BY SUE KIESEWETTER
The Cincinnati Enquirer
MIDDLETOWN -- A $300,000 Urban Initiative Grant will allow the Middletown - Monroe Schools to open three family-service centers this fall. Each center will have a full-time manager and a part-time parent advocate. Families could get assistance with issues related to health care, nutrition, social services, court involvement and employment counseling.
Adults could go there for enrichment classes, GED preparation, pre-employment training and parent education.
Child care would be available while parents volunteered, took classes or were involved in other activities at the center. Programs such as homework assistance, recreation, student tutoring and arts and crafts projects for children would be developed by each center's advisory committee of parents, staff and community members. "The whole idea behind this is the networking of the agencies here and in the county," said Superintendent Wayne Driscoll. "We want to make the schools the focal point of the community like it was in the past."
The centers will be housed at Oneida Elementary, serving families at Oneida, Amanda and Monroe elementary schools; Taft Elementary, serving families at Taft and McKinley elementary schools; and at Verity Middle School, serving all other families.
The plan for the centers was developed by the district's 25-member Full Service School Improvement Team, which recommended the centers work with established community organizations like the YMCA to provide services.
"The collaboration is the key to this," said committee member Sally Williamson. "We've never had that before."
Some community education programs will move from the high schools to the centers, said Rose Marie Stiehl, who directs the community education and adult basic literacy programs. A parent survey will be created to find out what other programs or services interest parents at each center, she said.
"I hope you build it so strong it goes on for years and years," said Tom Brickey, board president.
The grant, from the Ohio Department of Education, is for one year and is renewable. The district will also look for other funding to establish centers at other buildings and provide additional services.
