Meet the Trainers

Claire was trained to conduct relationship-building home visits when she became a DCPS Pre-K teacher. She worked alongside an experienced teacher at her school who had partnered with Flamboyan in previous school years. She quickly saw home visits’ positive impact on her ability to partner with students’ families. Her Flamboyan “mentor” was also a trainer, and Claire learned many other best practices for family engagement through her. As a direct result of the trust and open communication, she started building with families through home visits. Her whole perspective on working with parents changed and has greatly impacted her classroom. Several years later, an opportunity to apply to be a trainer arose, and she was eager to share what she learned with other educators. 

As a special education teacher in DCPS’ Communication and Education Supports program, Claire primarily works with students newly diagnosed with autism or significant developmental delays. Many parents start the school year off nervous about sending a child to a school that may not be able to communicate their wants and needs, and there are all sorts of emotions to process around the diagnosis itself and the next steps to take. Claire noticed that some families are understandably hesitant to open up with her and found that REAL Family Engagement strategies have helped her break down barriers and create a space for open conversations about family members’ hopes, goals, dreams, and even fears related to their child’s disability. REAL Family Engagement has turned her students’ parents into her partners, and she feels proud of what they can accomplish together — one of Claire’s initially hesitant parents was so impacted by REAL Family Engagement that she joined her as a Flamboyan trainer! Claire will never forget the first parent-teacher conference where this parent let her child “lead” the conversation and demonstrate the skills he was using in the classroom. She was so excited about this work! Now they get to share their story together. 

What excites you about your role as a Flamboyan Trainer? I love hearing other teachers’ stories about how partnering with families has impacted their practice. At the same time, I also think it’s important to support teachers in having collaborative conversations about how to address some of the common challenges that can come up when trying to build relationships with families — when we come together as a group and discuss this, we can leave with new strategies to try. 

What else is important for folks to know about you? I’m a parent AND a teacher! I have two children, including one who recently entered elementary school, so I’m new to navigating parent/teacher relationships from the perspective of a family member. It has definitely given me new things to consider. I am always willing to learn more and try new things, and as my own children encounter the highs and lows of education, I’m taking those lessons back to relationships in my own classroom. 

Jenelle began exploring home visits and family engagement with DCPS as a Family Engagement Collaborative (FEC) fellow. As a fellow, she gained insight into DCPS’s relationship with Flamboyan and the work Flamboyan was conducting in schools. She applied to work with Flamboyan on expanding the teacher toolkit. At the same time, she came back to FEC as a facilitator and developed her facilitation skills. Jenelle loved working with Flamboyan that summer, believed in the organization’s mission, and applied to become a Flamboyan trainer. 

When she was a classroom teacher, REAL Family Engagement changed the trajectory of the relationships Jenelle was able to build. While working in a school with many emergent bilinguals, she struggled to connect to students and families because she never had the strategies or skills to communicate effectively. She noticed the discrepancy in her relationships and, ultimately, student academics. The relationship with non-native English speakers was pleasant but never impactful. As a first-generation immigrant, Jenelle’s family always stressed the importance of education. Therefore, she always wanted to connect with her students and their families to show how much she valued education and went above and beyond to ensure all students had an equitable learning experience. She longed for that connection but wasn’t able to articulate that in an authentic and caring manner. 
 
Originally, this is why Jenelle sought out home visits. After she developed the tools to have an effective home visit and strategies to sustain a relationship with students and families throughout the year, she immediately saw a difference in collaboration and academic partnering. The language barrier remained, but that did not hinder her ability to build long-lasting connections with families. The tools she received from REAL Family Engagement have carried on with her throughout her career and are one of the most critical components of her success as an educator. 

What excites you about your role as a Flamboyan Trainer? I love connecting with educators. I love teaching, but I’m not the best student. Sitting through professional development is often a struggle because many facilitators can’t capture my attention. For this reason, I love being a trainer because I get to be the facilitator I always wish I had. I’m also passionate about equity and family engagement, and I think that is highlighted genuinely during sessions. 

What else is important for folks to know about you? Most recently, I was recognized as a 2021 DC Milken Educator. Dubbed the “Oscars of Teaching,” I strive to positively impact the lives of others and seek opportunities for students and educators. 

Before becoming a trainer, Jaleel was a part of his school’s Family Engagement Leadership Team (FELT) and participated in one of the Flamboyan fellowships for family engagement. Being new to K-12 education, it was really important for him to intentionally learn more about how to incorporate families into student success and how he can better empower families in supporting their student’s success.

Leaning into REAL Family Engagement allowed Jaleel to connect with students and families when addressing attendance concerns after COVID. He had a lot of assumptions about what families could do or understand about supporting their students or collaborating with the school. And through the REAL Family Engagement, he truly understood how to best partner with families to make sure that their student’s needs were being met, refer helpful resources, and see the student’s attendance and grades improve in real-time. 

What excites you about your role as a Flamboyan Trainer? I’m excited about seeing educators take the work many of them are already doing and helping them align their practices to support students and families. 

