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A new pay scale and a new principal voted up by Little Rock School Board

Mann Middle School got a new principal and the Little Rock School District adopted a new pay scale to conform with the Arkansas LEARNS Act at Thursday’s meeting of the Little Rock School board. 

Duane Clayton , currently the principal at Mills High School in the Pulaski County Special School District, will be the new principal at Mann, LRSD Superintendent Jermall Wright announced. 

PUBLIC COMMENT

Two educators spoke up for raises for all school staff. Megan Prettyman , a teacher at Little Rock West School of Innovations, said she was concerned that school support staff might not be getting the raises they should. Teresa Gordon , a representative for the teacher’s committee on compensation, noted that tax revenue is up, that the fund balance is up, and that the district is not broke. She wanted the district and board to give staff and teachers higher raises. Gordon encouraged the board to vote for the raise plan before them. 

CONSENT AGENDA

The consent agenda, which includes items the board has already discussed and that they do not have any questions on, extended elementary principal’s contracts from 11 months to 12 months. Many of our principals work all year preparing for the upcoming school year and hiring staff; this action will allow them to be paid for all their work. It will add $191,683.61 to the district’s annual budget. The consent agenda passed unanimously. SCHOOLS AND ACADEMICS Every few years the school district has to update their textbooks to meet the changing state curriculum. This year the district has been working on new social studies textbooks. This is a long process and involves teachers and administrators meeting and reviewing many different textbooks. The new social studies textbooks will cost, $967,114.70. This was approved unanimously. Next our board heard an update on how the district is meeting board goal one. Each year the board has to set goals for the administration to follow. The superintendent is evaluated based on these goals. Dr. Wright and his team have done a great job reporting on changes they are making to our district to meet the board’s goals. This has been fascinating to watch simply because in all the years of watching the Little Rock school district function I have never seen a superintendent so intentional and open about the changes they feel need to be made to help our kids. 

Board goal one relates to college and career readiness and is by far the most important goal our board has set. Thursday’s report was on point two of the goal one: “Improve student achievement in reading and math, aiming towards meeting or exceeding grade level performance for all students.” To meet this goal, the district will focus on boosting test scores, narrowing the achievement gap and boosting advanced academic opportunities. 1. For kindergarten through second grade, the district will increase early literacy and math by 2% in each content area and will use the MAP assessments to determine this growth. The MAP assessment is the Measures of Academic Progress test. The MAP test has been around for over 40 years and measures individual student growth in math, literacy and science against grade level standards. The test also predicts where a student will be over a year of growth based on their current level of growth. If this data is used properly it can allow teachers to work with individual students to achieve the state standards. 2. For grades three through 12, the district will increase academic achievement and growth in math and literacy by 2% or more every year based on the state accountability assessments. This has been a hard metric to use. The dirty little secret about Johnny Key’s education department was that the state tests that our kids have been taking all the years the Republican Party has had a supermajority in all branches of government do not match the state-required teaching standards. So our kids and our districts have been held accountable to test scores from a test that does not match what the state requires our teachers to teach. This is the essence of lunacy. Supposedly the state is changing this with another new test. We will see. 3. The board has also directed the district to decrease the academic achievement gap of historically marginalized subgroups in math and literacy by 2% or more a year. 

4. Finally, the board wants the district to increase and enhance advanced academic opportunities by expanding concurrent credit offerings in all district high schools. They also want to increase the number of minority students in concurrent/AP courses, especially Black males. To implement these goals, a team is in place to revise curriculum district-wide. A professional library of tools is in the works to help teachers. A handbook now in the works will outline district guidelines and expectations for curriculum implementation and assessment. The handbook should be available in draft form in July, but revisions are expected to continue through 2024. 

 The committee also wants to make sure that all the data the district is collecting on students is available to teachers and staff. To be very blunt, the Little Rock School District has done a really good job of collecting data over the years, but it is not being utilized at the classroom level very well. Dr. Wright and his team want this to change. The district is looking into software that might make it easier to put data to good use.

Next the board heard a report on a new memorandum of understanding between the district and Relay GSE, a training program for school leadership. Wright is a huge proponent of having well-trained leaders in our schools. Research has shown that school leadership matters, influencing student outcomes in significant ways. 

