Jeff See has been with the Clintonville School District for less than a month, but he’s excited about the district’s after-school program.
See was recently hired as the associate principal at the middle school as well as program director for the after-school program. Prior to coming to the Clintonville School District, See spent 19 years as an English teacher at Oshkosh West High School.
After receiving the opportunity several years ago to be in a leadership role to fill in for someone on a leave of absence, See decided he wanted to pursue a school administrative job.
“It inspired me to get my administrative license,” See said.
He applied for an administrative position with the School District of Clintonville last year, but didn’t get the job.
“I really liked my experience interviewing. I really liked this community when I came to it,” See said.
When another administrative position opened in the district, See applied again, this time he was hired.
“I haven’t regretted a second of it,” See said. “The community has been very welcoming.”
See will be in charge of the district’s after-school program for elementary and middle school students.
The after-school program includes 63 students from the middle school and 100 students from the elementary school. This year’s program will run Monday thru Thursday. Each day consists of enrichment activities and homework completion.
See said the goal of the program is to provide exciting academic and enrichment activities for students.
“We are trying to enrich their lives by guiding opportunities that they don’t get during their school day, and maybe they don’t get at home,” See said.
To help accomplish that goal, See is soliciting volunteers from the community to share their knowledge with students in the program.
“Initially it’s all with school staff, but over time you’d like to be able to look for opportunities for community members to be able to come in and share their wealth of knowledge, their expertise with students,” See said.
Volunteers would show students how writing and math relate to their jobs. Volunteers wouldn’t have to commit to every week of the program, only as many days and weeks that is necessary to accomplish the task.
For example, the Clintonville Tribune Gazette will be volunteering one hour per week for the duration of the after-school program to teach students about journalism.
There will also be a teacher present at all times, so the volunteer won’t be on their own with the students.
Another reason for community volunteers is due to funding. Last year the district received a grant of $75,000 each for the middle school and elementary school for the after-school program. This year’s grant is down to $50,000 for each location. See said the district does not know how much it will receive next year.
One final reason for community volunteers is to improve the image of the middle school, See said.
“I am hopeful that we can help to kind of take down this wall that has been built around this middle school,” See said. “I get a sense that the community itself doesn’t necessarily look at Clintonville Middle School as their middle school. I want to change that. I think that the way you change that is to welcome the community. We have people in this community who have a wealth of knowledge on a variety of topics and we don’t necessarily invite them in to share that.”
With the help of community volunteers, See said the goal is to improve reading and math scores in the district, which have been increasing.
Those interested in volunteering or who have questions, can contact See at [email protected] or 715-823-7215 ext. 2404.