Research tells us that when schools work together with families to support learning, children tend to succeed not just in school, but throughout life.

Citizens in Douglas County donate many hours to improve the educational experience for students. The Douglas County School District office of School/Community Partnerships facilitates several programs to integrate schools with community members. These programs include:

Volunteers in Partnership

Douglas County School District is fortunate to have a strong volunteer base—approximately 13,000. Most elementary schools have parent organizations that coordinate fund raising efforts that reap thousands of additional dollars for schools each year. These organizations at each school also assist with various social events and occasionally bring in speakers for parents.

To more directly assist teachers and staff, each school in the district has a volunteer coordinator employed on a part-time basis. The Mission of the volunteer coordinators is to enrich student potential by linking our community with staff and students. These coordinators serve as liaisons between staff and parents, placing volunteers in classrooms, libraries, offices, and computer labs. They also coordinate volunteers for special programs, such as Vision/Hearing Screening, New Family Outreach, and Junior Achievement. Douglas County is the only District in the state of Colorado to employ part time volunteers coordinators, district-wide. From all volunteers efforts, during the 2002-2003 school year, 360,000 volunteer hours were logged, valued at $3,500,000!

Senior Employment Program

Established in 1989, this program provides an opportunity for property owners in Douglas County, 60 years of age or older, to work in the district and earn money to offset property taxes. The District budgets for up to 90 participants in a school year. During the 2003-2004 school year, seniors earn $6.50 an hour for up to 150 hours in a school year. Senior employees choose from a variety of opportunities, from working in the classroom and lunchroom, to helping out in administrative offices.

Student Advisory Group

Juniors and seniors from the district's high schools work to advise the Board of Education about issues relevant to their peer group. Students work as a liaison between the student body, administrators and the Board and provide a valuable voice on topics ranging from graduation requirements to course selections. Participants meet monthly with district staff. At the end of each school year, representatives from the Student Advisory Group make recommendations to the Board of Education.

The Parent University™

Each spring and fall, The Parent University™ offers classes and workshops for families, focusing on successful parenting strategies and student academic success. The mission of The Parent University™ is to provide parents with techniques, tools and strategies to help children reach their individual potential. Traditionally, 18-24 different classes are provided, with topics that offer something for all families, whether they have a new baby or teens preparing for college.The course guide is mailed to all families in the district and posted online. The program began in 1997. Since that time, over 7,900 families have attended a class.   

Spellbinders
 
Spellbinders is a national, nonprofit organization that fosters the establishment of Spellbinder chapters to provide volunteer storytelling programs in communities throughout the nation. The mission of Spellbinders is to create connections between generations through the art of storytelling in order to pass on wisdom, values, humor and sense of community embodied in stories of cultures and all times. Spellbinders tell stories to students in elementary classrooms, they do not read books. Spellbinders must complete a free, eight-hour training session. This session will equip them with the tools and techniques to be an effective storyteller, along with guidelines when working in our schools. Storytellers do not need to live in Douglas County, but need to be 55 years or older.