With an approach focused on meeting students and parents where they are – both figuratively and literally – Haywood Elementary School and its Community Achieves program have won high praise for their work with refugee families.
The South Nashville school, with students and families representing 30 countries, has worked hard to connect families with the wraparound services they need to overcome a lack of familiarity with formal education and reduce learning gaps, said Atlee Tyree, the Community Achieves site manager at Haywood.
Organizations that work closely with refugees are taking notice.
“We're working with families throughout the district, and I can confirm that Haywood Elementary has done an exceptional job of supporting their diverse population,” Jennifer Escue, Youth and Elders Program Coordinator for Catholic Charities of Tennessee, recently wrote on Facebook. “They should be a model for other schools right now.”
“This is such a challenging time, but y'all have really gone above and beyond to take care of your most vulnerable families,” Escue wrote in a follow-up message to Tyree.
Tyree said Haywood's refugee families, most of whom have resettled here from Southeast Asia and Central Africa, bring a wide range of life experiences with them, and teachers and other staff members are sensitive to their circumstances and needs.
“It's so much more of an emotional approach rather than a strategic approach,” she said. “We're coming at it with this mindset of treating every parent with dignity.”
Haywood and Community Achieves also have made a point of going to families' homes for check-ins and to deliver supplies when necessary, because “it's important for families to see school staff in their home communities,” Tyree said.
And when it's not possible to go into homes, there are still ways to connect.