By: Manuel Ocaño / Special for Real America News Updated 25 Aug 2022, 9: 00 am EDT
In the San Fernando Valley and Los Angeles there is a system of 14 schools that has chosen to have a smaller number of students in order to offer students a type of sensitive and personalized education, close even to the families of the students.
The president and executive director of the schools in Alianza para Mejora a las Comunidades (Partnerships to Uplift Communities ) or PUC, Concepción Rivas, explained to Real America News that each school has an average of 350 students.
As they are small schools, campuses can use resources more efficiently. For example, said the president, “if a high school or preparatory student from the PUC schools is very advanced, we support him so that he can start taking community college classes”
When that student goes to college, they already have advanced credits or can even advance a year. “This means that this student can complete his higher studies in three years and not only save time but also costs of his career for him or his family.”
These types of advantages now be extended to other schools in the Los Angeles area, however the PUC schools were pioneers in this service and alliance with schools, because it focuses on benefiting the communities.
“ Our mission, since the first PUC school was founded in 1999, is to prepare students to be successful in high school and college,” said Ms. Rivas.
“What we do is that we have small schools, with an approach of individual relationship with each student to know the academic, mental and behavioral abilities of each student”, he added.
Because we are small schools “we can get to know each student and their family better, and based on the information on each student, we can individualize education and meet their needs. ities”, explained Rivas.
Individualized teaching is very important because students learn in different ways with different rhythms and occasionally face gaps in their preparation.
Then, the personalized attention and preparation for the students and the proximity of the school to the families of the students, allow PUC schools to support their students when they need it most so that they continue their preparation.
As an example, a PUC high school student faced the dilemma that his father was deported and his school supported him to continue despite the tense situation that student experienced personally and in his family life.
“We understand that this good student with good grades went through a very stressful situation and we made him feel the support of the teachers, of the school, and that is the beautiful thing, that our students and their families are known to us”, in a close teaching cana with empathy.
In cases like that, PUC schools focus in helping both the mother who has stayed with the student and the student himself.
Unlike other schools, PUCs have psychological counseling services available every school day at each campus.
But the PUC schools also use resources from other civil organizations with which they have alliances.
The schools portal explains that “PUC’s vision is for all stakeholders to work together, united in a vision of success for all the students. This includes school leaders, teachers, other school staff, parents, community members, and local community organizations such as colleges and universities.”
In terms of social responsibility, schools PUC mainly promotes students who are the first in their families to pursue higher education, from immigrant families and often with mixed immigration status.
It is a mission in which Ms. Rivas arrives to feel reflected along with her students, since she is the daughter of Salvadoran immigrants, a first-generation American and the first in her family to study at school, including the sister of young Salvadorans who, like her parents, came to Los Angeles without speaking English .
Education at PUC schools is public and free, it is financed with a budget from the state of California and meets state instructional programs.
There are nine PUC campuses in the San Fernando and five in Los Angeles.
People interested in PUC education can approach the campuses to request information or go to the website of the educational system at https: //www.pucschools.org/