This week, the Mario Umana Academy Principal Christina Michel and the school’s Family Liaison Elvin Argueta announced the school will host an informational event on Wednesday June 16 at 8:00 am and another at 1:00 pm to enroll students in the Umana’s kindergarten programs.
Michel and Argueta said the Umana has a few dozen spots open to register Kindergarten students into Eastie’s dual-language school.
“We’re just trying to be proactive and ensure the community is aware of their options,” said Michel. “Maybe due to the pandemic families have been a little hesitant to register and so we’re hoping that with some outreach we can really try and help them make an informed decision about where they would like their kids to spend the next year coming out of the pandemic.”
Michel said at the June 16 event families can learn more about the school’s dual-language programs, tour kindergarten classrooms and meet teachers.
“We wanted to invite members of the community to just come in and meet our kindergarten team and get to know the dual language program,” said Michel.
Michel and Argueta said they were both surprised by the number of slots open in the Umana’s K-1 and K-0 classrooms because Eastie families are usually quick to enroll their children in these programs because so few exist citywide and are not available at every school.
The starting age for the Umana’s kindergarten programs is 4-years-old.
“It’s kind of surprising that there are this many open slots,” said Argueta. “We were a little surprised by it so we’re trying to do our own thing here at the Umana and finding different ways to approach the community.”
Argueta has been traveling around Eastie, approaching parents to hand out information on the school and its programs as well as the June 16 event.
“We’re just being present in the neighborhood, at playgroups and letting parents know about our event,” he said. “Hopefully this will attract more parents to the event where they can come to our school, see the classrooms, meet our teachers because some families may not know they can start registering their child at four-years-old. So we just want to get the word out and educate as many families as we can about it. We have a big immigrant community in Eastie who sometimes don’t know what their children are eligible for so we want to highlight all their options at the Umana.”
One of the programs at the Umana Argueta hopes to highlight is the school’s dual language program.
“The awesome thing about the Umana is that we are a dual language school,” said Argueta, who attended the Umana as a student. “We offer both English and Spanish classes where students of all backgrounds can learn a second language. Since arriving here last year I’ve seen that many of our sixth graders, who were from Non-Latino families, speak fluent Spanish because they have been enrolled in the dual language program from a very early age. It’s something that is really amazing.”
For more information on how to enroll your child or for more information on the June 16 event, please contact Elvin Argueta at 617-539-6204.