Wednesday, March 28, 2001
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Wednesday, March 28, 2001 |
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Rising Starr CARE team makes history For the third straight year in a row, a Fayette County school has won the SAPA (Student Assistance Professionals Association) of Georgia Distinguished Award for its CARE (Children at Risk in Education) team program. The purpose of a CARE team is to identify and provide assistance to students who need physical and emotional help. Rising Starr Middle School's 17-member team was the recipient of this year's SAPA award. In addition to helping children, the team's reach goes one step further to offer aid to families, teachers and personnel within the entire school system. "This is one reason why this group won the award. Not only are they helping children, but they are also reaching out to offer assistance to everyone involved in our system," says Karen Spangler, social worker and CARE coordinator for the Fayette County School System. Rising Starr's CARE team is made up of a diverse group of members which includes classroom teachers, a cafeteria worker, school principal, family and consumer science expert, computer clerk, school secretary, psychologist, health, art and drama teacher and special education experts. By having such a diverse membership, the team is able to meet more needs than what it would if participants were made up of only teachers and administrators. The group meets at the school every Wednesday before the start of classes to talk about its goals and network to identify those who need their help. The entire team is responsible for tracking children and gathering information from various sources. "Many times students might talk to someone in the cafeteria about their problems, but not share them with their teacher. Or someone in the front office might hear something that the rest of us might not be aware of," says Kelly Chapman, counselor at Rising Starr. One example is a student who had not returned his reduced lunch form. Diane Hays, cafeteria worker, alerted the team to the fact that the student had told another cafeteria worker that he had not been getting breakfast or dinner at home. Once the team was notified of the situation, they found the resources to provide breakfast for him in the mornings as well as fix additional sandwiches for him to take home for dinner after school. "The first day we fixed him a bag with the sandwiches he couldn't stop smiling," says Chapman. "This was a student who had some discipline problems. What we did for him changed his whole attitude about school." After students are identified they are continuously followed. One way the team keeps in touch with students is by mailing a postcard to their homes with the words "We CARE about you!" Not only does CARE touch the lives of students, but it also reaches out to teachers not just teachers at Rising Starr, but those employed throughout the system. When a teacher at another middle school went on bed rest due to significant prenatal complications, money and food were collected to help her in her time of need. On a regular basis, the CARE team helps boost the morale of teachers and staff at the school by doing thoughtful activities such as putting candy in mailboxes, providing warm donuts in the morning and baking cookies for an end-of-the-day snack. Through a program called "Stand Up and Take a Bow" staff and teachers recognize each other for personal accomplishments. Since there are no county funds for CARE, the program receives funding through fundraising activities conducted by the team. Some fundraising activities used by the team this year include selling Gobblegrams and Snow-man-o-grams to teachers so that they could send seasonal messages to each other. The team also started a program where teachers could pay $2 to wear jeans to work. In addition to fundraising, the team also receives financial support from community business and organizations such as Wal-Mart, Target, Fayette Community Hospital and Delta Airlines. Items such as eyeglass and school supplies for needy individuals are just a couple of examples of how Fayette's local businesses and organizations help support Rising Starr's CARE program. Rising Starr's PTO often provides funds for CARE. A parent resource center in the guidance office equipped with books, video and audio tapes to assist with parenting, drug and alcohol issues and teen pregnancy is available to all of the school's parents. The school's counselors utilize PTO and school funds to supply materials for the center on an annual basis. Although the Rising Starr CARE team won the SAPA Georgia Distinguished Award, team chair Kim Daniel says that team would not have been as successful if it had not been for the efforts of Spangler who helped the school establish its team in 1998. "Karen deserves an award herself. She goes way above and beyond the call of duty for all of her CARE coordinators and teams," Daniel comments. "The CARE program is so lucky to have her. I am impressed with her compassion, determination and spunk." The SAPA Georgia Distinguished Award given to Rising Starr for its CARE team marks the third year in a row that a Fayette County School has been the recipient of award.
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