Office of Family and Community Engagement

• Oficina para a Participación de a Famiia y a Comunidad
• 家庭及社區參與辦事處

Family Liaison Program Manager: Maribel Sainez
Office Assistant: Alicia Richardson
Family Voice: Ramon Martinez
Translation & Interpretation Unit Supervisor: Lehmann Sio
Communication and Technology Coordinator: Aris Cisneros 

View a list of our parent liaisons assigned to schools.

Read our Family Engagement and Partnership Plan.

The Office of Family and Community Engagement collaborates with parents and caregivers to ensure opportunities for educational excellence for all children and helps schools build their capacity to increase family engagement and involvement.

We can help you

• To learn how to help your child succeed in school
• To become a leader at your school site or at the district level
• To build a successful School Site Council, Student Advisory Council , or English Learner Advisory Committee
• To get involved with district-level committees and task forces
• To resolve school site concerns and questions
• To be an effective school site parent liaison

Mission:

The mission of the Office of Family and Community Engagement is to formalize and popularize SFUSD’s vision for engaging and empowering all families through participation in a variety of roles across the district with special attention to engaging historically marginalized families in leadership and partnership opportunities.

Vision:

All families and communities are meaningfully engaged to support students in their learning, growth and development into high school graduates, ready for college and careers equipped with the skills, capacities, and dispositions necessary for 21st century success.

OFACE defines meaningful family engagement as the process of providing concrete family support that builds reciprocity through the coalescence of personalization, affirming diversity, connecting to student learning, and sharing power in decision-making.

San Francisco integrated research from Dr. Joyce Epstein, Director of the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at John Hopkins University, the National PTA standards, and the Parent Services Project, a non-profit based in San Rafael, CA dedicated to serving families in working in partnership with educators. We then adapted these frameworks to meet the needs of SFUSD’s distinct and diverse population.  This definition of family engagement includes the following six key tenets:

1. Building Relationships: Engaging in respectful actions that welcome and connect families to the site.
2. Linking to Learning: Providing and encouraging activities that support family involvement in children’s learning at home or at school.
3. Affirming Diversity: Ensuring that actions are inclusive and respectful of all cultures and family structures.
4. Building Reciprocity/Two-Way Communication: Developing and maintaining actions and processes that allow for mutual exchange of information.
5. Sharing Power/Decision-Making: Conducting actions and opportunities that engage families as decision-makers and leaders.
6. Concrete Family Support: Providing families with access to information, community resources, and services.

This framework has defined a Family Engagement Assessment tool that will be distributed to all school leaders and communities as a way of providing a rubric on what successful family engagement looks like.

Beliefs: In order to accomplish this mission and vision, OFACE operates under a set of beliefs that inform every aspect of family and community engagement work.  These beliefs are as follows:

•  We must understand that engaging families is a shared responsibility that enlists schools, community partnerships, district, in a mutual commitment to be advocates for their children’s learning and development.
•  We will provide families with access to information, community resources and services, as we understand that it is a critical element to closing the achievement gap and high student achievement.
•  We must provide respectful actions that welcome and connect families to the district and schools.
•  We affirm and value diversity by building awareness, understanding, and inclusion across all cultures and family structures.
•  We must allow families to share power in decision-making and leadership at all our schools.

Parent and Family Involvement

Effective family involvement makes a positive difference in the educational success of children. Research shows that family involvement tends to fall into six main areas:

• Parenting
• Communication between home and school
• Volunteering
• Learning activities at home
• Decision-making
• Collaborating with the community

Give Us Feedback

Our office is always looking to provide more opportunities for parents and families to give input and support to our schools and in our district.

Contact information: Office of Family and Community Engagement