If Wright’s vision of well-trained leadership works, this will be a fundamental shift in leadership across the district. The dirty little secret that everyone knows but ignores is that historically, if you wanted a leadership position in the district, you needed to know the right people and be in the right groups or churches. Wright’s vision of leadership will hopefully break this cabal and allow for all of our buildings to have high quality and well-trained leaders. This new company would allow our leaders to attend the National Principal Academy Fellowship program that will help them develop their skills in culture and instruction, helping leaders to align their decisions to the needs of their students, teachers and communities. In highly effective school systems, principal supervisors play an essential role in improving instructional leadership across a network of schools. A one-time cost of $528,000, paid for with COVID funds, would cover the program, which includes sending assistant superintendents, principals and assistant principals to leadership academies. This passed unanimously. Next, the district presented a new memorandum of understanding with City Year. City Year is a good organization that sends college-age kids into some of the most needy schools to help with homework, behavioral issues and mentorship. The organization has a long-standing relationship with the LRSD. The new MOU removes language about the homework hotline, which was a COVID-era program to help kids when all school was virtual. On top of this, the new MOU adds Chicot Elementary to the program. There is no additional cost. This passed unanimously. There was also a new memorandum of understanding with the City of Little Rock and the district in regards to our community schools. The city is committed to helping our most distressed schools. The MOU does not create a separate legal entity. If either party decides to end the informal relationship, all property used by the city or the district will remain in the original hands. Each party agrees to commit $500,000 for the current school year. This passed unanimously. PAY SCALE AND FINANCES The next issue before the board was the new pay scale that is required to meet the terms of the new Arkansas LEARNS act. This idiotic law was passed by the Republican supermajority this year, with no public input. It artificially raises the salary of every starting teacher to $50,000 statewide. The state will fund that raise, but is not funding any education or experience steps that have been built into salary schedules for generations. These small increases offset inflation and let our teachers know that we value them. 

Under former Superintendent Mike Poore , our board set out on an ambitious three-step raise that would make the Little Rock School District competitive. This next year, the administration team had determined that $48,500 was what we could afford as a starting salary. With Arkansas LEARNS, all districts in the state will have to adjust. Working under the new guidelines, the district’s Chief Financial Officer Kelsey Bailey presented a pay scale we can afford. Under the new pay scale, the Little Rock School District will pay new teachers $50,000, with a 1.02% increase for higher educational degrees and a 1.018% increase for each year a teacher works, up to 21 years. This is a much lower percentage increase than what we previously could afford, but it is the best they can do given the restrictions of the Republican overlords. All classified staff (this is non-teaching staff) will receive a 2% increase or a $2000 raise, whichever is bigger. This new pay scale was approved, with one no vote from Sandrekkia Morning . Bailey then made his monthly financial report to the board. All tax revenue is trending upward and payroll expenditures (which is our largest expenditure) are still down because of a large number of vacancies. Our fund balances continue to be in good shape. Overall, Wright and his team are being very responsible with our money. There is no sign of financial distress in the Little Rock School District. The final financial report was a request from the administration for $1,406,782 for the new West Little Rock High School. This will be paid to Baldwin and Shell to start preparing the area for construction. This motion passed unanimously. POLICY, PERSONNEL, AND LEGAL The board heard a report on the Personnel Policy Committee(PPC) proposal to revise the grievance process. Currently if a teacher feels their rights are being violated there is a process to address this. First, the immediate supervisor will review the complaint, then the employees may appeal to the superintendent, and finally a level three complaint would go to the school board. This process gives employees due process rights and allows their complaints to be heard. The PPC wants to remove the superintendent from the level two hearing position and replace him with a neutral hearing officer. The district does not support this change. Now, here is the problem. If the board says no to this, it looks like they do not support the teachers. If the board says yes to this then it is a vote of no confidence for the superintendent. The PPC proposal would require the staff member and the district to pay 50% each of the cost for the neutral hearing officer. The board, feeling this was a financial impediment to some staff members, voted no on this proposal.

