A program that brings dads into local elementary schools looks like a winner.Langston Hughes School and a couple of others are participating in a program called Watch D.O.G.S. (Dads of Great Students), which invites fathers into the school to monitor the halls, go to recess with the children and help in whatever way they can. Dads get to learn more about what their children do during the day, and their children get the message that their fathers care about their school and their education.

Any educator will tell you parental involvement is a key component of a student’s success in school. Too often in recent times, teachers have felt a lack of parental involvement and support. While schools were being asked to take on more and more responsibility for rearing the community’s children, it seemed that parents were quick to criticize teachers and defend their children, right or wrong. It wasn’t like a generation or two ago, when any child who got in trouble at school automatically was in at least as much trouble at home.

It’s especially nice to get fathers involved in an area that, over the years, has been primarily mom territory. That’s not to diminish the role that mothers traditionally have played and continue to play in local schools. In fact, many moms probably also welcome additional involvement by the dads. In some cases, the dads may even provide an important male role model for students who don’t have a dad living at home. Hopefully, many local employers are trying to help both moms and dads take the time they need to be involved with their children’s schools.

So, congratulations to the dads who are participating as local Watch D.O.G.S. and to the local schools that have fostered this involvement. It seems like a great program that other schools in the Lawrence district should adopt.