Morningside Volunteer
Program on Thin Ice
By Caitlin Granfield
BBT Contributing Writer

Parents and would-be volunteers for an after-school tutoring program at Morningside Elementary, on N.E. 5th Avenue in Little Haiti, are criticizing the school for failing to properly execute program plans in the wake of Josette Paris’s unceremonious departure from her position as principal.

“The number one challenge,” said Paris in a past interview with the BBT, “is parental and community involvement.”

Paris was ousted from her post after allegedly assaulting another teacher, and was transferred to the human resources department, where she was unavailable for comment on this story. In the wake of Morningside’s personnel shakeup, it appears her message may not carry through.

“Despite what happened, Ms. Paris had tremendous love for her students,” said Kathryn Mikesell, a community member and school activist. “She really cared and wanted to see improvements within the volunteer program. Now that she’s gone, no one has followed up with those who signed up to volunteer.”

The school has stressed the importance of parental and community involvement, but at present, organized efforts to actualize this are faltering. Many community members completed fingerprinting and background checks in order to volunteer, and willingly submitted to the lengthy process only to apparently be forgotten about.

“I brought in six applications for potential mentors,” said Mikesell. “One wanted to tutor Morningside children in math. He took all the tests necessary, but no one has contacted him. This was nearly two months ago at the last meeting.”

According to Oby Okany, head of the volunteer program: “The qualifying form for volunteers takes time to process efficiently. Many volunteers who sign up are not available to participate upon request because they are tied up with other priorities.”
Okany also said that new volunteers are scarce and that regular volunteers are the ones who participate in field trips, read-a-louds and before- and after-school care.

With Paris no longer principal, the two vice-principles, Kathleen John-Louissaint and Sandra Cue, are running things at Morningside. Throughout the reorganization, something was lost in the translation: The new heads are inexperienced with the volunteer program, so it is now up to administrators and members of the community to take volunteering matters into their own hands.

Okany, on the other hand, seemed ill-informed when the BBT questioned her about the program and the school itself. Morningside Elementary is a magnet school, meaning children from areas outside Little Haiti contribute to the student body.

When asked about the origins of students coming from outside the area, Okany’s only response was, “They take buses.” And when questioned about the student population and demographics (roughly 509 students, 70 percent Haitian-American, 30 percent Hispanic) Okany said, “I do not know how many students there are.”

The BBT’s efforts to get information from Okany about the makeup of students utilizing the volunteer program proved futile.

Another problem has been parents not picking their children up on time, if at all. After school is dismissed and the after-school programs finished, some parents are still no-shows. So how does the school handle this?

“It’s not the school’s problem if parents forget to pick up their kids,” said Okany. “Security waits with the children for 45 minutes to an hour, and after that it’s not their responsibility, it’s the parents.”

With so much gray area clouding any concrete analysis of the success or failure of the volunteer program, the obvious question one could ask is simply: Are parents satisfied with the after-school program? To this Okany replied:
“I don’t know.”