Beginning next Monday Greene County elementary students will have an added reason to shake off the weekend and start a new week.
The first Jump Start Monday, a school-wide 20 minute gathering at the start of the day, is slated for Jan. 16.
School principal Scott Johnson told the board of education at its Dec. 21 meeting that Jump Start Monday has two goals. First is to improve attendance with a fun, active start to the week. The second goal is to promote pride and a sense of community in the school. Birthdays, half-birthdays and recognitions will be recognized, and members of the community may be invited to participate. “We want kids to learn that school is more than just four walls where you sit down and learn,” Johnson said.
Johnson also hopes to implement a Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students) program. Watch D.O.G.S. is a school-based father involvement program of the National Center for Fathering. The program has two stated goals according to its website: to provide positive male role models for the students, demonstrating by their presence that education is important; and to provide extra sets of eyes and ears to enhance school security and reduce bullying,
Denny Hendricks, who has grandchildren in the elementary school, approached Johnson and offered to lead the program. A volunteer father, grandfather, uncle, or father figure would be in the school every day, identifiable in a special T-shirt and wearing a “Dog Tag.” He would participate in a variety of ways, actively engaging not only with their own students, but with other students as well.
Johnson said background checks would be don on all the volunteers and that there would be a briefing for the Watch D.O.G.S. volunteer each morning.
