Volunteer to Bridge the Divide

On one side of town, frustrated affluent, stay-at-home moms call the school district weekly and email their children’s teachers regularly to see if they can get off the bench and be upgraded from a reserve to a fully vetted volunteer among the ranks. In our city’s best neighborhoods that have accordingly the city’s best schools, moms who are not selected to be classroom volunteers or room moms within the first three to five days of school are wait-listed.

Across town other schools send out emails almost weekly seeking volunteers to help with literacy classes, run after-school homework clubs and assist in the library and technology labs. The moms with children at these schools are typically not available to volunteer due to work and familial obligations. On this side of town, many of these families are maintained by single parents or require two incomes to keep the family stable. Volunteering is not viable regardless of desire and want.

Due to the uneven availability of district volunteers, the schools that have a plethora of volunteers appear to have higher test scores, less attendance problems, less cases of disciplinary action and less drop outs. Inequalities are startling district wide, and it is time for volunteers to start thinking about assisting children who are not as fortunate as their own. And really question the reason why they volunteer at their kids’ schools? Do they want to micromanage their own children? Get praise from their kids’ teachers? Hang out with their friends who also volunteer? Make their friends who work feel bad for not volunteering? Granted most volunteers give their time for the right reasons and genuinely want to assist teachers and students, but these most active volunteers are typically found in good schools where children are already excelling. Parents who volunteer at their children's schools also tend to give their children great support at home.

So perhaps it is time for volunteers to start thinking about kids who do not have as much parental support as their children and to start giving a hand to children who really could use one.