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Schools

Public Schools in Athens, Ga., Still Hoping for Volunteers

Teachers are struggling to deal with more students and no parapros in first grade.

Although local elementary schools have been in session since early August, they’re still searching for community volunteers to replace teaching assistants, also known as paraprofessionals, whose jobs were cut in recent budget negotiations.

This past June, the Clarke County School District eliminated 48 paraprofessional jobs in first grade classrooms and media centers, leaving teachers and media specialists themselvessto fill the void.

J.J. Harris Elementary Charter and Fowler Drive Elementary schools are reaching out to parents, community members, and University of Georgia students for support. They especially need of people who speak both English and Spanish.

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 Currently, each school averages seven volunteers.

The need is acute at J.J. Harris, where more than two-thirds of the 545 students are Hispanic. Many children come from families with limited resources, where parents are either unemployed or working more than one low-wage job to make ends meet, according to Clara Londono, the school’s family engagement specialist. Volunteer help would give teachers additional time for lesson planning and one-on-one instruction.

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“The teachers who work in our school are teachers who really want to work with this population,” Londono said. “They know many of these kids have not been exposed to regular ideas, or art and drama, and things like that. But they want to work with these kids.”

Although school buses bring students to and from school every day, the public transit system does not serve the school. This makes Londono believe that the school's location is at least partly to blame for the volunteer shortage.

But she also believes that people have the misconception J.J. Harris doesn’t need community help because it is affiliated with UGA.

“People tend to think that because we are a professional development school, we have this partnership with UGA, the College of Education, that we are taken care of,” she said. “And we’re not.”

When it opened in 2009, J.J. Harris was the district’s first professional development school officially partnered with the College of Education at the University of Georgia. This relationship has helped provide individual instruction for students and professional opportunities for UGA faculty and students.  

“The typical UGA student comes from a different background, and so for them to get associated with our kids, it opens up a window of opportunity for our kids,” she said. In turn, UGA students gain first-hand experience with young children who have been though so much in such a short amount of time.

UGA junior Morgan Freedman, an early childhood education major, said that serving as a mentor at J.J. Harris as benefitted her as much as the students.

"I think this is really important because the kids need a safe place to go, and they need somewhere they can go where it’s quiet to study and do their homework,” she said. “And it’s a great opportunity for me to come in and help them, and get practice for me to be a teacher.”

Volunteers also tutor students, help with homework and provide support in reading, science and other subjects.

Freedman, who is bilingual in Spanish, also acts as an interpreter during parent-teacher conferences. This helps because many of the teachers do not speak Spanish, and many parents don’t speak English.

Fowler Drive Elementary School, which operates under many of the same conditions as J.J. Harris, is also recruiting community and student volunteers. Among other things, volunteers provide childcare during PTO meetings for parents who cannot find or afford babysitters. The school, which is 48 percent Hispanic, is especially eager to find people who speak Spanish and English.

Family Engagement Specialist Alex Pena hopes that Athens will step up, realizing that time spent with these students now will have a big impact in the years to come, because education is the first step towards a better life.

“Anytime you volunteer to help somebody else, you just get a personal reward from it,” Pena said. “By giving, you’re receiving so much. Helping in the education of children, I think, it’s a wonderful cause… the kids here will be greatly benefitted.”

For more information about volunteering at a local school, visit the Clarke County School District website at www.clarke.k12.ga.us/ and click on “Volunteer: Make a Difference" to find the contact information for school representatives. A background check is required for potential volunteers.

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