Friday, October 23, 2020

Friday Highlights 10.23.20

     Important Dates

Highlights/Events

Dyslexia Awareness Month

Flu Shots offered at LRSD  

(Watch your District email to learn how to become eligible to win)

Due to the pandemic, the 2020 Arkansas State Fair was canceled. However, they announced that they are opening the state fairgrounds for you to be able to enjoy your favorite fair foods! Such as corndogs, turkey legs, funnel cakes, and more. Taste of the Fair will start on October 23 rd – 25 th from 11am to 7pm. Admission and parking will be free. The food will be packaged in to-go containers and also social distancing guidelines will be enforced. 

For more information go to: https://www.arkansasstatefair.com/fairgrounds/calendar/taste-of-the-fair-2020/

Shorter's Fall Festival

EARLY VOTING INFORMATION

Early Voting M-F starts at 8 a.m. 

  For more information on how to vote, early voting dates and locations, etc., go to: 

https://votepulaski.net/index.php/test/standard-information-for-elections  

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U.S.-Soviet Hotline a Symbol of Cold War Cooperation

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During the darkest days of the Cold War, in moments of extreme tension when the fate of the world was at stake, the only thing that saved America from certain doom was the red telephone on the president’s desk. It was of a basic design, and it had no numbers. All he had to do was pick it up, and an identical phone would ring on the desk of the Premier of the Soviet Union in Moscow. They would speak directly and hammer out the problem before nuclear missiles reached the sky.

A chilling image, except that reality was never like this. Contrary to news reports, movies, and books of the era, there was no red phone on the president’s desk. There was a hotline between the U.S. and the Soviet Union, but the leaders of the two countries never spoke directly on it. The language barrier, the time difference, and their busy schedules would have made that impossible, anyway. However people may have imagined the hotline, it did succeed in easing tensions between the two superpowers during the Cold War and kept small crises from turning into big ones.

The hotline was formally known as the Washington-Moscow Direct Communications Link. It went live on Aug. 30, 1963, just under a year after the Cuban Missile Crisis , a confrontation that brought the U.S. closer to the brink of nuclear war than any other time in history.

During the Cuban crisis, communications between Moscow and Washington were frightfully slow. Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev’s first 3,000-word message took 12 hours to receive, decode, and translate. During that period, tensions rose significantly as American and Soviet warships began piling up in the Caribbean. While the U.S. was crafting a response, Khrushchev sent a second message that escalated the situation.

U.S. and Soviet military and civilian officials recognized that direct communications between the two nations needed to be improved. Khrushchev said after Cuba, “If we succeeded in finding a way out of a dangerous situation this time, next time we might not safely untie the tightly made knot.”

On June 20, 1963, the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed a Memorandum of Understanding  establishing a direct communications link between Moscow and Washington.

The first message sent by the U.S. over the hotline was “The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dog’s back 1234567890.” There was nothing cryptic or coded in this message. It was simply a sentence that contained every letter of the American alphabet along with every number key to test the keyboard. The Soviets sent back a Russian message describing a sunset.

The first hotline terminals were teletype machines connected via a 10,000-mile cable hookup. Messages were sent in their original language in code. On the American side, non-commissioned military personnel would sit over the machine in eight-hour shifts, supervised by a military officer fluent in Russian and fully briefed on the day’s worldwide developments. Terminals were originally stationed in the Pentagon, and later added to the State Department and the White House Situation Room. Again, contrary to myth, there has never been a hotline terminal in the Oval Office.

The hotline was tested hourly with literary passages from Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Chekhov, and encyclopedia entries. And every Aug. 30 a greetings message would be sent to honor the anniversary of the hotline.

The technology was upgraded in 1971 to take advantage of satellite linkups, and again in 1984 to include facsimile machines, which replaced the teletype technology that had been in use since the beginning.

The Cold War came to an end, and with it the Soviet Union in 1991, but Washington and Moscow elected to keep the hotline open and running. In 2007, it was upgraded to include email and chat, and now relies on a dedicated secure computer network carried via satellite and fiber optic cable.

