Multilingual parent liaison helps immigrant families settle in to new lives in District 54

Schaumburg Township Elementary District 54 has long aimed for excellence among its faculty, but for hundreds of families immigrating from cultures with different educational norms and expectations it is Parent Liaison Cinzia Bellarosa who serves as the key unlocking years of potential learning benefits for their children.

Having started her service to the district as a substitute teacher, the doctor of psychology and immigrant herself has seen her skills take her through a variety of roles that moved her ever closer to being the first holder of the newly created position in the Multilingual Programs Department.

“I was so excited!” Bellarosa said. “This was so close to my heart. Working with immigrant families is my passion. This process is a baby now, in the early stages. There’s so much more we can do. This is just the start.”

And getting families started in a foreign place with unfamiliar customs and language is exactly what Bellarosa does. Within days of their arrival in the district, often while their children’s English proficiency is being evaluated, Bellarosa meets with any parents who’ve been in the U.S. less than three years.

Their conversation covers everything from their perceived ability to help their kids with their homework to learning about the area’s resources, transportation, socialization opportunities and ways to better their own English.

In the process, she learns a lot about the very different cultures they come from. On one recent morning, she met with Japanese parents brand new to an English-speaking environment as well as a mother from Mongolia who’d already had some experience living in the U.S. but was on Bellarosa’s list because the young family had been back in their native country for the past year.

Two days later, it was a family from war-besieged Ukraine that was in need of her advice.

“Parents tell me this is so useful,” Bellarosa said. “We’re getting really good feedback from the school administrators. That’s one of the things I always do: Look for how it can get better.”

Nancy Hellstrom, director of multilingual programs for the district, said increasing numbers of families from all around the world led to the creation of the new job. Of district students who’ve been in the U.S. less than three years, there were 1,728 last school year and 1,857 as of Sept. 19.

“What makes Cinzia such a great fit is her having immigrated to the U.S. herself and having a rapport with the families,” Hellstrom said. “When Cinzia meets with the families she is able to connect them to what they need and make them feel that they belong to the district. They arrive year-round.”

In contrast to the elementary students she’s serving, Bellarosa arrived in the U.S. from South America for graduate school. But in many ways she’s lived the immigrant experience twice as her parents relocated from what Italy to what became the land of her youth.

She can use her Spanish with those parents for whom it’s their native language, but she uses a translator service via speaker phone for many of the others who are not yet proficient in English.

The unfamiliarity in being an immigrant can often go exceed language itself, Bellarosa said. Many people from India are fluent in English but still in need of advice about their new culture. And some families come from places where students attend school only twice a week, or may not have been in class for months already.

“I love to listen to their stories,” Bellarosa said. “They’re amazing stories. Some come from places so small they know everyone in the town. There are many things that are different. It’s very common to not have any English proficiency. Younger children, it’s easier for them.”

And whether they knew it in advance or not, the families probably could not have done better than where they ended up, Bellarosa believes.

“I’m biased, but I think we have wonderful resources,” she said. “People have been amazed when I show them the park district programs, the library. Schaumburg is a great place to raise a family. But some families are really overwhelmed. Getting their children in school is part of the grounding process. When you are an immigrant, you don’t know what you really are. They’re looking for a better future. That’s why they go through all this.”

The new school year began with words of encouragement to all district employees from Superintendent Andy DuRoss in the 54 Insider publication. And in them, Bellarosa said she recognized a direct tie to her own new role.

“Connection is essential for our functioning,” DuRoss wrote. “Connection is the key for many doors and it’s important that we embrace it.”