AURORA —Lucas Stephens doesn’t always get to spend as much time with his wife and two children as he’d like. So when he found out about a new volunteer program at his kids’ school that encourages fathers to spend a whole day helping the teachers, he jumped on board.
“It’s totally awesome. I came in this morning and got to read to my son and his class while his teacher helped another student with a test,” Stephens, 33, said. “And he was really excited that I was there — more so than usual.”
Vista Peak P-8 Exploratory in east Aurora this fall implemented a national program to encourage men to volunteer in schools, Watch DOGS. (Dads of Great Students).
Vista Peak is the first school in the Aurora Public School system to launch the program on campus, and in many ways it was the most ideal.
At the school of nearly 1,200 students there are only about 100 teachers, and more than 90 percent of them are women. Last year, the school had a total of 704 volunteer hours and only 38 of those hours were from men.
“They’re really another staff member for us, and we count on them every day,” said Tyler Hettich, a liaison at Vista Peak P-8 responsible for coordinating the Watch DOGS program. “We have a Watch DOG scheduled for almost every single day this school year, and sometimes there are two each day.”
The fathers, grandfathers, uncles and brothers are asked to sign up for at least one full day of volunteering each year. They arrive around 7:45 a.m., put on the special T-shirt, get walkie-talkies and then help the kids get to their first classes from the bus or car drop-off area.
They stay through classes, seven rounds of lunch and recess and then wrap the day up around 3:30 p.m. when the kids go home.
Last week, Stephens and another volunteer, Doug McCuen, 48, were both on their first day of volunteer patrol.
“When we came in to learn about the program, we heard statistics on drug abuse, alcohol abuse, teenage pregnancy (and how those risks are lessened) through a constant male presence and an influence that helps their moral compass and core values,” McCuen said. “That’s the entire reason I did this. It’s out of a duty to the school and community.”
It’s only been five months since Vista Peak began the program, and already about 100 fathers and father-figure volunteers have signed up. At the halfway mark through the school year, the program has helped clock nearly 3,000 volunteer hours — more than four times the number last year.
That kind of volume is particularly helpful for the school, which is among the most overcrowded in the Aurora Public School system.
“I’ve never seen a volunteer base (program) where we’ve gotten so many people to come in and help,” said Larry Thigpen, vice principal of Vista Peak P-8. “The teachers absolutely appreciate the extra support in the classroom (because) everybody is stretched for time. I don’t see how we could continue to do all of this without the help from these extra people.”
Vista Peak K-8 opened at 24551 E. First Ave. five years ago and has been at or over capacity the entire time. Today, the school is at 113 percent capacity. , 250 Vista Peak students will transfer there, but Vista Peak still will be completely full, Thigpen said.
That’s why recruiting volunteers is so important, said Hettich, who (along with one other liaison) was hired this year specifically to increase volunteerism to help plug the supervision and attention gaps that the school experiences because of overcrowding.
“This program is particularly significant to me because in addition to (getting volunteers), I feel like I’m helping dads better know their kids,” Hettich said. “I really don’t know if there’s a more important thing we can do than to get parents more involved in their kids’ education.”
Megan Mitchell: 303-954-2650, mmitchell@denverpost.com or twitter.com/Mmitchelldp
