The women chat breezily in Spanish as they eat, some with babies in their arms, others with toddlers who scream delightedly as they chase one another. Some of the mothers will stay and socialize for the better part of the day. It's not every school that makes immigrant parents feel so comfortable.
Some parents shy away, intimidated by the complexities of the U.S. educational system.
For others, the thought of participating in their child's schooling is as incomprehensible as the English they barely understand. But Bailey's Elementary School for the Arts and Sciences in Falls Church, one of the most diverse parts of Fairfax County, is different. Immigrant parents feel at home there, and the reason is Maria Demarest. A native of Colombia who has lived in this country since 1972, she was one of the first tapped to be a parent liaison 10 years ago when Fairfax schools initiated a program to ease the way for families from other countries. Today there are 110 parent liaisons in the school system of 160,000 students.