Caledonia Argus

Family support workers provide vital connection

Posted: 10/23/02

by Andrew Miller
Argus News Reporter

For six years, the Family Support Workers have served as a connection between schools, families and community resources in Houston County. Employed by the Hiawatha Valley Education District (HVED) and funded in part by the Houston County Family Services Collaborative, their mission is to help prevent at-risk behavior among area youth, and to provide families with a point of entry for communication with the school system.

ìOne of the major philosophies is to develop a trust and a partnership with families that may have lost some trust in the school system,î said HVED Director Gary Woodward. ìItís been really encouraging to see what happens when thereís more freedom to intervene with problems as you see them, which the Family Support Workers do.î

Houston Countyís six Family Support Workersñ Jill Diana, Julie OíMara Meyer, Amy Halverson, Jenny Von Wald, Lisa Massman, and Nicole Kletzkeñ work in various capacities in the school districts of Houston County. Diana works in Spring Grove schools and at Bluff Country Learning Options in Hokah. OíMara Meyer works at Caledonia Elementary, Amy Halverson at Houston Elementary, and Jenny Von Wald at Houston High School. Lisa Massman is assigned to La Crescent and Hokah schools, and Nicole Kletzke works at Caledonia Middle/High School.

Their duties at their respective schools are many and sundry. One general aim is to recognize students that have displayed a disposition for at-risk behavior, and intervene before it becomes a problem.

ìWe have a tendency to think in terms of early intervention,î Diana said. ìOur intervention is early in terms of the concernñ we ask, ëhow can we help students learn alternatives to at-risk behavior?í and go from there. We prefer to do good preventive work rather than crisis intervention, and by providing these services on a consistent and realistic basis, weíre not losing people through the cracks.î

One conspicuous example of how a Family Support Worker engages in preventive work is the role Julie OíMara Meyer plays at Caledonia Elementary. OíMara Meyer works with the Caring Connections program, in which high school students mentor grade schoolers, the Peer Helpers program, in which kids learn skills to keep them out of trouble, and the After School Program, an aggregate of small groups that deal with social skills and mental health issues. These programs, in addition to the all-purpose role as a contact for families, has helped students integrate into the school system.

ìI think itís a very successful program and itís a great help to the schools; prior to this they had no connection to the outside,î OíMara Meyer said. ìItís been very helpful to have a person within the school connected to other resources. What I do most often is work with kids and families that are in need of special services. We (Family Support Workers) can access all kinds of resources and we can call on people to get what families need.î

School teachers and administrators have found the Family Support Workersí presence indispensable, providing services that allow for greater student success in the classroom, and an easier adjustment for families moving into the district.

ìWithout a doubt, Family Support Workers are helpful to the schools,î said Caledonia Elementary Principal Connie Hesse. ìOur school wouldnít function as effectively without that Family Support Worker (OíMara Meyer) in place.î

ìOíMara Meyer is the forerunner regarding contacts with new families in the district; she helps them fill out paperwork and orients them to the new setting,î Hesse added. ìSheís the first contact when we have a crisis and she helps students learn appropriate coping skills, and she helps those students be successful in the classroom. She is one person Iíd fight tooth-and-nail to keep in the school.î

Family Support Workersí positions within county schools are as somewhat of a third partyñ their presence facilitates for families a means of communication with schools that was previously unavailable when classroom teachers and administrators were the sole contact people.

ìParents and students donít feel threatened because weíre not teachers and weíre not part of the school administration,î Halverson said. ìWeíre the link between the school and the community.î

Not only are the Family Support Workers the link between the school and the community, they must also determine what types of resources and support are necessary to make the relationship between families and schools as streamlined as possible. One primary role of a Family Support Worker, Von Wald commented, is to assess the particular needs of students and their families, and devise ways in which to meet those needs.

ìIím new this year and Iím trying to get an idea of studentsí needs and determine what kinds of individual, group, and classroom needs there are for the school,î Van Wold said.

The program thus far has been successful in the eyes of teachers, parents, and county agencies, according to a survey conducted by HVED. The surveys reflected a high level of satisfaction with the program. HVED has also begun tracking the effectiveness of the program in terms of each studentís attendance, discipline reports, and school achievements in order to better assess how individuals fare under the tutelage of a Family Support Worker. The Family Support Workers are themselves satisfied with the results theyíve achieved and the new avenues theyíve opened for families.

ìWhat makes this program unique is that weíre available to families in the way families need us to be available,î Diana said. ìWe look at what families need and try to tailor the services to those needs.î

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