Parents go on patrol at Gateway Middle School

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  • Monday, March 3, 2008 11:31am

“Organized chaos” may be the best way to describe sixth-grade lunch at Gateway Middle School. On Monday, the 350 students chatting, laughing and digging into backpacks at tables created a buzz that could have easily bubbled over into anarchy.

But it didn’t. Five parent volunteers helped keep the peace, wandering the lunchroom with hands behind backs and casually watchful eyes.

They volunteer, with about 20 others, in the school’s Walk About program. In groups of two or three, parents roam the school before it opens, during lunch and after school, but there’s not enough volunteers to cover all shifts. School officials are seeking more to help keep an eye on the school’s 1,000 students.

“It’s not confrontational,” said Linda Carbajal, a parent volunteer watching over lunch Monday. “I think people think you’re gonna break up fights, but you just give them ‘the mom look.’”

Adrian Petracca, who volunteers with the program and has a seventh grader at the school, said parent presence is like police cars on the road: You see one and you slow down.

As added incentive, these “cops” might be having coffee with your mom later in the week.

“A lot of these kids know you know their mom,” said Gloria Hee, another parent volunteer.

Jerry Washington, the school’s campus security officer, has seen students start to get mischievous, see a parent and stop.

“They have their friends by them and will say ‘Hey guys, let’s go do this,’ then see a parent,” he said. “The positive presence is really helping.”

Most interactions with parent volunteers are positive, partly because the students are well-behaved, said principal Cathy Woods.

Volunteer Monika Skibeness agreed, saying the job mostly involves chit-chatting with students.

“The kids will tell you who is going out with who,” she added.

One might guess that some adolescents are less than thrilled to run into their parents at school, but Skibeness gives her seventh-grade son space.

“I’m not allowed to socialize unless he approaches me,” she said.

Petracca also enjoys talking with students on the job.

“It’s fun to see everything they don’t tell you about when they’re at home,” Petracca said. “It’s an opportunity to stay active in my child’s life. They’re in seventh grade and come high school, we won’t be able to do that.”

But while students are generally well-behaved, there are activities the parents can help prevent. Those include rough housing, wandering off and bullying. Parents also watch out for kids who have been hurt accidentally.

The program started three years ago, when the school was growing quickly and there was no security officer, Woods said.

The school is still growing, said Carbajal.

“(The sixth grade class) is the biggest class in Gateway history,” she said.

School officials are seeking more Walk About volunteers.

“Our goal is to have people here before school, during lunch and after school,” Washington said.

They’d also like to be able to call more parents in for specific events like staff meetings. Volunteer hours are flexible, Washington added.

“We have dads who work at Boeing and come after their shift,” he said. “It allows them to come in, pick up their son or daughter and have bonding time.”

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