01/28/2000

Coordinating Volunteers

WANTED: Coordinator of Volunteers for our schools. Recruit, screen, train, assign and evaluate volunteers for work on special projects or to help student learning. College degree preferred. Apply in person or call school district personnel office during regular business hours for more details.

Hiring a coordinator of volunteers will be the best money your public school district ever spends. Just think. You get the services of parents, senior citizens and business men and women for the cost of one coordinator's salary. Each volunteer can contribute on a one-time or continuing basis to the academic and personal success of the community's youth.

Even the best-intentioned and well-educated volunteers need guidance and training. Teachers can make requests and identify needs, but usually don't have the time to match volunteer skills with the jobs that need to be done; nor do they have the time to train and supervise the accuracy and quality of their work. Coordination of volunteer programs also enjoys their even distribution throughout the district.

Alison Chapman, Director of school volunteers in New Haven, CT, recruits hundreds of volunteers annually. She sent me some literature about their programs, and I was amazed at the array of support services offered to students and staff by generous individuals from the community. Descriptions of some of the jobs for volunteers follow:

• TUTORS: Work one-to-one or in small groups from first grade through high school. Orientation provided by office; training provided on-the-job with the teacher. Special workshops augment training. Work during school hours or after school, 2 to 4 hours per week.

• CLASS ASSISTANTS: Serve as an extra pair of hands for the teacher. Help with small groups, bulletin boards, seat work, art projects or other class projects. 4 hrs a week.

• LIBRARY/MEDIA HELPERS: Assist in library activities such as carding, shelving, checking books and materials in and out and helping children find research and recreational materials on shelves and on the computers.

• STORY READERS: Read aloud in classrooms or libraries weekly or monthly. Books come from library or classroom collections and are selected by the teacher and reader. Material may be curriculum related or just for fun.

• MENTORS: Adult mentors interact one hour weekly at school, during school hours with one elementary aged child identified as needing special attention. Activities are agreed on by mentor and mentee. Mentor is asked for a one-year time commitment to be renewed annually as the mentor and mentee establish a friendship. A long-term relationship is the goal. Training and support provided by the volunteer office. Personal references required.

• RESOURCE SPEAKERS: Speakers from all walks of life visit classrooms to speak on subjects teachers request. Arrangements and follow-up for each visit are made by the volunteer office. Speakers share special expertise on careers, travel, hobbies, health, human relations, cultural differences and the like.

• FIELD TRIPS: Local trips to points of interest, such as museums, nature centers, historical sites, etc., for which there is no charge to the volunteer.

• SCIENCE: Help classes or individual children do research and create projects for an annual city-wide science fair. Do lecture demonstrations in chemistry, biology, physics, ecology, etc.

Alison believes their volunteer organization, which was started back in 1969, has endured for two reasons. "First, it was founded with the solid agreement and support of the important education stakeholders, namely the administrators, board members, parents, teachers, community leaders and funders. Second, the organization is based on the principle of "one-stop shopping," whereby one telephone call connects anyone in the school community to a prospective volunteer."

If you would like to find out more about how New Haven Schools developed, organized and now implements a comprehensive program for school volunteers, Alison Chapman is willing to talk with you about their programs. You can contact her at the email address or telephone numbers listed below:

Alison Chapman, Director
School Volunteers for New Haven, Inc.
Email: alison.chapman@new-haven.k12.ct.us
Telephone: 203-946-6950 or 203-946-8446
FAX: 203-946-2222

Please send questions or comments to bbruno@snet.net.