Fathers at school can make a difference : Learn more at meeting on Feb. 27

A father who participates in his child’s on-campus education and activities has a positive effect on the child’s academic achievements, school behavior and potential for becoming a high-performing adult.

While the role of school volunteer traditionally falls to mothers, statistically it is the fathers who make the significant contributions, says Rob Thompson, the coordinator for the Free Anytime To Help Education Run Successfully (FATHERS) program at Fallbrook High School.

In the pursuit of his Masters degree – he is a Fallbrook High football coach – Thompson discovered that a student’s grades have more to do with fatherly involvement than motherly involvement.

“[The students] tend to do better on standardized tests, have better math and verbal skills and higher IQs,” he says.

Further, he adds, students are half as likely to repeat a grade – seven percent versus 15 percent for those without a father involved.

In addition, when a father is actively involved in his child’s school life, the student is 10 percent less likely to be suspended, versus 18 percent of students whose fathers are not involved.

With fathers included, Thompson says, students are more likely to participate in extracurricular activities and are 21 percent less likely to have behavior problems. Moreover, they are less likely to get involved with drugs or alcohol or become pregnant.

Thompson says, “What’s interesting about these stats is that, according to the University of Illinois, these wonderful benefits from father involvement happen whether the dad is married, single, a stepfather or lives with the children or not.”

Thompson started the FATHERS program when he worked at Orange Glen High School. Now employed at Fallbrook High, he realized the close-knit community and its single high school campus would be perfect for another successful program that could go far to change the school culture.

Just being on the campus when his child is there makes a difference, he says.

“I paid a visit to my daughter’s classroom and noticed that all of sudden her behavior and that of her classmates improved. I was there watching – a pair of eyes.”

Thompson says the goal is to have 50 fathers as volunteers on campus regularly when the kids are there. For example, “If <a student> looks around and sees eight fathers on campus, he’s not going to drop that trash on the ground.”

Volunteering can be as little as 30 minutes twice a month: during lunch, performing traffic control or working the clock or chains at a football game.

“It makes a difference in the kid’s behavior,” says Thompson. “They’re going to be more focused if a father is in the classroom or on the campus.”

When kids see that fathers are involved, they are going to do better. If fathers are there, more kids are likely to participate in extracurricular programs and cause fewer problems.

Fathers involved on campus helps teacher moral, too, Thompson says.

The Fallbrook High FATHERS program is in its infancy, having had one meeting thus far. The next will be at the school on Wednesday, February 27, at 6 p.m. in Room 201.

There will be a Spanish interpreter at the meeting to assist fathers who speak Spanish.

“Anyone can have kids but it takes a special person to be a father,” Thompson says.

For more information or to get involved, come to the meeting or contact Rob Thompson at (858) 212-1919 or [email protected].