QCSD event sets up ELD families for success

Inspired by ELD teacher Alaina Wert, par­ents were helped with fill­ing out required school forms and oth­er impor­tant applications.

The Quakertown Community School District held an English Language Development (ELD) Resource Night for fam­i­lies of English learn­ers Wednesday night, and by all accounts it was a huge success.

English Language Development teacher Alaina Wert orga­nized the event and sev­er­al teach­ers helped with the plan­ning and vol­un­teered their time to sup­port the district’s ELD families.

“It was real­ly excit­ing to see every­one take part to cre­ate an event that I hope will become an annu­al one,” said Kim Finnerty, an assis­tant prin­ci­pal at Quakertown Community High School and a vol­un­teer at the event. “Our fam­i­lies extend­ed their thanks and the smiles all around revealed their appreciation.”

The 90-minute event took place at the Sixth Grade Center.

While stu­dents were sup­plied with mate­ri­als for crafts and activ­i­ties, par­ents were helped with fill­ing out required school forms, shown how to access online reg­is­tra­tion and free and reduced lunch appli­ca­tions, sign up for adult English class­es and find local health orga­ni­za­tions that offer reduced fees. Organizations such as Bucks County Head Start and LifeSpan Pre‑K Counts were also on hand to inform families. 

“The evening was tru­ly a dream turned real­i­ty,” Ms. Wert said. “All those smiles and sin­cere thank yous made it the best.”

She thanked and praised the efforts of ELD teach­ers, in addi­tion to Nurse Melissa Kelly and Pam Fothergill, the district’s sys­tems admin­is­tra­tor, for help­ing to make the “event perfect.”

ELD teacher Kelly Shaak described the night as “amaz­ing.  Alaina’s ener­gy and inspi­ra­tion to serve is infec­tious so every­one involved left feel­ing proud, moved, con­nect­ed, excit­ed! A much-needed evening it was!  A nice twist on a Back to School Night for our EL community.”

On Twitter, ELD teacher Elizabeth Coyle post­ed: “What a suc­cess­ful night of resources for our #QCSDELD fam­i­lies! Very proud of our extend­ed team — teach­ers, admin staff, vol­un­teers, com­mu­ni­ty orgs. Many fam­i­lies set up for a great school year!”

Said Principal Mattias van’t Hoenderdaal, “I real­ly appre­ci­ate every­one putting in vol­un­teer hours to ensure that our fam­i­lies are set up for suc­cess. Thank you.”