Windsor's Catholic school board hiring ambassador to 'build bridge' with newcomers

The Windsor-Essex Catholic District School Board is looking to hire a "school-community ambassador" to provide support to newcomer students at Catholic Central High School and to their families as they make the transition to Canadian school.

The goal is to build bridges and create trust with newcomer families — including many who came to Canada as refugees.

"I'm hoping to build community. I'm hoping to remove barriers," explained Danielle Desjardins-Koloff, the principal at Catholic Central High School who came up with the idea. 

She explained she's noticed newcomer caregivers aren't as engaged in school activities for reasons including language barriers, lack of transportation, lack of knowledge, or lack of comfort.

"I'm hoping to remove as many of those as possible so that parents can become more involved in their children's educational careers and be more knowledgeable about decisions that they're making for their child's futures and lives."

Candidate must speak Arabic

The position will be responsible for communicating with parents, hosting information nights, reaching out to communities — and the candidate must be fluent in Arabic.

According to the 2016 Census, Arabic was listed as the most common mother tongue in Windsor other than English and French.

John Ulicny, superintendant of education with the board, explained the goal of the new pilot position is to help families become more engaged with school life.

"What we've found is that a number of families are not really aware about the school in the school system and how it operates here in the province of Ontario, so in creating this position, we are trying to really enlighten families about all of the opportunities in the educational system here in the province," he said.

Hoping to improve student achievement

Catholic Central was the school chosen for this pilot initiative because it is the most diverse school in the system, with most of its students — about 70 per cent — being newcomers, Ulicny explained. There are 72 different languages are spoken at the school.

He added the ultimate goal is to help students do better in school.

"We know that if the community is actively engaged, the parents are actively engaged, then student achievement results go up enormously."

Karla Alnajm just graduated from Catholic Central and says it was difficult when she first arrived at the school.

"Transitioning schools is hard for any kid, but speaking a whole different language was like — I was freaking out on the first day."

'Would be so helpful'

She said an ambassador at the school is a great idea.

"I think that would be so helpful, especially that when I was here, I didn't have that kind of help," she said.

"My parents had no clue what was going on in school the first two years. They'd ask me about stuff, I'd try to explain it, but they just wouldn't get it."

She said the new role could help smoothen the transition for immigrant families. 

The ambassador position is meant to commence just before the start of this coming school year, and will continue for 10 months.