Jael Ovalle

Program Manager, Parent Education
Los Angeles County Office of Education

Jael Ovalle currently manages the Parent Education and Consultation Program (PECP) of the Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE). She worked to design and implemented PECP; an overhaul of LACOEs’ models for parental engagement. The program is the first and only in the nation to reach out to the families of incarcerated youth, homeless students and foster children. Jael has participated in extensive training on Dr. Joyce Epstein’s Typology for Parental Engagement, conducted by Dr. Epstein’s herself, and possess extensive knowledge of the Parent Action Teams model by the Center on School, Family, and Community Partnerships at Johns Hopkins University and the research that guides school district's practices for parental engagement in the nation. She worked with community partners, bargaining units, district officials, families and students to support the passage of the historic Los Angeles Unified School District Board of Education Resolution “Parents As Equal Partners” in 2010. She also collaborated in the creation of the Parents’ Bill of Rights, which guides parent involvement work in school districts, charter schools and community-based organizations that advocate for parental engagement in education in Los Angeles.