The Waco ISD Board of Trustees will decide whether to approve a program that would allow people 55 or older to volunteer at Indian Spring Middle school.
The Foster Grandparent Program, which is administered by the Health and Human Services Commission, allows those volunteers to assist children for 15 to 40 hours per week.
Indian Spring Middle School Service Learning Manager Travis Cheatham said if approved, they would be able to tutor during school hours. In addition, they would also be able to help with afterschool programs.
Furthermore, the volunteers will be able to guide students in developing service projects, as part of the service-learning program. During it, students use their knowledge and figure out ways to use it to benefit someone else with it.
“One of the great things about that is that those grandparents can take their own skills and background and use that to inspire kids. Find out things that they’re interested in and use their own experience,” Cheatham said.
The Board of Trustees will decide on whether to start the pilot program at its Thursday night meeting.
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