Nonprofit Provides Tech Training for Burlington Parents 

When South Burlington High School started using an online grading system, former student Carly Stine remembers that the transition wasn’t easy for her parents. Instead of just getting Carly's grades through the mail, they had to get used to looking them up online. Today, Stine, 23, is a program manager at Technology 4 Tomorrow (T4T), a non-profit that runs technology training workshops across Vermont.

This week, Stine ran a 90-minute iPad training course for graduates of Parent University — a two-month program started by the Burlington School District last spring to equip parents with the skills and knowledge to become partners in their children’s education and development. Though PU isn’t created specifically for New American or English Language Learner parents, many of them participate in the program because they are new to the school district and its culture, said Ali Dieng, Parent University's program manager. Parents who complete one cycle are allowed to sign up for another to encourage continued learning and self-improvement.

During Parent University's second session last fall, volunteer teachers from partners including the Champlain Valley Office of Economic Opportunity and Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program/US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants led classes in English, financial literacy, parenting skills and other subjects. T4T ran a one-off technology class, and parents clamored for more, said Dieng. When PU's third session starts up again in April, participants will be able to take weekly tech classes.

In the meantime, when the Burlington School District donated 23 used iPads to Parent University and its graduates in January, Dieng reached out to T4T to request training for parents in between Parent University sessions. This way, the PU participants and Stine will have the opportunity to get to know each other before the new session starts, Dieng reasoned.