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Roslyn Allen is a mother of seven. She lives in a trailer park off Lumpkin Road. She has no car, no phone. But she does have plans for her children — she wants them to get an education and break out of their cycle of poverty.
She wasn’t making much headway until Muscogee County School District social workers noticed her children weren’t getting to school. A social worker told her she’d have to go to juvenile court and explain to Judge Warner Kennon why she shouldn’t be charged for neglecting her children’s education.
“I was a nervous wreck,” she said. Before her court appearance, she met with a social worker who told her this was a way to get enrolled in Columbus’ Truancy Intervention Program.
TIP, founded in 2002 by attorneys Pete Daughtery and Marc D’Antonio, is a truancy prevention program that pairs adult mentors with elementary school children who are referred to juvenile court because of poor school attendance. The volunteer mentors help TIP children by giving them the time and attention they need to ensure good attendance and success in school.
Allen soon found this to be the case for her and her children.
After her hearing, she was enrolled in TIP and four of her children were assigned mentors. Since that time, attendance and grades have improved, so much so in fact, when she went before the judge for a progress report, she became concerned that since the reports were so favorable, her children would be removed from the program.
TIP Executive Director Dee Shore, told her not to worry, they would keep her family in the program. Shore, a former school teacher with 32 years at Clubview Elementary School, and Margie Curtis, her assistant who taught for 35 years at Richards Middle School, administer the program, reporting to a 16-member board headed by Daughtery.
The program is for children in Kindergarten through the sixth grade. D’Antonio described the program as a carrot and stick operation. “We emphasize the carrot aspect,” he said. A hearing officer and chief clerk of the Muscogee County Probate court, he said TIP hearings are one of the happier things that can happen in a juvenile court since it puts children back on a positive path.
“The stick is that if the parents don’t adhere to the court order, they can be held in contempt of court.”
D’Antonio also serves as a mentor. “I see my role as a way to broaden a child’s world view. When I get him, he’s living moment to moment. I want to show him thatthere’s more out there for him if he’ll do well in school.
“We want them to set goals for themselves, help them fulfill their dreams.”
He still remembers talking to a 14-yearold girl and asking her where she thought she’d be in five years. “Dead,” the girl said. That was all the motivation he needed to give the kids he mentors something to live for.
“We need to be positive role models for these kids. To do that we need to be sincere, and we can’t let them down. If we promise something, we have to come through,” he said. “Kids know when you aren’t being sincere."
Adrianne Carr, an attorney at Georgia Legal Services, mentors one of Allen’s girls.“It’s a great family. They’re so supportive of one another, but there were problems that kept the kids from getting to school,” she said.
Carr received a Christmas card from the girl she mentors. “She said I was her best friend in the world. I nearly cried.”
Shiv Sachdeva, an assistant district attorney said he was apprehensive about becoming a mentor. “They told us about some of the difficulties we could expect at the orientation, so I was concerned, but I got a really great kid.” The boy he mentors missed so many days of school he had to repeat Kindergarten.
Sachdeva discovered his youngster loves to read, so he takes him to the library where he helps him with his reading and writing. “I also take him to the movies, and we throw the ball around in the park.
“We moved him in with his grandmother, and he hasn’t missed a day of school this year.”
For doing so well Sachdeva bought the boy a remote-controlled car. “He was so happy; it was awesome,” he said. Shore says the mentors open new worlds for the children. “One child was taken to Red Lobster for dinner. He’d never eaten in a restaurant before. We also provide group activities for them, ranging from a trip to a ball game, to the circus, and a day out bowling.”
She said the highlight at the end of last school year was a trip to Lamar and Sandra Beck’s country home, where the children were treated to a picnic and a chance to ride a horse.
Rafael Del Valle, owner of El Vaquero hosted a back-to-school event at the start of the current school year. “It was the first time these children ate in a Mexican restaurant,” Shore said. She said it was also where the children received backpacks and school supplies for the year. “It’s great, the way the community supports the program.”
Shore and Curtis say saving kids is what the program’s all about and what keeps them going. “We can always use more mentors,” Shore said. “We’re looking for people who love kids and can spend at least an hour a week with them, either taking them someplace, meeting them in their home or in the school.”
She said one of the mentors, John Nix, was so popular with the boy he was mentoring that word got out, and when he’d stop to pick his youngster up, other children in the neighborhood would want to come along also.
“That’s what we’re all about,” Shore said.
If you are interested in becoming a mentor, you can reach Dee Shore at the TIP office:
706-649-1637 or e-mail her at ColumbusTIP@yahoo.com.
