“IF YOU give just one hour a week to your child’s school, you can make a difference.” This is what Luis Camacho, the president of Mount Carmel School’s Parent Council, tells every parent every chance he gets. And it reflects his overall efforts to engage more and more parents in making a difference at their schools.
Camacho is no stranger to parental engagement. At various schools throughout the island, Camacho has pioneered leader- ship models and parent activities that have revolutionized how parents interact with their children’s schools. Camacho was one of the founding members of the Public School System Parent Advisory Council and collaborated with the CNMI Department of Community and Cultural Affairs and the Division of Youth Service to launch their annual Parent Leadership Month.
With this experience, Camacho has led other parent leaders at Mount Carmel School to accomplish many things over the past five years.
Four years ago, Camacho worked with other parent leaders to raise funds and resources to support the school’s maintenance needs. This included lawn cleaning equipment, wheelbarrows, and even a riding mower. Not one to shy away from manual labor, Camacho has also been known to clean the campus himself, whether by mowing the lawn or water-blasting the campus sidewalks. Many other parents often join him on the weekends to keep the campus clean.
Campus cleanliness is not the only thing Camacho and his parent leaders have worked on. A few years ago, they worked closely with school officials to address safety concerns that parents had about campus parking and traffic. At one point, morning drop-offs and after- noon pick-ups were chaotic affairs without clear driving and parking lanes and drivers that jeopardized the safety of students. To address this problem, parent leaders and school officials designed a new parking and traffic plan. This plan created clearly demarcated traffic lanes and parking zones, erected additional traffic barricades, increased supervision during drop-off and pick-up, and had teachers and student drivers park their vehicles south of the cafeteria to alleviate traffic congestion elsewhere. While there are still plans to further improve the parking and traffic situation, thus far, the current plan has not only made it safer for students, but it has also made parking and traffic more efficient for all drivers.
To further support student safety, earlier this year, Camacho also worked with parent leaders and AlumKnights to procure a video surveillance system for the school. The parent leaders also secured additional equipment for the IT department.
To make all of these efforts possible, Camacho has helped parent leaders to work more effectively together. Last year, the former Parent Teacher Organization was reconstituted as a Parent Council, as the faculty formed their own Faculty Council. Both councils were modeled after Student Council, and share the same goals to represent their stakeholders and to coordinate different activities for those stakeholders. All presidents of the Councils, including Parent Council President Camacho, sit on the school’s Leadership Team, which meets regularly to manage operations, facilitate planning, and address various issues at the school.
In addition to representing parent concerns, the new Parent Council has developed three signature activities held every year, all of which are geared towards families. The first activity is the Turkey Trot Health Walk, which was launched in November last year to promote healthy lifestyles and to raise funds for their efforts. The next major activity is the council’s Easter Egg Hunt, held the first Monday after spring break. The final activity is the council’s annual End-of-Year Carnival, which allows students to enjoy the last day of school with carnival games, activities, and treats.
In all of this, Camacho makes it clear that it’s not just about raising money; it’s about raising awareness and getting more parents involved. As he always puts it, “Just one hour a week is all we ask.”
