Latino parents, Boulder Valley school officials talk education

About 55 Latino families with children under 6 years old gathered Saturday at Casey Middle School for the first Latino parents summit hosted by the Community Foundation of Boulder County and other organizations.

The summit, called Improving Our Children's Future From A Young Age, came out of the Dream Big Collaborative. The Dream Big Collaborative is made up of various Boulder County agencies working to close the achievement gap within one generation.

The event, which was mostly in Spanish, included workshops in the morning, lunch, a research fair, breakout sessions with school district officials and a keynote speech from María Guarjardo. Miriam Ramirez of Boulder toted her 2-week-old daughter in a carrier with a blanket on top to protect her from the sun at the resource fair. Ramirez said she was learning about many resources in the community she had no idea existed, such as county help for low-income families. She said she got a lot out of a workshop earlier that day about the importance of talking to and reading to small children before they start preschool.

"I learned that it's so important to engage them and to be there with them and use positive words," she said. Veronica Sangabriel, from Lafayette, said she attended the resource fair to bring back information for her community.

Read more here Boulder Education & Schools