Robert M. Thomas Welcome Center

Strategy Division - Student & Family Supports

Strategy Division: Our Mission - To simplify complex challenges by building clear and coherent systems and structures to enhance communication, increase meaningful district-wide engagement, and improve data-driven decision-making.

Working in conjunction with the Enrollment and Ombudsman Offices, the Robert M. Thomas Welcome Center is 1 of 3 offices comprising the Student & Family Supports Department. 

Robert M. Thomas Welcome Center: Our Mission - To direct newcomer enrollments, develop and maintain structures to provide effective, efficient, and responsive translation and interpretation to schools. 

As a Family Resource Center, examples of the services provided at the Robert M. Thomas Welcome Center are:

• Assist families new to the area with the enrollment process into Knox County Schools 
• Orientation to Knox County Schools for students and parents - district policies and procedures
• Provide language support to bridge the communication gap between non/limited English-speaking families and schools/district
• Referrals to support services include: Adult ESL, Citizenship Classes, Health Clinics and more

The languages represented by our exceptional team of Family Community Liaisons are listed below.

*Please note that requests for support regarding all other languages as well as S-Team, IEP, 504 and/or disciplinary meetings will need to be directed to Sonja Stryker Warren to be facilitated by one of the district's contracted vendors by utilizing the CI-224 e-Form via the link below:

• Arabic
• French
• Kinyarwanda
• Kirundi 
• Mayan (Akateco and Q'anjob'al)
• Spanish 
• Swahili

Request for Family Community Liaison Online Form will be routed directly to the assigned Family Community Liaison. Subsequently, for each language in which support is needed, a separate request will be required for that language.

Please do not:

• request multiple languages on a single request
• request multiple Family Community Liaisons who do not support your school
• if you see you need multiple FCLs for a single language, please only request your school or district assigned FCL for the language and place a CI-224 request electronically with the number of additional support you require for that language and event. 

The CI-224 request is electronically routed to the Welcome Center Administrative Assistant, who will facilitate the request accordingly and assign to a district contracted language support vendor. 

 Electronic Staff Forms

» » Request for Family Community Liaison Online Form (Languages listed above)

» CI-224 - Request Interpreter/Translation Service Online Form