Volunteer in Metro Public Schools
When you volunteer your time in Metro Nashville Public Schools, you have a chance to directly impact the lives of the young people you meet. One of the priority areas of Nashville’s Service Plan, Impact Nashville, is asking volunteers to help improve third-grade reading scores in our city’s highest-need schools. Volunteers are needed to tutor/mentor select kindergarten through third-grade students during the school day by reading with them using the PENCIL Foundation’s Reading Partners curriculum. Find 2011-2012 Impact Nashville or general Metro Nashville School Projects at schoolvolunteers.org.
For additional information, please contact Chief Service Officer Laurel Creech at (615) 862-6030.
Metro Employees
New to the 2011-2012 school year is the opportunity for Metro employees to volunteer in all Metro Nashville Public Schools. Please see below to learn how to get involved.
About the Metro employees volunteer program
On February 3, 2010, Mayor Karl Dean signed an Executive Order formalizing a new program that will allow Metro employees to volunteer in Nashville Public Schools during the work week.
The Executive Order specifies that Metro employees can receive up to 2 hours of paid administrative leave every week for their participation in the program - 1 hour to volunteer and additional time up to an hour for travel to and from the school. The program is intended to generate more hands-on community support in schools by making it easier for thousands of Metro employees to volunteer their time.
Here are some Metro employees’ experiences from their school volunteerism:
"Volunteering at Warner School is the highlight of my week! I enjoy every minute of it. It is such a joy to see children so excited about learning. I can’t wait for the school year to start!" – Jennifer Ward, Register of Deeds
The whole experience was great! I enjoy working with children. The class I worked in was a 4th grade class at Dan Mills Elementary School. I would assist a few students at a time. Everyone was great to work with from the office staff, principal, librarian, etc. Since these are Metro schools we should take an interest and help these schools. All it cost was a little time and it made a big difference. The school as well as myself are thankful for the Mayor's initiative to step up and help with the schools! This is what this state is all about - Volunteering! Let's continue to step up and step out for schools! – Sherry West, Metro Planning Department
Mayor Dean’s Metropolitan Government Employee Volunteer in Schools Program is an opportunity for Metro employees to volunteer in our public schools. Impact Nashville and the Mayor’s Office of Children & Youth are partnering with the PENCIL Foundation and Big Brothers Big Sisters to manage volunteers.
Below are three opportunities for Metro employees to volunteer in Metro Public Schools
Opportunity 1: General volunteerism in any Metro Nashville Public School.
Give your time and passion in various projects identified by principals and teachers throughout the school district. Find projects and register at SchoolVolunteers.org.
When completing the sign-up form, select “Metropolitan Government” as Employer. You will then receive a free background check, and a volunteer coordinator will contact you to schedule training and volunteer time(s) and location(s). Remember to log your volunteer hours after each volunteer session at SchoolVolunteers.org. When logging the actual time you spend volunteering, select Metropolitan Government as Employer, but also select the specific department from the drop-down list of Groups.
Opportunity 2: Impact Nashville Reading Partners program.
This program targets kindergarten through second-grade students in some of the highest-need public schools.
Find the Impact Nashville projects at SchoolVolunteers.org and click “Initiative” under “School Opportunities”. The Impact Nashville program is in the following schools:
Opportunity 3: Sign up to be a mentor through the Big Brothers Big Sisters school-based mentoring program.
School-based volunteers meet 1 hour a week with a child at his or her school. Whether they play games, shoot baskets, work on school assignments, eat lunch together or just sit and talk, both the volunteer and the child enjoy and benefit from their time together. Depending on the school selected by the volunteer, they will meet for one hour a week sometime during the mid-day hours (over a lunch hour, for example) or before or after work. The BBBS program is in the following schools:
To sign up to volunteer for one of these projects, contact Chris.Suitter@mentorakid.org or visit www.mentorakid.org.
Engage in Metro Schools by joining One Nashville
To learn about other ways to get involved in Metro Public Schools, check out One Nashville.
For additional questions, please contact Laurel Creech at (615) 862-6030.