The hotline has been used on several occasions. The first official message from the U.S. was a notification of John Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. The first Soviet use of the hotline was related to the outbreak of the Six-Day War in 1967. Other instances of direct communication between Washington and Moscow included the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the Arab-Israeli War of 1973, the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, and a few times during the Reagan administration.

The hotline allowed Washington and Moscow to more directly understand each other’s intentions during political crises. This was much better than relying on administration or outside experts, whose own agendas and biases could not always be separated from their analyses. It didn’t necessarily improve relations between the two countries, but it gave each side some insight that has made the world a little bit safer.

Richard Brownell has written several books and articles on American history. He blogs at Mr. Rick’s History .

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Parent & Family Engagement

The parent & family engagement office is available to facilitate workshops for parents and professional development in-service for administrators and teachers in regards to promoting parental and family involvement in schools. lrsd parent & family center offers information and materials to assist parents and district staff with parent and family involvement.  free books and pamphlets are available. also, videos and dvd's on various topics are available for checkout.  the office and center is located at henderson development center, 401 john barrow road, 72205. for more information, call 447-3358 or email [email protected]. , *************************************************************.

2023-2024 LRSD Parent&Family Engagement Plan Brochure

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LR PTA Council Information

Please join your school's PTA! LRSD officers (parents) are needed and welcomed!

Previous Year Information

• 2022-2023 Little Rock School District Parent and Family Engagement Plan
• 2022-2023 Little Rock School District Parent and Family Engagement Plans Elementary, Middle and High Schools

  Please provide your input for our survey. https://rb.gy/s4sxaz Thank you!  

2022-2023 -  partnering for excellence: home-school-community connections for student academic success, lrsd 2022-2023 parent & family engagement support and events (in-person     and virtual), 1st & 2nd semeste r, homework helpline: the lrsd homework helpline is not being provided this school year.  however, tutoring is provided by specific school choice. contact your child's teacher, principal, or parent facilitator to inform you of the tutoring service that is selected for your child's school., parent workshops (schoology, home access center-hac, college & career readiness, wellness, technology, parenting partners and family meals challenge, and more.) (in-person and virtual), lrsd 2022 fall partnering for excellence spring conference: home-school-community connections (in-person) date: september 24, 2022, march 11, 2023, 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m. lrsd 2023 spring partnering for excellence spring conference: home-school-community connections family resource fair. henderson development center.  interesting topics and resources will be shared by lrsd departments and special guests. free health screenings, haircuts, hot dogs, food boxes, ice cream, popcorn, educational resources, and more door prizes and childcare will be provided. , r.i.s.e. the parent edition, (in-person) november 5 and december 3 . painting with scarborough's rope location: 401 john barrow road, lrsd henderson professional development  center. door prizes and refreshments are provided. pre-registration is required., additional  r.i.s.e. the parent edition sessions will be scheduled for march and april 2023. explore more about the reading rope and writing rope..

• NBA Math Hoops Parent & Family Engagement - 3rd - 8th grades .  NBA Math Hoops is provided every 2nd Saturday.  The LRSD NBA Math Hoops Tournament is scheduled for Saturday, April 15, 2023, 10:00 a.m. - 1:00 p.m. The winning teams will receive a trophy and all student participants will receive an NBA Math Hoops T-shirt and Swag Bag. Contacts: Karl Henry Romain ([email protected] and Kaye Rainey ( [email protected] ).

Join the 2022-2023 LRSD Title I Parent & Family Engagement Committee

For more information, contact kaye rainey,, [email protected],   join the schoology parent support group , logon  www. schoology .com );, click “ group s”,, click “my  group s”,, click “join  group ”, enter the access code: c864-md45-xg8cd..

PARENTING PARTNERS WORKSHOPS/Family Meals Challenge

Parenting partner school teams: to be announced, title i trainer-of-trainers (tot) (parent and district staff).  , for more information, contact the parent facilitator or parent coordinator of your child's school. or, contact kaye rainey, 447-3358; [email protected] ., johns hopkins university national network of partnership schools (nnps) school, family & community partnerships ** six types of involvement: parenting, communicating, volunteering, learning at home, decision making, collaborating with the community, supported by lrsd esea/essa title i parent and family engagement, lrsd nnps family model - school, family, and community partnerships , congratulations  lrsd parent & family engagement is the recipient of a 2022 nnps district partnership award.

