Inside a windowless office crammed between two classrooms at the Mill Brook School in Concord, Louise Irafasha had a very special introduction to make.

Her newborn daughter, just a month old, lay peacefully in her pink bassinet. Across the table, Jennie Fennelly sat beaming.

“She’s beautiful,” Fennelly exclaimed as the baby slept, her tiny head protruding from the blankets.

It was the beginning of a new chapter in a relationship between the two women that has spanned six years. Fennelly, Mill Brook’s home-to-school liaison, began working with Irafasha’s family when they emigrated from Rwanda to Concord in 2018. In that time, Fennelly has watched Irafasha’s three older children – all current students in the Concord schools – grow up.

Now there is a fourth child.

“Amakuru, inshuti?” Fennelly asked, speaking Kinyarwanda, Irafasha’s native language. How are you doing, friend?

Irafasha smiled. Then Fennelly phoned an interpreter to continue the conversation, a frequent third voice in Fennelly’s office amid the symphony of foreign languages spoken by families at Mill Brook.

Fennelly’s job is to serve as the bridge between home and school, supporting families with everything from basic material needs to communication with teachers, assistance with attendance challenges, and access to mental health counseling.

“My goal is to make sure that families and children have what they need so that when the children are here they’re available for learning and that families feel connected to the community and as valued partners in their children’s education,” she said.

Every Concord school has either a home-to-school liaison or a social worker, according to Fennelly.

Fennelly, a Concord High graduate, received an undergraduate degree in social work and had worked in both the non-profit and private sectors before leaving the workforce to raise her own children. She credits the years as a stay-at-home mother of children who attended Mill Brook with ultimately catapulting her into her current role.

“I saw the magic that is at this school community as a parent,” said Fennelly, who began working in the school district in 2014 in a part-time role. Her role has since expanded to be full time.

Mill Brook has a significant population of new American families like Irafasha’s and Fennelly has learned to say greetings in eight foreign languages, from Swahili to Portuguese. Fennelly works with all families, whether they are new arrivals to the United States or not.

Her days are varied. In the morning, she might ride the bus with a student who is hesitant to do so alone. In the afternoon, she might visit a family’s home to help them register their child for preschool.

Four days per week, Fennelly runs small groups to work with students on social skills. On Tuesday mornings, she co-staffs the Mill Brook School’s Family Center location, a space for families of children under 5.

Fennelly has the reputation as a jack-of-all-trades at Mill Brook.

“She’s the go-to person anytime there’s any sort of road blocks,” said Sue Gorham, the school’s nurse. “Everybody knows that Jennie can problem solve and so they go to her and no matter how busy she is, she’ll drop everything to help them with that.

“Even when staff personally have issues, she is there for them also,” Gorham added.

The pair regularly work closely together to solve students’ health problems.

“I see a thousand stomach aches in a day and a lot of times it’s related to anxiety or worry,” Gorham said. “[Fennelly] will often meeting with these kids and encourage them to to talk about what their worries are.”

Fennelly takes great pains to stress that just as she chips in to help out her colleagues, the work she does to connect families with the school is a team effort.

However, for many families, Fennelly is the most visible face of the school, the first person they meet when they register for kindergarten or preschool or move to Concord.

During the meeting last month with Irafasha, Fennelly asked the mother of four whether she needed diapers, which Irafasha did, and a stroller, which she passed on. Fennelly loaded up Irafasha’s car with two full bags of supplies.

As the two of them start the fourth wave of their journey together, Irafasha expressed gratitude for Fennelly.

“Jennie is able to help me with anything I am unable to do,” she said in Kinyrawanda. “Every time when I see her I feel so happy because I feel like everything’s just going to be possible.”

Jeremy Margolis can be contacted at jmargolis@cmonitor.com.