Initial success likely means VVSD, park district will continue Alternative to Suspension partnership

     With a successful three month “trial period” under their belts, the Bolingbrook Park District and Valley View School District 365U are preparing to continue a community service partnership for Bolingbrook High School students who face suspension for relatively minor infractions.
     From mid February through early May, roughly 20 BHS students chose to perform about 160 hours of community service work for the Park District rather than being suspended from school for anywhere from one to five days, according to Superintendent of Recreation Brian Meyer.
     “The entire purpose of this program is not only to keep these at-risk kids in school but also to help them connect with adults they would normally never meet,” said Yolanda Jordan, BHS dean and coordinator of the school’s Alternative to Suspension program.
     “For the most part, these kids realize they were in the wrong place at the wrong time,” Meyer said. “They were involved in situations they would have been better off walking away from.”
     Each student’s community service begins with a conversation with Meyer or another Park District staff member.
     “We used it as a mentoring program, telling them what the Park District is and how the Park District operates just like any other business,” Meyer said. “Most of these kids had goals and a vision of what they wanted to do with their future. We basically talked to them about making the right choices to get there.”
     Following the initial conversations, each student spent somewhere between 3 and 12 hours over a two-week period doing what Meyer terms ”custodial duties” under the supervision of a Park District staff member. In some cases they also assisted with park programs including the Extended Care (before and after school) Program.
     “One young man did a great job speaking to the kids in the Extended Care Program about why he was there and why it’s important to make good decisions,” Meyer recalls.
     Another helped stuff 1,000 Easter eggs for the annual egg hunt.
     When students leave the program, they receive a big “thank you” for their help along with a “hope to see you again as a patron or as an employee” and not as a participant in the Alternative To Suspension program.
     “Everybody was really respectful and completed their service,” Meyer said. “We had a good system and our staff was very involved.”
     What’s ahead for the 2010-11 school year?
     Meyers would like to get future participants more involved in programming at the Park District because, as he put it, “it was more custodial than I wanted it to be.”
     “It would be great to tie them into activities we have going on. Maybe something like the daddy-daughter date night or some other special events,” he added.
     To do that, several hurdles will need to be overcome including allowing students in the program to put in weekend hours. Right now, they are restricted to weekday community service.
     In the meantime, it’s full speed ahead for year two of what has turned out to be a mutually beneficial partnership for both the Park District and the School District.