Watch DOGS keep focus on students

The Watch DOGS – or Dads of Great Students — program, a father involvement initiative of the National Center for Fathering was reintroduced this year at the school after an absence of few years.

The DOGS male volunteers work alongside educators to help as crossing guards, hallway monitors, classroom and homework tutors and in other roles.

Principal Katie Grothaus said she learned about the program from her staff. The school at one time had a Watch DOGS program, but it had slowly dissolved with changes in administration, she said.

The staff, however, “shared how impressive it was to have so many community members in our building on a daily basis.” Staff at other Northmont City Schools gave positive reviews on the impact Watch DOGS projects had at their buildings, and several dads who had excellent thoughts to share.

Grothaus liked what she heard.

To prepare the program for the building’s more than 260 students this year, she and head Watch DOGS completed an online training program and ordered materials needed to run the program for the school year. Money from a school fundraiser bought the materials.

The lead contact person on the fathers’ side of the program, or the Top Dog, is Tony Powers, who works in law enforcement and has his own company.

He works closely with the Top Dog on the school side, teacher Joe Mergler. Powers contacts volunteers, makes sure they are scheduled and answers questions. Mergler deals with teachers’ schedules on days the Watch Dogs are in the building.

“We all work together to continue to build the program,” Powers said.

“The thought of a security presence in the school where my children attend is a huge deal to me,” he said. “Then the added bonus of being a male role model for kids in general, not just the ones without a father figure in the home, is a great honor.”

Response to the program has been good, Grothaus said.

“The students and staff love having the Watch DOGS here. It is very apparent that the Watch DOGS enjoy being here. It is great to see them giving students high fives in the hallway and helping them with their schoolwork,” she said.

More information on the Watch DOGS program is available at www.fathers.com/watchdogs/. Anyone in the Northmont community interested in joining Watch DOGS is asked to contact their elementary school.