ANSONIA — A new program in Ansonia schools seeks to get dads in the loop and into the classrooms.
The program, Watch D.O.G.S. (short for “Dads of Great Students”), is coming to Prendergast, Mead, and Ansonia Middle School in the coming months. An information session was held on Jan. 17, which around thirty men showed up for.
“Typically, when there are events at schools — back-to-school nights, parent conferences, other types of social gatherings at school, it’s largely dominated by female guardians and parents,” said Steve Marchetti, assistant principal at Ansonia Middle School. “There wasn’t really a strong male presence. So this is something that we thought we would try to bring to the district to improve that and increase the number of male role models for our kids.”
Watch D.O.G.S. is a private educational initiative that started in 1998. Currently, about 5,585 schools participate in the initiative, in 46 states. According to their website, the program “speaks directly to those care-givers and guardians that are statistically less likely to come onto campus to volunteer.”
At the information session, school administrators and dads brainstormed together to figure out what this volunteering could look like. Ideas included volunteers reading to classes, serving as chaperones on field trips, and supporting the schools’ sports teams during games.
Immediately after the information session, over twenty men signed up for a required background check, according to Director of School Improvement Bridget Calabrese. She said the team coordinating the program was surprised by the enthusiasm.
“It was funny, because a lot of the dads were friends,” Calabrese said. “One of the dads said ‘oh, yeah, I called my friends, and we all went.’”
Liz Nimons, Prendergast’s principal, added: “And hopefully, once they start, they’ll tell other dads that they know about it, and then that’s how we’ll hopefully get it to grow even bigger.”
Sara Crooks, director of social and emotional learning, pointed to studies that show dads’ involvement at school leads to healthier children and safer hallways. The National Center for Educational Statistics reports that this involvement is correlated with kids having higher grades, better mood, and better behavior.
It’s also a way for parents to understand new challenges facing kids and educators, said Marchetti.
“Education now, and kids now, are much different than when we were all in school, so kids have to deal with a lot of different challenges,” he said.
The program coordinators are currently in the process of scheduling a kickoff event, which they hope to hold in the next month. They want to see the program up-and-running this semester.
Funding for the program is drawn from federal Title I funding, which includes funds reserved for increasing family engagement.
If you are a dad or male guardian of a child at Prendergast, Mead, or AMS, you can get involved in the program by emailing one of the program leads:
Liz Nimons (Prendergast): [email protected]
Robert Durand (Mead): [email protected]
Steve Marchetti (AMS): [email protected]