NNPS  www.partnershipschools.org  

The Little Rock School District has adopted the Johns Hopkins University National Network of Partnership Schools (NNPS) School, Family and Community Partnerships as a Family Model.  Schools utilize research-based approaches to organize and sustain excellent programs of family and community involvement that will increase student success. LRSD schools collaborate to focus on the six “keys to improvement” identified by educational researchers as the critical components of home/school/community connections.

The Little Rock School District parent, family and community engagement efforts operate in three (3) districtwide teams:

LRSD Cluster Teams

DISTRICT LEADER: Kaye Rainey, District Specialist, Parent & Family Engagement 

  2022-2023 Network School Cluster Teams Leaders and Recorders

Network teams will be displayed at a later date.

Middle Schools: Pinnacle View, Pulaski Heights

High Schools: Hall STEAM, Parkview, LR West Innovation

 If you have questions or need more information, contact your child's school or Kaye Rainey, LRSD Parent & Family Engagement Specialist, 447-3358 - [email protected] .

Title I PARENTAL INVOLVEMENT

The Little Rock School District will support programs, activities and procedures for the engagement of parents and families in all of its schools with Title I, Part A programs, consistent with Section 1116 of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA/ESSA). Those programs, activities and procedures will be planned and operated with meaningful consultation and engagement with parents and families of participating children.

The school district will be governed by the following statutory definition of parental and family engagement and expects its Title I schools will carry out programs, activities and procedures in accordance with this definition:

Parental and family engagement means the participation of parents and families in regular, two-way, and meaningful communication involving student academic learning and other school activities, including ensuring

A) involve parents and family members in jointly developing the local educational agency plan under section 1112, and the development of support and improvement plans under paragraphs (1) and (2) of section 1111(d).

(B) provide the coordination, technical assistance, and other support necessary to assist and build the capacity of all participating schools within the local educational agency in planning and implementing effective parent and family involvement activities to improve student academic achievement and school performance, which may include meaningful consultation with employers, business leaders, and philanthropic organizations, or individuals with expertise in effectively engaging parents and family members in education;

(C) coordinate and integrate parent and family engagement strategies under this part with parent and family engagement strategies, to the extent feasible and appropriate, with other relevant Federal, State, and local laws and programs;

(D) conduct, with the meaningful involvement of parents and family members, an annual evaluation of the content and effectiveness of the parent and family engagement policy in improving the academic quality of all schools served under this part, including identifying—

(i) barriers to greater participation by parents in activities authorized by this section (with particular attention to parents who are economically disadvantaged, are disabled, have limited English proficiency, have limited literacy, or are of any racial or ethnic minority background);

(ii) the needs of parents and family members to assist with the learning of their children, including engaging with school personnel and teachers; and

(iii) strategies to support successful school and family interactions;

(E) use the findings of such evaluation in subparagraph (D) to design evidence-based strategies for more effective parental involvement, and to revise, if necessary, the parent and family engagement policies described in this section; and

(F) involve parents in the activities of the schools served under this part, which may include establishing a parent advisory board comprised of a sufficient number and representative group of parents or family members served by the local educational agency to adequately represent the needs of the population served by such agency for the purposes of developing, revising, and reviewing the parent and family engagement policy.

Parents' Guide to Student Success

G.U.I.D.E. for Life:   Growth  (manage yourself).  Understanding  (know yourself).  Interaction  (build relationships).  Decisions  (make responsible choices),  Empathy  (be aware of others).   http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/divisions/learning-services/guide-for-life

Student Success Plan -  http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/divisions/learning-services/student-success-plan

•  Guide the student along pathways to graduation
•  Address accelerated learning opportunities
•  Address academic deficits and interventions
•  Include college and career planning components

National PTA ® created the guides for grades K-8 and two for grades 9-12 (one for English language arts/literacy and one for mathematics).

The Guide includes:

• Key items that children should be learning in English language arts and mathematics in each grade, once the standards are fully implemented.
• Activities that parents can do at home to support their child's learning.
• Methods for helping parents build stronger relationships with their child's teacher. 
• Tips for planning for college and career (high school only).

