UU/Schools Partnership

Imagine how our community would improve if most Rochester school students were successful in school.

Our UU/Schools Partnership recruits, trains and supports volunteers from our church and the larger community who give time at Rochester's School 22 (Lincoln School) and School 15 (Children's School). The Partnership also raises money to pay for school supplies and student enrichment activities, such as assemblies and field trips. Our work at School 22 dates back to 1988, and we began working with School 15 in 1991.

Volunteers can choose to provide one-on-one tutoring, help teachers in the classroom, chaperone field trips or share their time and talents in other ways.

In 2011, we offered our first summer reading program, provided to more than 40 children ages 3 to 6 from Community Lutheran Center, using space at School 22. We had 20 volunteers during the six-week, two-mornings-a-week literacy program.

In 2010-2011, our Partnership included more than 50 volunteers, both members and non-members of the church. Among the efforts:

Reading and playing literacy games weekly with kindergartners and first-graders during the students' lunch period. Another group worked one-on-one with third-graders and fourth-graders during their lunch period.
Volunteering in classrooms under the supervision of a teacher once a week.
Reading one-on-one in a second-grade class once a month, with the Spino Literary Foundation.
Model-student activities.
Helping at a Saturday School at School 15.

Our financial support in 2010-2011 provided a discretionary fund of $30 for each classroom teacher and each special-areas group at School 22, supported the Spino Literacy Foundation in buying books for students at School 22 to take home and paid for transportation for two student field trips:

"Walk the Walk" at Hochstein School of Music and Dance during Black History month.
"Step into Manhood" trip for sixth-grade boys as a culminating activity of school social worker Edna Robinson's program.

The church's Uknitarian effort - knitting, sewing or buying warm hats, scarves and gloves/mittens - provided many boxes of items for the nurses at our School Partnership schools to provide to children in need.

We are looking to expand and improve the program in the coming school year and we welcome more volunteers. To volunteer, please download either the application for new volunteers (if you're new to this program) or the application for returning volunteers. Each is available (links are at upper right on this page) as an Excel file (.xls) for people who can fill it out on a computer and e-mail it to schools2215@gmail.com, or as a ready-to-print PDF if you prefer to use pen on paper. For more information, e-mail our coordinator: schools2215@gmail.com, leave a message for the coordinator at the church office, (585) 271-9070, or leave a note in the Schools Partnership mailbox at church.

October 3 2011