Mar 29 2008
Court mandated student community service
Due to transgressions committed in school, courts sometimes mandate community service hours to be completed by students. These opportunities are not as easy to come by particularly in small rural communities. A local pastor might need help cleaning out a garage or need small yard work. A soup kitchen may need volunteers for a period of time. However, on a limited time basis ie. 25 hours with no further follow-up there are fewer takers for this kind of “mandatory volunteerism.” Furthermore there is the issue of trust, insurance liability and supervision. There are few takers at the end of the day for this kind of student help. Ideally, community service should be served in the community after school but this is easier said then done. This is where schools come in.
Principals and teachers get calls from students and families for help. Courts sometimes send letters to the school indicating how many community service hours need to be fulfilled before the next court appointment. If this hours are not met, students can have there probation violated and thus see jail time.
Ideally Students have been known to come in desperately to school requesting community service hours. This work may take the form of washing OT/PT mats, cleaning windows, doors, dusting, cleaning classroom sinks and boards, watering plants etc. This work is accomplished during study hall hours if the student is not behind in any academic subjects.
To those who argue that this is not the function of schools I pose this. Is this not the avenue through which by state and federal laws, counselling, social work, nursing, occupational therapy and physical therapy came to exist in schools? Was there not perceived needs not being addressed in the community, which then were imposed on education and schools? How is there a difference between counselling, social work, reaching out to students/families and community service mandates? Both are mandated!
Yes, this is how schools continue to evolve and reflect the communities around them.
One response so far
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Schools exist to promote student success. We need to provide opportunities for students to meet their needs, this includes assisting them with requirements that need to be met within the judicial system. I agree that there are not many opportunities for students to meet service hours outside of school. I do think this is an area that may warrant further discussion. Perhaps the school and the probation office need to meet to discuss a way to get the message out to the community and see if there are indeed opportunities available to meet service requirements. It would be nice to have a “go to” list to send students when they have this need.
In the meantime, I agree that the school should allow students to meet their requirements during free time at school. We all know that there are plenty of things that need to get done!