PTAs can play a pivotal role in how the standards are put in place at the state and district levels. PTA ® leaders are encouraged to meet with their school, district, and/or state administrators to discuss their plans to implement the standards and how their PTA can support that work. The goal is that PTAs and education administrators will collaborate on how to share the guides with all of the parents and caregivers in their states or communities, once the standards are fully implemented. Ultimately, the aim is for the Guide to be a tool for parents to build relationships with their children's teachers once the standards are fully in place. 

Additional Resources

State Education Agencies Find out more about your state's implementation plans.

PAST PARENT INVOLVEMENT WORKSHOPS: If you would like information regarding the topics below, email Kaye Rainey ( [email protected] )

CHECK OUT " TIPS FOR PARENTS "where you will find links to really cool websites to assist with homework and student learning

Division of Elementary and Secondary Education - Arkansas Department of Education:  http://dese.ade.arkansas.gov/im-looking-for/parents

The Parent and Family Engagement Office and Parent & Family Engagement Center (Oficina de participación de padres y familias y Centro de participación de padres y familias) is located in the former Henderson Middle School, 401 John Barrow Road, Rooms 1 & 4 Telephone: 501-447-3358; Fax: 501-447-3359.

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Wanna be a good dad? A 'School for Men' teaches diapering, ponytail making

Christina Noriega

Ben de la Cruz

At a one-day workshop run by the Care School for Men in Bogotá, Colombia, male medical students at Sanitas University learn how to cradle a baby. This class of participants consists of medical students, but the usual enrollees are dads of all types. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption

At a one-day workshop run by the Care School for Men in Bogotá, Colombia, male medical students at Sanitas University learn how to cradle a baby. This class of participants consists of medical students, but the usual enrollees are dads of all types.

BOGOTÁ, Colombia — As class begins at Sanitas University, a cohort of young men gathers the supplies they'll need for the lesson: a plastic doll, rash ointment and diapers.

Felipe Contreras, 30, their teacher, guides the men through the steps. First, they name the dolls, then clean the dolls' bottoms, change the diaper, apply rash ointment and cradle the doll, remembering to hold the head gently.

At Bogotá's Care School for Men, an innovative city-led program, men learn how to tend to their families and homes and to step up to do their share of housework and child care — from changing a diaper to styling a ponytail. This latest class of participants consists of all medical students, but the usual enrollees are just ... dads.

Changing a diaper is one of the fundamental skills that men learn at the Care School. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption

Changing a diaper is one of the fundamental skills that men learn at the Care School.

The program, the first of its kind in Colombia, addresses one of the most lingering aspects of gender inequality globally. In countries around the world, women shoulder three-quarters of all unpaid caregiving, according to a report by the International Labour Organization .

And in Bogotá, for instance, women on average spend five hours and 30 minutes on unpaid work a day — more than twice the time that men do, according to a 2017 study conducted by Colombia's national statistics agency. This unequal division of home labor reduces women's time for paid work, education and self-care and is driving higher rates of female poverty, according to a study published in the Journal of Global Health .

Even as women enter the workforce in greater numbers and secure better pay, experts in Colombia say that the domestic gender gap has remained largely unchanged, citing differences in societal expectations of men and women. That's because prevailing cultural beliefs dictate "that women are naturally better suited to housework and caregiving, while men are better suited to paid work outside the home," says educator Juan David Cortés, the Care School for Men's strategy leader.

But the Care School is dedicated to the belief that such norms can be changed.

A school is born

The idea for the school originated, in part, during the COVID-19 pandemic when mothers, who usually undertake all family caregiving, often fell ill or, in some cases, died, leaving their male partners to assume their role. Distressed men called a city-run men's hotline, promoted online, for support.

"They called with the pain of losing their partners but also with frustration at being unable to take care of their children," says Cortés.

