistics Coordinator: Coordinated logistical aspects of the event including venue setup, volunteer coordination, and ensuring all necessary materials are available on the day of the event. (Kelsey)

• Setup: Possibly add outdoor spaces in the fall for the activities

 
5. Swag Coordinators:  Coordinated swag bag design, research cost of various swag items including children's books, shirts, stickers, badges, school supplies, etc., place orders for swag items while adhering to budgetary constraints, maintain inventory records and track the delivery of swag items to ensure timely arrival for the event, collaborate with other event planners  to ensure that swag bags are assembled and distributed efficiently at the event. (Molly & Emily)

• Swag bags were great!
• Some items did not come in time so next year we should order earlier. 
• Future ELPAC T-shirts for the officers would be nice!

Ideas for Future ELPAC Events

• Reach out personally to  interested parent from the South to attend the next ELPAC meeting
• Need to brainstorm ways to encourage more families to participate in school activities, ELPAC, communicate that it is a safe space
• Communicate how ELPAC is helpful to families
• Join individual school events to share more about the ELPAC to encourage more participation
• Hold an ELPAC meeting at the hotel for the 70 families 
• Add a future/separate walking event to share information about ELPAC
• Other events for ML families such as singing at the North Shore Mall or a nursing home, Brooksby Village/senior center, making cards at school, have an ELPAC meeting at the same time
• Back to school fair TBD
• Share ELPAC Flier with new families when enrolling students at Central Office
• Booklet for ELPAC Officers with information 

Plans for June ELPAC Officer Meeting

1. Higgins Middle School auditorium to be reserved for June 18th from 5-6pm for the 2024-2025 ELPAC officer election. Voting for ELPAC will be held using the election script that outlines the process.
2.  ELPAC needs to notify parents about the election every year per the Bi-laws to provide opportunities to other people that want to participate. Deb will send out a flier and a Talking Points message to all ML families the week prior to share information about the  ELPAC and past events  and to encourage parents who are interested  in becoming an officer to add their name to the ballot.  
3.  Ensure a minimum of 6 attendees are present in order to have an election. 

​10/23/23  
     The first ELPAC meeting of the 2023-2024 school year was held on October 6, 2023 in the Higgins Middle School cafeteria, and was attended by 8 ML parents. Co-President Franciele Mendes and Denize Facao led the meeting. Deb Jackson, Director of English Learner Education and World Languages, facilitated the setup of materials and refreshments and supervised the student volunteers from the high school who entertained the children of attendees at the arts and crafts table.
​     Although all ML families were notified about the ELPAC meeting through Talking Points, a multilingual text messaging platform, and also posted on the Peabody Public Schools website, only a few parents - all of whom had received paper flyers distributed Higgins Middle School - were in attendance. The officers asked that future meetings be announced both electronically and via printed handouts at all schools to encourage participation. The officers also suggested that QR codes be distributed to families to sign up for the app to ensure they receive future Talking Points communications.  The officers also added the contact information of all in attendance to a WhatsApp group as a third means of communication between ELPAC families.
     Handouts from the DESE, "What is ELPAC" were available in English, Albanian, Spanish, and Portuguese, but not in Haitian Creole.  The officers requested that, moving forward, flyers be made available in Haitian Creole as well.  Three Haitian parents attended the October ELPAC. Fortunately, they also spoke Spanish, so they were able to read the Spanish flier. 
     One of the attendees, Mariene Wanusa De Assis, was voted in as the new ELPAC Secretary. Her roles, per the ELPAC bylaws, will be to take minutes at ELPAC meetings and keep a binder of the minutes, maintain and update the ELPAC membership list, and help with other duties as identified by the ELPAC. Mariene's photo and contact information has been added to the ELPAC Contacts tab. She can be reached at [email protected].
     Guest presenter, Jennifer Sanchez, presented information cards and flyers to inform families about the many services provided by Citizens Inn, a nonprofit organization in Peabody that works on an individual basis to help individuals who are experiencing housing or food insecurity. She was able to communicate with parents in English and Spanish, and has already asked to be invited to the next meeting to share this information again.  For anyone who is experiencing a current need, her information is: 

Jennifer Sanchez                                                                                                                                                                            SNAP Enrollment Case Manager
[email protected]
[email protected]
Citizens Inn Inc, 71 Wallis Street, Peabody, MA 01960
Principal 978-531-9775 ramal. 821
Direct 978-347-0312
www.citizensinn.org

     Jennifer provided parents with information about a number of services provided by the organization, including getting food assistance through SNAP, a food pantry, evening dinners, free English classes through Citizens Inn, and help with buying a house, looking for a job, getting a driver's license, opening a bank account, and finding transportation/bus resources. Jennifer noted that the classes are currently full, and there is currently a long waiting list. Free English classes through NSCAP are also an option, but there is a long waiting list. She also advised that financial advice and immigration support is coming soon.
     Several parents stated that children are coming home from school hungry. This is a concern for parents, as schools are not providing culturally appropriate foods for lunch.  Parents wondered if any local restaurants could volunteer to teach food service staff, or donate lunches and receive a charitable contribution tax deduction. 
Additional questions
ELPAC officers expressed interest in visiting another ELPAC to learn more about how to run one, and what else they can do to lead Peabody's ELPAC.
Parents expressed interest in being guest readers in native languages, and are looking for books in two languages. The officers will compile a  list of parents who are interested in reading to students.

Future Meetings
Ideal for get-togethers every three months - October, January, April/May, plus a fun event like a potluck in late February/early March.
The ELPAC officers would like to plan an outreach event for the Carroll school where the largest population of elementary MLs in the district attend. 
The next ELPAC Meeting will be in January.  Stay tuned for the date!
A  Districtwide Multicultural Fair with food, crafts, games, student presentations, information booths set up by school and community partners, is being planned for sometime in the spring.  More on this to come!

Nine parents attended Peabody's first ever parent-led ELPAC meeting on May 15th! With the help of Marleny Cuevas-Perez, (PPS Spanish interpreter), Franciele Mendes and Denize Vassao (Peabody parents and speakers of native Portuguese), the meeting opened with greetings and introductions. Parents were presented with flyers and a presentation about the purpose of the ELPAC, why EL parent membership, participation, and input is needed, and the importance of having parents of English learners serving as the ELPAC officers.  Afterwards,  the floor was opened for officer nominations for the positions of Chair, Co-Chair, and Recording Secretary.  Franciele Mendes and Denize Vassao announced their self nominations. No other nominations were announced by the membership.   Franciele and Denize were subsequently elected by majority vote to the positions of Chair and Co-Chair. 
     As the newly elected ELPAC Chair and Co-Chair, Franciele and Denize then took over and led the remainder of the ELPAC meeting. They presented translated handouts of the drafted ELPAC by-laws and displayed and read the by-laws in Portuguese to the membership. Marleny Cuevas-Perez intepreted for the Spanish-speaking members. After the draft by-laws were reviewed, they were accepted as written by a majority vote. The remainder of the meeting was open to all members to enjoy refreshments, mingle with other parents, check on their children at the art table, visit the resource table, and provide their contact information on index cards along with any questions or comments for Franciele and Denize. 
     We still need an ELPAC Recording Secretary! A call for nominations/volunteers to serve as the ELPAC Recording Secretary will go out to all EL families ahead of the September 2023 ELPAC meeting. We need you! If you would like to express your interest ahead of the September meeting, please go to the Contact Us! tab above and email one of the Chairs to announce your self-nomination.  

Thank you!
Deb Jackson