Kindergartener Kiah Mays enjoys a powdered donut with her father during a "Donuts for Dads" gathering at Hardy Elementary on Tuesday. The gathering was held to encourage male role models to participate in their children's education. Torrick Watkins stepped into the Hardy Elementary School auditorium Tuesday with his daughter. Melvin Smith and more than 70 other men strolled in as well.
The school's Donuts for Dads event marks the beginning of a strategy to increase the number of male role models, boost parental involvement and raise the level of student achievement.
Hardy isn't among the very lowest-performing schools in Hamilton County, but students still are not performing at the expected level. Parental involvement is key to improvement, Principal Shannon Braziel said.
"We want to bridge the gap between parents feeling welcome in the school and knowing how to help their kids," she said. "This is an event to get parents in the school in order to help them help their children."
Parents, teachers and administrators all want children to succeed. If all three have open dialogue, support for the child will increase and children will succeed, Braziel said.
Input from both parents is important for student achievement, but a number of children are raised in single-parent homes, said Julie Baumgardner, president and CEO of First Things First.
Of the 35,863 households in Hamilton County with children under age 18, some 9,366 of them are headed by single women, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
"If you watch who is not doing well, in general, it's the kids who don't have a father involved in their lives," Baumgardner said.
Children are better academically and emotionally when the father is in the home. They also have fewer behavioral issues, said Todd Agne, First Things First father coordinator.
Parent attendance is so heavy at Hardy Elementary during Christmas performances that it's standing room only at those events, but school volunteer coordinator Toya Nixon wants parental involvement throughout the year.
Upcoming events
* Feb. 26: PTA meeting, 5:30 p.m. Black History Month program follows. * March 3: Muffins for Moms. Aunts, grandmothers and other guardians welcome.
She wants parents to spend time with children in the classroom, commit to reading to them at least 20 minutes a night and attend school workshops for instruction on raising children.
Nixon pondered ways to increase parent participation last year when the school of nearly 500 students drew only 10 parents to a resource fair intended to encourage parental involvement and provide resources to assist them.
This year the school formed a Parent Teacher Association, started raising money for programs and the PTA worked to host its first Donuts for Dads event.
Nixon, a single mother of five boys, also saw the need for more male role models with her own children.
When one child got in trouble, Nixon knew the boy was acting out because his father wasn't present. But the solution presented to her was pressing charges against her son to discipline him.
With the help of male mentors, her son received academic scholarships and now is a full-time college student, she said.
Dozens of fathers filled the school auditorium Monday.
Brandon Foster, 28, was so determined to make the event that he set his alarm clock an hour early.
"It's not even about the doughnuts," he said, "I want to be here for my kids."
Foster said lots of men want to be role models for their children, but many get incarcerated and some face resistance about seeing their children from the kids' mothers.
Retired Private Industry Council instructor Dale Horton, 76, brought two of his neighbor's children to the event.
"We can't retire when it comes to our children," he said. "We've got to stay involved."
Contact staff writer Yolanda Putman at yputman@timesfreepress.com or 757-6431.