Pickerington Schools seeks to expand PoPP volunteer monitoring program to junior highs

A year after recruiting parents to help provide extra sets of eyes in high school hallways, Pickerington Schools leaders hope to expand the program to its junior high schools.

During the 2021-22 school year, the district established the Parents on Positivity Patrol at Pickerington High School Central and Pickerington High School North.

Through the program, adult volunteers were asked to monitor hallways, restrooms and cafeterias at the two high schools. PoPP volunteers don't discipline students, but district officials believe their presence often helps to diffuse potential problems and could provide positive engagement among adults and students.

Although the PoPP program resulted in only three regular parent volunteers at Pickerington High School North and two at Pickerington High School Central last school year, school staff and administrators say they think it had a positive effect on students by helping to build positive relations with students and redirecting them if they engaged in poor decisions.

So the district plans to continue PoPP at the high school level for the 2022-23 school year, as well as expand it to Lakeview and Ridgeview junior high schools.

How PoPP was started

Alesia Gillison, a Pickerington Schools assistant superintendent and its chief academic officer, said the concept for PoPP originally was born from a community meeting with parents to discuss crowding at school buildings and ways in which to address behavioral issues among high school students.

"Parents on Positivity Patrol is an opportunity to enhance our school family partnerships," Gillison said. "Parents have always wanted to be more engaged with their child's schools, which was evident in the parent/community meeting held last fall.

"After the 2020-2021 school year, parents, schools and community members wanted to be more involved in increasing the success of all students. After we piloted the program at the high schools this past school year, the feedback from our current PoPPs was overwhelmingly positive, and word began to spread throughout the community."

Gillison said the district hopes to recruit upwards of 20 parents to volunteer at each of the four participating buildings this school year.

Information about volunteering is available on the district's website at pickerington.k12.oh.us/popp/.

What to expect as a PoPP volunteer

Requirements for being a PoPP parent include passing a background check, receiving at least two doses of the COVID-19 vaccine and completing orientation on safety protocols, drills, verbal de-escalation techniques and developing a better understanding of the cultural nuances and diversity in the district.

Walkie-talkies and safety-plan information are given to each volunteer and kept with them while on duty.

PoPP volunteers are scheduled in their respective buildings according to availability.

"The program works best if PoPPs can commit to at least two hours one to two days a week," she said. "Their primary mission is to be a positive presence in the building, sharing a friendly smile or a welcoming hello. The PoPPs work in pairs and can monitor halls, restrooms and cafeteria areas."

The district's website states PoPP volunteers "build positive relationships with students and help redirect them if they are making poor decisions that go against building policies and procedures."

In addition to ensuring students are using school restrooms for "proper reasons," the website states PoPPs "keep all communication with students and staff confidential unless it is a situation that needs counseling, administration or social worker attention such as cases of abuse, suicide, harming self or others (and) inappropriate behavior."

"We check the bathrooms, make sure everything is appropriate," said Luann Bepler-Todd, who volunteered at Central last year. "We make sure kids aren't hiding out in the corners.

"We carry walkie-talkies, and we're just kind of an extra set of eyes."

What current PoPP volunteers have to say

Bepler-Todd, like all PoPP volunteers, donned a special vest while volunteering, which, she said, helped students and staff identify her and her role in the building.

She said she believes the volunteers' presence was particularly helpful in de-escalating potential physical confrontations between students in crowded hallways between classes and in cafeterias during lunch.

"They need a lot more people, especially during the lunch hours," Bepler-Todd said. "The lunch hours are pretty much all throughout the day. That's where there's chaos just because of the overcrowding."

Bepler-Todd became involved last year, in part because her daughter, Brenna Todd, was a senior at Central and she wanted to do what she could to help the year go smoothly and help enhance the environment at Central. Her family also owns Dairy Queen franchises in Pickerington and Groveport, and every year she employs students from the local schools.

"It's a good situation if you know the kids," she said. "If they see you at school and they know you, they behave better."

Those sentiments were echoed by Cornelius McGrady III, who volunteered last year at North and plans to serve as a PoPP volunteer at Central this year.

A retired member of the U.S. Army, who spent the past 19 years in service as a military police officer before founding the Reynoldsburg Youth Human Trafficking Coalition, McGrady was looking for ways to positively engage with young people in Pickerington, where he lives.

He learned about PoPP and, after volunteering last year, hopes he can incorporate more of his nonprofit group's services into the district's student and family resources.

"Child-safety initiatives are my forefront," McGrady said. "That's my passion, my mission."

While McGrady doesn't discipline students, he looks for opportunities during lunch or while students are making their ways to classes to be a positive influence, as well as to check on their well-being and make sure they don't need additional assistance from school counselors and others.

"I would interact with students during lunch, just mentoring them, asking them what they know about safe dating, human trafficking, bullying.

"I think some kids were being bullied and didn't realize it. They thought it was just a normal process."

When McGrady saw bad behaviors at North, he often would point them out to students. He said building relationships with students often resulted in them behaving better when he observed them at school and in public.

The positive progress, he said, often left both the student and himself feeling better.

"I think (PoPP) is a good thing, and other parents should participate in it," McGrady said. "It helps when there are connections.

"It's not like I'm trying to be a tattletale. It's like, 'I know you. Tell me what just took place and was it wrong or right? If it was right, how can we enhance it? If it was wrong, how can we fix it?' We're not talking a 20-minute conversation. Sometimes it was like two minutes."

Gillison said those interested in volunteering for the 2022-23 school year can get the process started by applying through the district's website.

"When we engage our schools, parents and community, we create an ecosystem of safety, support and encouragement for our students," she said. "Family and community involvement are central to strong schools and strong communities. This is our opportunity to mobilize our parents and community to contribute to the success of our children."

nellis@thisweeknews.com

@ThisWeekNate

This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Pickerington Schools may expand volunteer monitoring to junior highs