Mannequin heads offer a chance for men to practice hairstyling. Luis Rodríguez (second from left), a medical student, says the lesson made him appreciate his mom's workload at home. As for ponytails, he said he'd tried to do his sister's hair before, but this was the first time he felt confident about the result. "It looked really, really good, the way my mom does it," he says. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption

Mannequin heads offer a chance for men to practice hairstyling. Luis Rodríguez (second from left), a medical student, says the lesson made him appreciate his mom's workload at home. As for ponytails, he said he'd tried to do his sister's hair before, but this was the first time he felt confident about the result. "It looked really, really good, the way my mom does it," he says.

Because many men did not learn caregiving skills as boys and were never expected to carry out the housework, the callers would complain that they just didn't know what to do, says Cortés. The school opened in 2021 to help men learn basic caregiving and household skills and also gain confidence.

In the free one-day workshops, men practice how to change diapers and how to style hair on dolls and mannequins. In the longer six-to-eight-session programs, students learn to clean a bathroom, iron clothes and wash dishes. The training is also paired with conversations about defying gender norms and traditional notions of masculinity.

"Something fundamental that we talk about in the program is that there are diverse ways of being men, without having to fulfill expectations," says Cortés.

You're not the only guy who needs a diaper tutorial

The program's focus on men follows a global trend. For more than four decades , nonprofits in the United States have offered training to support men in their transition to fatherhood and have brought the model to countries around the world . A review by Equimundo , a research institute focused on gender equality, looked at eight such programs in 12 countries and found them to be effective in shifting men's attitudes and behaviors toward child care.

Nelson Alexander Yaguara pretends to wave away the stink of a soiled baby diaper at a pop-up workshop in Bogotá's San Cristóbal neighborhood. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption

Nelson Alexander Yaguara pretends to wave away the stink of a soiled baby diaper at a pop-up workshop in Bogotá's San Cristóbal neighborhood.

The Care School builds on this model and extends beyond the scope of a fatherhood program by inviting men of all ages to be caregivers. It's also city run, amplifying its reach. The city has spent the equivalent of half a million dollars on the program since 2021.

At first, enrollment was low. But it began to pick up in 2022. Since then, 7,300 men have attended in-person classes, according to Cortés. Another 50,000 men have completed the online version of the course, and 160,000 have viewed the city's video series on caregiving .

In part, the rates of participation are owed to its partnerships with private institutions that bring classes to universities, work offices, community centers and even prisons.

According to Cortés, another advantage is the program's messaging. Men who are new to caregiving may be ridiculed by male peers for engaging in activities usually associated with women — and even criticized by their partners for their poor caregiving skills.

"[We're] framing this as an opportunity to not only reduce gender gaps but also to improve relationships with our partners, with our families," says Juan David Cortés, the Care School for Men's strategy leader. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption

"[We're] framing this as an opportunity to not only reduce gender gaps but also to improve relationships with our partners, with our families," says Juan David Cortés, the Care School for Men's strategy leader.

But the Care School takes a different approach. The city describes the workshop as " educational and fun ," engaging men in exercises that are inviting and challenging.

The overall vibe is upbeat. At a September workshop at Sanitas University, the teachers, all of them young and male, rewarded participants with prizes like aprons, cleaning supplies and reusable grocery bags — to encourage the men to do more chores. The students laughed as they fumbled through the lesson, quipping that the dolls resembled their respective "fathers" and taunting each other as they made mistakes. The teacher reassured students, with jokes of his own.

"Be careful," said Contreras, the instructor, teasing a participant who lifted the doll by the wrist. "If you hold the baby by the arm, its arm is going to fall off."

When students admit to not knowing how to change a diaper, Contreras emphasizes that they are not alone.

The Care School for Men set up a pop-up workshop at the community center in Bogotá's San Cristóbal neighborhood. Ben de la Cruz/NPR hide caption

The Care School for Men set up a pop-up workshop at the community center in Bogotá's San Cristóbal neighborhood.

The program's designers also point out that there are benefits not only to the families but to the men as well.

"[We're] framing this as an opportunity to not only reduce gender gaps but also to improve relationships with our partners, with our families," says Cortés.

It's an argument that has resonated with Ferley Sáenz, a 40-year-old coordinator of Bogotá's transportation system, who took part in the Care School's six-session program. Along with 21 colleagues, Sáenz initially enrolled to improve his stress management skills but was pleased to engage in discussions about caregiving and masculinity.

