Same need, less help at fringe schools

Durham's country classrooms have fewer volunteers

BY MICHAEL PETROCELLI mpetrocelli@heraldsun.com; 419-6617

Glenn Elementary School's location says country, but its students are city all the way.

English is a second language for a quarter of the children who attend. Three-quarters qualify for federal lunch subsidies because of low family income, and many of them are bused in from run-down city housing communities.

But because of the school's location, outside the city limits on the way to Falls Lake, school leaders say they have a hard time recruiting parents and others to volunteer.

"We're not a neighborhood school," said Principal Reginald Davis.

A recent survey by the Durham Public Education Network, a nonprofit group that supports the public schools, found that schools on the county's fringes, no matter how needy, are less able to bring in the adults who can support teachers in the classroom and help students who are falling behind.

Donna Rewalt, who put together the network's survey, said economics and student-type are not necessarily the factors that distinguish schools with many volunteers from schools with few.

Some schools, the study found, have an abundance of volunteers, usually because of location or because a staff member with time on his or her hands has forged strong ties with businesses and community organizations.

Eastway Elementary School, at 610 Alston Ave., which serves some neighborhoods bordering the Glenn attendance zone, brings in students from N.C. Central University because of its inner-city location, Rewalt said. And Fayetteville Street Elementary School, at 2905 Fayetteville St., has a daily supply of tutors from nearby companies, including IBM and GlaxoSmithKline, because of the staff's persistent, long-term recruitment effort. Meanwhile the schools surrounding Duke University receive ample attention through the Duke-Durham Neighborhood Partnership.

Volunteers can contribute to a school in two ways, by providing grunt labor for things like stuffing envelopes or by tutoring. Perhaps more important, Rewalt said, is the morale boost that volunteers can bring to overworked teachers.

"Often what community support brings to a school is a certain amount of energy and moral support," she said.

Davis, who is in his first year at Glenn, said he has stepped up volunteer recruitment and is trying to forge connections with community groups.

Part of the problem for Glenn and four other schools - Bethesda Elementary School, Forest View Elementary School, Chewning Middle School and Neal Middle School - is that the city buses stop too far away to be a convenient mode of transportation for would-be volunteers without cars.

No Durham Area Transit Authority bus comes within a mile of the school. It can put school administrators in a tough spot when they ask parents to be more involved in their children's education.

"I tell parents that if they have to take the bus, I'll pick them up at the nearest stop," Davis said.

Another problem is that volunteer programs vary widely from school to school, Rewalt said. Some schools have full-time volunteer coordinators, while others are less organized and less efficient at matching up willing adults with the areas in which they can be most helpful, she said.

Some standardization, or even centralization, of volunteer programs may be needed to ensure that volunteers don't go home frustrated, she said.

"Volunteers have to feel not only good about coming," Rewalt said. "They have to feel like they accomplished something."

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