The Spirit of Volunteering

Over the years, Tiger Pride parents have led the way at Darlington School with their leadership involvement, creativity, ability to raise money, and contribution of time to benefit the programs and activities that support the children and classroom teachers. We are grateful that our parents are willing to support any and all endeavors that enhance their child’s experience at Darlington, and now I humbly ask for your assistance with one more.

This year, as part of developing the “one school” concept, the Lower School has undertaken a late start time each Wednesday to give our teachers the same opportunity to meet and plan together. The Middle and Upper Schools have been having late starts for many years.

During the month of September, the Lower School teachers have participated in the all-school faculty meeting and cross-grade meetings with the teachers below and above grade levels. Enrichment teachers have also met as a team with the classroom teachers to integrate the curriculum with fine arts, athletics, foreign language, literacy and technology. Our last meeting for the month is a planned staff development meeting on library skills for the 21st Century.

The weekly one-hour time frame is having a huge positive impact on our school. The stronger the curriculum, the better programs we can offer. These programs translate into high-achieving students who will be well prepared for moving into the Middle and Upper Schools and able to accept the challenges that will be available to them at the secondary level.

The morning time works best for these meetings because many of our teachers coach after school (five out of 23). One of every two Middle and Upper School teachers coach after school as well. In addition, our teachers in grades 1-4 offer after-school resource (ASR), providing extra help to small groups of students. Renee Hutchins also offers before- and after-school enrichment activities in the Learning Center. 

Our late start program runs for 33 weeks. We need approximately nine parents weekly from our 123 families. If every family volunteered twice, we would have our coverage problem solved. I hope that our families will partner with us, thereby continuing the strong tradition of volunteerism at the Lower School while also helping our faculty provide the best programs for our children. We need your support now more than ever. I look forward to your participation. Thank you.