Dads Do Their School Work Male School Volunteers Help Boost Academic Performance, Ward Off Misbehavior

The job is not always glamorous.

Keith Ermitano spends his mornings slaving over a hot laminator. Dave Terry wrestles with an uncooperative copy machine, willing it to staple and collate 32 homework packets.

Both spend a fair amount of time herding kids onto buses, grading papers, timing tests.

They take their work seriously.

“Collated, one-sided…” Terry mumbles, a study in photocopying concentration. “So, on your mark, get set, go.”

He punches a button, relieved to see the machine kick into action.

As men volunteering in elementary schools, Ermitano and Terry are instant minorities. It’s unusual to pass another dad in the hall, rarer still to see other fathers enter the classroom.

At Mullan Road Elementary, where Ermitano spends two or three hours a week volunteering, there is a 9-to-1 mom-to-dad volunteer ratio.

After more than four years in his daughters’ classes, he doesn’t even notice anymore.

“They call me one of the moms,” he said.

The dad shortage is rarely questioned. Men generally have full-time jobs. They have to be the breadwinners.

But things may be changing.

A Department of Education report released this month shows children perform better academically and are less likely to be a behavioral problem if their dads are involved at school.

The report also concluded that dad’s participation will likely lift a child’s performance regardless of income, race, ethnicity or parental education.

In the midst of a national movement of fathers vowing a deeper commitment to the family fueled by the popularity of male-oriented groups like Promise Keepers such news may carry new weight.

“It would be great to have more dads become involved,” said Mullan Road principal Paul Stone. “Parenting is a team effort - part of the job is for both to be a part of the student’s education.”

More than 3,500 people joined the volunteer ranks in Spokane Public Schools this year, up from 2,200 just one year ago.

Maybe one in 10 of these volunteers is a man, estimates Joann Armstrong, director of District 81’s volunteer services. And even that’s an improvement over years ago.

“You used to never see males in the schools,” she said. “We’ve seen an increase in recent years as dads are becoming more involved in all aspects of education, not just sports.”

Armstrong credits a culture that has become increasingly father-friendly. Commercials now show dads feeding their sick kids cough syrup and buckling babies into car seats. Television programs feature single-parent families with Dad as the primary caregiver.

For Ermitano, volunteering is a second chance. He worked as a truck driver in Hawaii while his two older children grew up in California.

Now, he stays home while his wife works full-time at Sacred Heart Medical Center.

His two youngest daughters, fourth-grader Rachel and fifth-grader Sara, get to see their dad every day. He walks them to school. He volunteers a couple hours a week, and is a paid lunchtime supervisor. He walks them home.

“Sometimes I think I crowd them,” he said.

But his daughters say they like having Dad around, having him know their friends.

“He helps keep kids in order,” says Sara.

“He tells my friends I’m a geek,” adds Rachel with obvious pride.

Dave Terry plays a key role in the education of his 9-year-old son Michael to counter his own experience with his father.

“All my dad wanted to know was if I got straight A’s,” he said. “And that was a horrible pressure. I want Michael to know it’s more important that if you learn, you’re enjoying learning.”

Without fail, Terry spends three hours a week at Jefferson Elementary. He began volunteering three years ago when his son was in first grade. It’s a commitment that means bending his own schedule as a physical therapist. He arrives at school in his uniform, a pager at his side to keep him in touch with the office.

Terry insisted on a weekly three-hour block of volunteer time when he was hired at Beverly Rehabilitation and Living Center. At first, his resolve was a foreign concept to his supervisors.

“They were a little surprised,” he said. “But my employers have grown to appreciate how important this is to me.”

Adams Elementary principal Pat Lynass says new workplace attitudes are allowing more men to participate in their children’s education.

“I think businesses are helping with that, allowing dads to take a few hours of flex time to be in the classroom,” she said.

Increasingly, corporations are recognizing the need for men to play a more active role in their children’s lives. Big Brothers and Sisters of Spokane County recently formed School-Based Mentoring, a program that matches businesses with area schools. Employees spend a minimum of an hour a week with a child at school, tutoring or acting as a lunch buddy.

Seven local businesses have signed on. Medical Service Corporation of Eastern Washington provides a half-hour pay to employees who choose to participate in the program. So far, 17 volunteers have signed up. Four of them are men.

While the program is aimed at all adults, Big Brothers and Sisters director Don Kaufman said he’s working to get men into the program.

“Men are harder to come by,” he said. “We’re really working on that.”

They’re also harder to come by for many students. For some, working with the volunteers is the only male interaction they get.

“Some kids don’t have dads around,” said Terry. “Volunteering is like saying there are men who value the students.”

Mullan Road principal Stone believes any involvement from males will give kids an educational boost.

“When men come in in any capacity - maybe just talking to the classes about their careers - all of that helps get the message to the child that the skills they learn in school are important,” said Stone.

And the men don’t necessarily have to be fathers themselves.

Howard Clark has volunteered for nine years and 19 different teachers. He has grandchildren in three District 81 schools, but as often as not, he pops up in classes without any of his offspring.

Clark keeps a fat manila envelope of “fan mail,” letters from kids at Audubon and Adams elementaries thanking him for helping with bug collections or a tough math assignment or building a class robot.

“I have 30 kids who call me Grandpa,” he said.

Clark does have the luxury of time, being a retired engineer. But he said he would do it regardless. He remembers how instrumental his own grandparents were in his life.

“One grandfather took me fishing, and the other whittled for me,” he said. “I was very close to them both.

“I would challenge other men to spend at least one hour a week at school,” he said. “They’ll find it very rewarding.”

Clark himself says he’ll keep doing it long after his own grandchildren move on to middle school and beyond.

“When I quit driving, I’ll walk,” he said. “I guess I’ll quit when I can’t walk anymore.”

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: 2 photos (1 color)