At center Debra Waiters, Parent Involvement Facilitator, Board Chair Leo Branch and Interim Superintendent Emma Louie meet with volunteer trainees at September 19 session.

L-R Leona Morrow, Debra Waiters, Joe L. Powell, and Loydleetta Wabbington at October 10 volunteer training session.

The Greene County School Volunteer Program, a partnership between the Greene County Children’s Policy Council (CPC) and the Greene County Board of Education, held two additional training sessions this week preparing parents and other community persons to give their assistance at local schools.

The initial volunteer training sessions were held September 19 and included a similar morning and evening workshop. The volunteers are scheduled to begin their school tasks Monday, October 24.

Mrs. Leona Morrow, representing the Children’s Policy Council, and Mrs. Debra Waiters,  representing the school board as Parent Involvement Facilitator, conducted the recent sessions held at the CPC facility in Eutaw. The team reported that to date 22 persons are on the roles as schools volunteers in training with technical steps to complete. These include taking a TB skin test and having a background check. 

The volunteers were presented the various classroom and library needs from the local schools, including classroom assistants to work with individual and small groups of students in areas of reading, math and language arts, copying classroom materials, shelving books, stamping new books and monitoring students in the library.

   Volunteers with skills in technology and art, especially in designing bulletin boards, are also in demand. Volunteers may also serve as motivational speakers and help secure similar experiences for students.

The trainers emphasized that the volunteers must comply with specific standards: wear the official volunteer badge while at the school; always sign in and out at the principal’s office, be prompt and dependable, follow instructions of the teacher, do not discipline students and do not assume sole responsibility for supervising students. Mrs. Morrow emphasized that only the employees of the Greene County Board of Education have this responsibility.

   The role of the volunteers are to reinforce skills taught by the teachers; help teachers give students more individual attention, provide added enrichment to the curriculum; assist teachers with instructional related duties; help students develop more positive attitudes about themselves, school and academic achievement and help prepare students to be more productive citizens and lifelong learners.

Morrow and Waiters stated that the overall goal of the School Volunteer Program is to involve parents, teachers and the community in cooperative ventures to expand and enhance learning experiences and meet the needs of individual students.

The program’s theme is Connecting Home, Community and Classroom in Pursuit of Excellence in Education.