A father reconnects with his sons

A husband and a father of two, Sáenz admits that his wife assumes most of the child care and household chores. For years, he considered this the norm, spending most of his days at work or with friends. Then his eldest son, 7-year-old Martin, began withdrawing from Sáenz, crying whenever his mother left the two alone. Their relationship deteriorated to the point that Sáenz could no longer eat with Martin, play with him or drop him off at the day care center unless his wife was present.

"I felt like a stranger in my own home," Sáenz says.

Ferley Sáenz, a 40-year-old coordinator of Bogotá's transportation system, dresses his son Jeronimo for the day. Sáenz admits that his wife assumes most of the child care and household chores. For years, he considered this the norm, spending most of his days at work or with friends. Now he's trying to step up. Carlos Saavedra for NPR hide caption

Ferley Sáenz, a 40-year-old coordinator of Bogotá's transportation system, dresses his son Jeronimo for the day. Sáenz admits that his wife assumes most of the child care and household chores. For years, he considered this the norm, spending most of his days at work or with friends. Now he's trying to step up.

At the Care School, teachers convinced Sáenz that to repair his relationship with his son, he would need to take a more active role at home.

Since finishing the program, Sáenz says, becoming a better father has become his priority. He now helps Martin with his homework and visits his school for teacher-parent meetings. He also tends to the child care for a few hours on the weekends, freeing up time for his wife, who is a full-time caregiver for the family.

"Dedicating quality time to [my children], participating in their development and learning process, has made us closer. My eldest son tells me about his day at school, which he didn't do before," said Sáenz. "It's an incredible feeling."

While individual accounts from male participants of the program are promising, Cortés says the program is striving to transform attitudes toward caregiving at a societal level, a feat that he admits will require years of effort. Over the next six years, he hopes that the program will expand to cover 40% of the city's male population, a jump from the fewer than 1% enrolled now.

Ferley Sáenz and his wife, María Alejandra López, now divide up household chores. Here, Sáenz washes the dishes while López tidies up the living room. Carlos Saavedra for NPR hide caption

Ferley Sáenz and his wife, María Alejandra López, now divide up household chores. Here, Sáenz washes the dishes while López tidies up the living room.

"This is like growing a bamboo plant. We are only now sowing the seed," said Cortés. So far, Bogotá's new mayor, Carlos Galán, who pledged to champion gender equality and caregiving programs after taking office on Jan. 1, is going along with the program, says Cortés.

Brigid Schulte, director of the Better Life Lab, the work-family justice program at New America, a nonpartisan think tank, says, "If the men who go through these classes become more equal partners in their families, that's a success on a private level." She emphasizes that "if you want to go to scale and you want to see more families and make a difference in gender equality, then you absolutely have to follow that with public policy and workplace culture change."

To meet its long-term goals, the Care School for Men is also running pop-up workshops, like the one at Sanitas University, to recruit new participants. Luis Rodríguez, a 17-year-old medical student, stopped for a Care School lesson at the encouragement of his friends. Rodríguez says he hadn't ever reflected on his mother's workload, caring for Rodríguez, his father and his younger sister.

Ferley Sáenz credits the Care School for Men with making him a better dad. Here he poses with his sons, Jeronimo and Martin, and his wife, María Alejandra López. Carlos Saavedra for NPR hide caption

Ferley Sáenz credits the Care School for Men with making him a better dad. Here he poses with his sons, Jeronimo and Martin, and his wife, María Alejandra López.

But as he untangled a mannequin's tresses at the Care School, he thought of the long list of tasks his mother is responsible for. He says he felt the urge to do more at home.

Rodríguez scooped up the mannequin's hair into an elastic band and smoothed the bumps with a brush. He looked back at the doll, beaming with pride. Even though he had tried to do his sister's hair before, this was the first time he had felt confident about the final result. "It looked really, really good, the way my mom does it," he says.

And now he's asking himself: "I wonder what else I can do?"

Christina Noriega is a freelance journalist based in Colombia, where she reports on human rights, gender equality and the environment.

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