Corbin Primary recruiting volunteers for ‘DOGs’ program

Corbin Primary School is recruiting volunteer watch DOGs for the school.

The school’s Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) has initiated the Dads On Guard (DOGs) program to bring father and father figures into the school and interact with the students.

“We want them to volunteer to come into the building and have a presence,” said Assistant Principal Tonya Proffitt, noting the faculty and staff at the K-2 school is primarily female.

Proffitt said many of the more than 600 students lack a strong, positive male role model.

“These dads can be that for them,” Proffitt said.

The dads and other family members will undergo a background check through the school’s Family Resource Center, just as any volunteer at the school that will come into contact with the students.

“The DOG volunteers need to be listed on a student’s emergency card,” Proffitt said, adding that there have been between 15 and 20 men who have already volunteered.

The volunteers will walk the halls of the school, be in the lunchroom and out on the playground during recess.

Proffitt said the goal is to have three or four of the volunteers on duty at a time so as not to overwhelm or distract to the students.

“I don’t want the purpose to sound like security,” Proffitt said. “It is not that the students don’t feel safe but when there is a positive male figure present, they feel different.”

Proffitt emphasized that the volunteers would not be carrying firearms while at the school.

In addition to being present Proffitt said there may be opportunities for the volunteers to share their stories or experiences with the students, noting the second grade students do a career studies program.

“They may also be guest readers in the kindergarten and first grade classes,” Proffitt said.

Proffitt said the idea for the program came from PTO Vice-President Kevin Spencer.

“We don’t want this to be anything super formal,” Proffitt said, adding that the goal is to have first volunteers at the school by mid-September.