Thursday, October 1, 2026
For ESL families at the Covert Elementary School, the 2011-12 academic year started with a renewed drive. Principal Darren Raymar, founder of the Raymar Children’s Fund, began a strong initiative to include ESL parents as much as possible in the learning process. On Sept. 27, during the ESL Back to School Night, Raymar distributed Webster Dictionaries and computers to the families, and shared information about the community and upcoming events.
Parents were then invited to meet at the Rockville Centre Public Library on Oct. 6 where ESL South Side High School volunteers Susana Bolanos and Pamela Mendez watched children, while Covert ESL parents began an on-line, interactive English program provided by Pearson Longman, a publisher of language programs, and the Raymar Children’s Fund. At least one parent from every ESL family in the Covert community is currently participating in this leveled English Language Program to improve their language skills while communicating regularly with their child’s school. The parent’s progress will be monitored online.
During a second meeting on Nov. 15 a health insurance representative introduced ‘Child Health Plus,’ the New York State Health Insurance Program for children to all but two of the ESL parents in the school. His presentation was followed by a group study and review session of the English program.
The Covert ESL community has Polish and Spanish-speaking families and has formed an ESL parent’s group that meets regularly. Raymar said he hopes this new school-parent partnership will encourage greater school and ESL family joint initiatives to improve student academic progress. The parents will meet again on Jan. 10.
