LANCASTER ASKS STATE AID TO TUTOR PARENTS; PROGRAM TRAINS SPANISH SPEAKERS TO HELP KIDS.

Byline: John Sanders Staff Writer

The Lancaster School District is seeking state aid to finance a third year of tutoring Spanish-speaking parents in English so they can better help their children with school work.

The board voted to apply for funding expected to be $80,000 to $90,000 under the state Community-Based English Tutoring Program, which is financed through $50 million allocated for parental tutoring by Proposition 227, the 1998 ballot measure aimed at speeding up the teaching of English to non-English speaking pupils.

``I think it's very important the parents learn the language so they can eventually help their students in the classroom doing their reading,'' said Joyce Mayberry, the district's interim coordinator for bilingual education.

The program is offered to parents at nine schools. Each site has morning and afternoon sessions, Mayberry said. Parents attend 40 sessions, 20 before the winter holidays and 20 after the holidays. Each twice-weekly session lasts between 90 minutes and two hours.

``It's a real good program,'' district Superintendent Steve Gocke said. ``Teachers are reporting they can see the kids working better in the class. I've been to the classes, and the parents are real happy about the fact we're offering (these classes).''

Gocke said the classes teach English to parents, who in return help with teaching youngsters who don't speak English. Some class graduates could be hired as instructional aides to help in the classroom.

Lancaster now has four instructors and two liaison persons who teach the classes at the different elementary schools. Mayberry said she wants to hire more teachers so more classes can be taught. The instructors teach the parents not only English but how to get around in the community, such as how to use the Antelope Valley Transit Authority bus system or Metrolink trains.

The parents are taught in two different levels of classes: beginning and intermediate.

``The more people we can reach, the better we are for the students,'' Mayberry said.

This year the district labeled 1,318 of its more than 13,000 students as ``limited English-proficient.''