The school owes a lot to Angelle Beaty for the success with volunteers. She is the volunteer who keeps it organized, working as a liaison with Morrison. Beaty's expertise is in organization, so it's a natural fit for her. Every Friday the 10 classroom teachers tell her what they need from volunteers the upcoming week, and how much time would be involved. Beaty matches teachers' needs with the appropriate volunteer based on the information about their interests they filled out on forms at the beginning of the year.
Some volunteers come in twice a week, and one or two visit every day.
One week, we had 57 requests from teachers, and we filled them all. One volunteer helped the eighth-graders research term papers, not doing the work but going with them to the library and keeping them focused. They also read to the students to expose them to different types of literature. A lot of the volunteers are world travelers, and they share their experiences abroad with the children, Beaty said. One is fluent in Spanish, so she works with the kindergarten students.