Foster Grandparent Program puts seniors to work

DECATUR -- Shirley Jones helps the kindergartners at Robertson Charter School put things away in their lockers and get situated at their desks at the beginning of each school day.

She's not a teacher or on the staff. She simply a grandmother who loves coming to the school and working with the children. She has been doing it for the past 10 years.

"Some of the children need extra help, so I spend 20 minutes in the morning with them," Jones said.

She also arrives at the school around 7:30 a.m. to help serve breakfast to the students, and later, lunch.

Another nine-year veteran grandmother, Shirley Dozier also enjoys working with the students.

"I like seeing them learn. Many of them don't have anyone to take the time with them. And not all kids learn at the same level," she said.

Jones and Dozier, among other seniors, are part of the Foster Grandparent Program with Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois.

The program allows low-income seniors to work in the schools, day care centers and Head Start. They provide support, guidance and friendship to the children, and it works out well for the teacher, who gets an assistant in the classroom.

"I see where the program allows the kids to get the extra help they need, and they've improved," Jones said. "It's a great program for those (seniors) who don't want to sit at home."

Young boys at Robertson Charter School seem to idolize "Grandpa" Gene Smith. He used to be in the grandparents program years ago and decided to come back to work in the school this semester.

He said he likes to read to the students, help them with math and play basketball with them during recess time.

"I get to be another pair of hands helping the teacher," he added. "But it's interesting seeing how the kids navigate through life; seeing the boys go through this alpha male stage and come to me for approval for everything."

There are 66 grandparents - in Macon, Logan, Piatt, DeWitt, Fulton, Mason and Menard counties - taking part in the Foster Grandparent Program.

They can volunteer from three to eight hours a day in the school and get paid $2.65 an hour that is a tax-free stipend, said Paula Gregg, director of Community Action Partnership of Central Illinois.

"The funding for the program comes from the federal Corporation for National and Community Service and partly from the Illinois Department of Aging," Gregg said.

So far, she said, she has grandparents working at Decatur day care centers and schools, such as Anna Waters Head Start, Parsons School, Ben Franklin School, Decatur Family YMCA and Northwest Christian Academy. Two sites pending to have grandparents are at McGaughey and Mount Zion grade schools in Mount Zion. Gregg said more grandparents are needed.

Emma Johnson just became part of the program and is one of the new grandmas at Robertson Charter School. She'll be spending most of her time in the third-grade class and has been getting to know the students.

A few of them are already smitten with the idea of having a grandmother to take advantage of.

"The kids are constantly asking me to do things like go to the bathroom, and I know the teacher has a certain bathroom break time. Then they ask me to sharpen their pencils, which I think they break on purpose," Johnson said and laughed.

The first-graders know when Grandma Dozier is serious. Three of the girls standing by the bathroom door in the classroom were talking and laughing with each other.

Dozier just had to give them that certain glance and put her finger to her mouth for them to be quiet so the rest of the class could hear the story the teacher was trying to read.

Kindergarten teacher Janice Abla said she couldn't function without Jones in her class.

"This is my 10th year working with her. And we have worked together so long that there doesn't need to be communication on what we need from each other," Abla said.

The children also depend on Jones. A little girl named Mekiayah who is in kindergarten went up to Jones instead of going to her teacher to ask for some help.

"Grandma Jones this is hurting me," she said, referring to the beaded necklace she wore. Jones removed the necklace and sent her back to her seat.