What else is important for folks to know about you? I believe in family engagement so much because it provides support for everyone to share their stories. Some of my educational background is in screenwriting and playwriting, so hearing the stories of educators, students, and their families is heartwarming. I think all of those stories remind us of the why. 

In 2014, Carly was taught second grade at Maury ES, and she attended an all-staff training now known as the “Building and Sustaining Relationships” training. During this training, she learned about the power of trusting relationships, how to conduct home visits, and effective practices for family engagement. Hearing stories from the parent and teacher trainers made the work of family engagement come to life. Carly had always known it was important to engage with families, but this training provided the WHY. Being at Maury as a Flamboyan partner school allowed her to implement these best practices. She saw firsthand the power of building relationships with families and became a believer in this work. In the summer of 2016, she became a teacher trainer with Flamboyan. She feels proud to have trained hundreds of DCPS and charter school teachers over the years and to share her stories and experiences. 

Carly believes in REAL Family Engagement because when you build strong, trusting relationships with families, the child wins. She has seen time and time again the power of partnering with my students’ families in meaningful ways. It goes beyond attending open houses and concerts, but rather working with families to share strategies for supporting their child at home, being thought partners in creating realistic goals, and more. There are so many ways for families to be involved beyond attending open houses and concerts. Real success can happen when the students see that their parents and educators are on the same page regarding academics and behavior. 

What excites you about your role as a Flamboyan trainer? It is exciting to me to expand the impact I can have. Knowing best practices for family engagement has allowed me to build relationships with my students’ families. But sharing these practices and working with teachers from many different schools shows how much of an impact we can have on our students and their families around the city. 

What else is important for folks to know about you? I have taught first, second, and third grade and have taught for 13 years in charter and public schools. I live in Montgomery County with my husband, Jason, and our two daughters. 

Shareeda is a devoted mother of five and a District of Columbia Ward 8 resident. She fell in love with family engagement in 2013 and loves sharing her input on home visits and family engagement in DC public schools. She has trained many teachers, heard many stories, and changed lives throughout the Metropolitan Washington, DC, area.

What excites you about your role as a Flamboyan Trainer? Family engagement is my passion, and it has been an honor training and motivating teachers and sharing my wisdom and my authentic self.

Bio coming soon!

Candice became a Flamboyan trainer when she received an email to apply to be a Flamboyan Trainer in the Winter of 2022. As a Family Engagement Leadership Team (FELT) lead at her school, she felt comfortable applying and becoming a trainer. 

Candice believes REAL Family Engagement engages families how she would want her child’s school to engage with her. She wants to give families a good experience and ensure their child’s success is her number one priority. She also is passionate about providing educators with the tools they need to engage families effectively. 

What excites you about your role as a Flamboyan Trainer? I get excited when I am giving a training, and participants have “aha” moments and can confirm what they are currently doing to engage families, as well as conversations around how they will better engage families. 

What else is important for folks to know about you? I am a special educator of 17 years. I am a mother of 2 daughters. I am passionate about supporting families and have been a Family Engagement Lead at my school for 3 years. I have been a trainer with Flamboyan for 1 year and hope to continue training educators on the importance of family engagement. 

Chantel became a Flamboyan trainer after her son’s Pre-K-3 teacher, Mrs. Battle, recommended her. She was unsure about what the position entailed but when she did, she was all in. The journey with her son’s education made her want to discuss how she learned to advocate for him and be strategic about building a relationship with his teachers so that he could have continued success. She has been sold on Flamboyan’s vision ever since!

To Chantel, REAL Family Engagement means authenticity. Educators and families have realized what is important to help grow and strengthen students to prepare them for success. One of her student’s parents was frustrated about their child’s behavior and how to manage it at home better. By building a rapport with the family, they trusted Chantel to teach them better reinforcement and behavior strategies through a series of parent trainings. Now they have a parent group where they teach other families what she has taught them, “Now that’s REAL Family Engagement!”

What excites you about your role as a Flamboyan Trainer? I love meeting other people who are serious and passionate about this type of work. I love the different versions of advocacy for our students and how building relationships makes so much of a difference. 

What else is important for folks to know about you? I am very long-winded! I love to share my stories! 

Andrea became a Flamboyan trainer after working at a Flamboyan school. The more she learned about Flamboyan’s mission and how passionate they are about engaging with the families, the more she wanted to be a part of this work and researched how she could learn more. 

Andrea believes that REAL Family Engagement is the foundation for bringing real change among those students that need the most support by knowing and feeling that someone truly cares about them. By getting to know her students and their families on a personal level, it allows her to interact with the families on a more intimate level because trust has been established, which is essential when working with any clients and supporting them to change. 

What excites you about your role as a Flamboyan Trainer? I am most excited about being on the cutting edge of an organization that understands what it takes to make REAL positive changes in student-teacher relationships from the first day moving forward and how to sustain it, and I can help with that. That’s very exciting to me. 

What else is important for folks to know about you? I am very passionate about serving and improving the lives of others. This brings me joy, and I believe it is one of my God-given talents. 

Bio coming soon!