Migrant Education Regional Office (MERO)

The ESD 105 Migrant Education Regional Office (MERO 105) is focused on enhancing the learning success of migrant students with services designed to promote the advancement of the "whole child" inclusive of home, school and community.

MERO 105 is one of three MEROs in the state. We serve Benton, Columbia, Franklin, Grant, Kittitas, Klickitat, Walla Walla and Yakima counties. The state's other two MERO sites are at North Central ESD 171 in Wenatchee and ESD 189 in Anacortes.

MERO 105 serves approximately 16,400 migrant students – about 60 percent of the migrant students in Washington.  We work with school districts and teachers to explore, increase their understanding, and implement federal and state programs that support migrant student learning and parent involvement.

The Migrant Education Regional Office, with support from federal Title 1 and Title III funds, serves in liaison activities between the U.S. Department of Education Migrant Education Program, the Office of State Superintendent of Public Instruction, Migrant and Bilingual Education, and the schools, communities and parents working directly with students.

MERO Fact Sheet

MERO's services are part of ESD 105's commitment to improve school and student success in our region. Our professional resource team helps teachers to integrate learning strategies into the classroom with a focus on English language literacy, reading and math.  Some of these services include:

• Parent Services: Our Parent Services coordinator works with schools to help them engage parents as partners in their children's education.

• Migrant Education Health Program: Because healthy students are more likely to reach their fullest educational potential, MERO combines services with health care providers and other partners.

• Literacy: Our literacy program strives for reading, writing, and oral fluency of kindergarten through 12th grade students, and includes our "Love of Literacy" book giveaway program.

• Curriculum and Math: Our Curriculum/Math coordinator helps school district staff members understand and implement standards-based math programs.

• Space Academy program: To promote goal setting and science education, we are one of the participants in the Washington State Migrant Education Program's annual scholarship that sends migrant 12-14 year-olds each summer to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

• Administrative Services: We offer numerous services to assist school district leaders in understanding and implementing federala nd state programs that support the education of migrant students.

• SIOP and Project GLAD: MERO has developed a trainer of trainers cadre in the SIOP (Sheltered Instructional Observation Protocol) and Project GLAD (Guided Language Acquisition by Design) ELL instructional models and the Washington State English Language Standards in order to assist the diverse cultural linguistic needs of students in our region.  The cadre helps develop consistency across our region for meeting the academic and linguistic needs of migrant and ELL students.

• The Migrant/Bilingual Listserv is a free service offered by the Office of Migrant Education to keep members of the migrant education community up-to-date on information that is relevant on the Title I Migrant Education Program. The listserv covers: new grant programs and grant opportunities; key legislative, regulatory and policy changes; new reports, studies, evaluations, publications and/or resources; and pertinent special initiatives within the U.S. Department of Education.

• ELL Cadre Cafe'

MERO Lending Library

Call us at (509) 454-2854 to obtain materials from our resource library.  Materials available to our MERO 105 school districts include:

• Professional development and teacher training modules in many content areas, as well as counseling, safety, health, and ELL topics

• Books and materials in all content areas at all grade levels

• Reading and bilingual materials

• ESL and bilingual materials

• Spanish books and other materials

Contact Information:

Thomas Romero
MERO Director
Phone: (509) 454-2854
Fax: (509) 454-7879
E-mail: thomas.romero@esd105.org

Jim Beichler
MERO Math Curriculum Coordinator
Phone: (509) 454-2855
E-mail: jim.beichler@esd105.org

Don Bender
Migrant Literacy Coordinator
Phone: (509) 454-2856
E-mail: donald.bender@esd105.org

Dalia Candanoza
Parent Trainer Specialist
Phone: (509) 454-2857
E-mail: dalia.candanoza@esd105.org

Blanca Garza
Migrant Graduation Specialist
Phone: (509) 834-9285
E-mail: blanca.garza@esd105.org

Carol Hawthorne
Administrative Secretary
Phone: (509) 454-5311
E-mail: carol.hawthorne@esd105.org

Elma Rodriguez
Administrative Secretary
Phone: (509) 454-5310
E-mail: elma.rodriguez@esd105.org