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Young-chan Han immigrated in 1973 with her family to the United States from South Korea. Her career in education began in 1999 as an international student and family outreach specialist for the Howard County Public School System in Maryland. Tere, she worked closely with over 3,000 immigrant families and refugees, developed a parent-leadership institute for immigrant parents and created services and programs benefiting immigrant students and families. In November 2007, Young-chan expanded her local focus to the state level, where she currently works as a family involvement
license also ran three trips to transport children back home after school. Tis was the best option for the families to ensure the safety of their children, especially dur- ing winter months.
WHAT IS A SCHOOL BUS? A local elementary school held a parent
orientation for newly-enrolled immigrant students and their families. One of the agenda topics included transportation service regulations. As the principal began to speak, a parent asked what a school bus looked like. Tis family came from a rural area in Vietnam and had never seen an American school bus. Te principal realized that the new immigrant parents needed basic information about the ser- vice. Tese eight new immigrant families did not know where the bus stops were, where to find the information and who was eligible. Te school staff helped each family learn how to decipher the bus schedules printed annually in the local newspaper. Te parents left the school with a better understanding of the trans- portation service regulations. Trough this experience, the administrators and staff learned not to take for granted the importance of sharing basic information about their schools.
LESSONS LEARNED Rules and regulations in our schools
are all new to recently-arrived immigrants and refugees. Take time explaining basic information so that families have a clear understanding of what the rules are and why we have them. Always use trained in- terpreters. ■
*Source: Maryland State Department of Education, School Enrollment (2000 and 2010)
www.stnonline.com 39
specialist for the Maryland State Department of Education provid- ing leadership, coordination and assistance to local school systems and schools on programs, projects and activities that promote family engagement in schools. In her spare time, Young-chan serves as the president on the board of directors for a local non-profit Foreign-born Information Referral Network (FIRN), teaches a kin- dergarten class and serves as a children’s ministry advisor for her church. She lives with her husband of 26 years and three children, ages 24, 22, and 16 in Columbia, Md.
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