Indian River School District (IRSD) Superintendent Lois Hobbs and School Board President Charles Bireley took time out to publicly welcome Mentor Delaware Coordinator Ryan Farrell to the district and let him know his efforts were appreciated at the Oct. 18 board meeting.
Federally funded via Big Brothers/Big Sisters of Delaware and through partnership with the Delaware Mentoring Council, the Mentor Delaware program puts young students in touch with role-model adults who can provide them some extra attention. “Some support, and a personal relationship, beyond academic,” as Farrell put it.
Farrell takes over where his fellow AmeriCorps VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members Nova Johnson and Jessica Vargas left off last year.
“I always wanted to do something with AmeriCorps,” Farrell said. “A lot of people volunteer while they’re still in college, but I actually ended up finishing college first.”
Originally from Aiken, S.C., Farrell studied English (specializing in cognitive development) at the University of South Carolina. After graduating, he signed up for either the Mentor Delaware assignment or a literacy initiative in Washington, D.C., and wound up in Delaware.
But, he said, he wasn’t quite ready for rural Sussex — if anything, Farrell said he’d expected to be stationed in Wilmington.
He said he’d always lived in semi-urban settings — Aiken has a population of more than 25,000, and it’s right on the outskirts of Augusta, Georgia (population around 200,000). And he spent the last five years in Columbia, the South Carolina state capital, with a population of 120,000 or so.
Then there’s Selbyville — population less than 1,700 (as of the 2000 Census).
Signs of economic disparity are commonplace in any city, Farrell pointed out, but coming to Selbyville, he said he’d been shocked by what he characterized as rural poverty.
“Not jaw-dropping shocked, but shocked,” he said. “I’ve seen rural areas, but I’ve never been around rural poverty, day in and day out. But maybe someone who grew up in a rural setting would be shocked by urban poverty.”
As Farrell pointed out, the ultimate VISTA goals are to alleviate – and eventually eliminate — poverty. A tall order, but he’s tackling his bit, screening mentors for the mentor coordinators at the individual district schools and trying to spread the word about the program.
For more information, contact Ryan Farrell at IRSD headquarters, (302) 436-1070, ext. 147.
In other School Board business on Oct. 18, Hobbs congratulated Frankford Elementary for receiving the Dispelling the Myth award, and North Georgetown Elementary for its recent nomination as a Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.
If North Georgetown receives the award, it will be the fifth Indian River district school to do so.
Board Member Nina Lou Bunting detailed a report from the Delaware School Board Association (DSBA) Legislative Committee, demarcating legislative priorities in the next state General Assembly.
Top to bottom, the committee hoped local legislators would support: (1) flexible and efficient education spending, including local flexibility, (2) major capital funding changes, such as increased funding to counterbalance market pressure, (3) adequate Division II funding — toward increased energy costs, (4) the end of un- or under-funded mandates, and (5) funding for all-day kindergarten and preschool programs.
Finally, in major capital improvement news, Ted Dwyer (president, EDiS) gave an update on progress at Lord Baltimore Elementary. He said the masons had managed to dodge last week’s rainy weather, having completed most of the exterior foundation work before the skies opened.
Interior demolition was 95 percent complete, he said, and installation of the geothermal wells (under the sports playfields) was continuing apace, nearly 50 percent complete.
Steel delivery was scheduled for Monday, Oct. 24, so passersby could expect to see girders going up sometime next week, Dwyer said.