Schools Across Oklahoma In Need Of Volunteers

The state budget cuts for education have renewed the emphasis on volunteers needed in the schools.

At schools all across Oklahoma, volunteers used to be extra help, but now they're replacing people cut from the payroll.

Karen Bartholomew works in the library at Mayo Demonstration School, organizing things, checking out books, helping students and doing whatever is needed.

She started here seven years ago when her grandchildren were in school.

"And I keep going back, even though my grandkids are in high school and college," Bartholomew said.

Bartholomew is one of the most committed, out of dozens of volunteers who help out at this school.

She works a regular shift, and used to leave at noon, but as Tulsa Public Schools downsized the staff, she's been working more.

"Now we're down to two people, the teacher and myself, so I thought, I'll stay later on Monday, because of the budget cuts," Bartholomew said.

The nature of the work hasn't changed much, Bartholomew said, and even though new technology like self-checkout can cut down on the workload, the children at this age still need a lot of guidance.

"I don't think we could survive without our volunteers," principal Ken Joslin said.

Joslin said volunteers contributed 3,000 hours of time at his school last year. Some, like Bartholomew, now volunteering to fill jobs that were cut from the budget.

And this is being repeated at schools across the state.

"We're fortunate that we have so many volunteers and we remind ourselves of that everyday because we know not many schools have the volunteers we have," Joslin said.

Bartholomew worked at the district in transportation for 28 years before retiring.

She has no plans to retire from volunteering.

"It's rewarding, it's very rewarding," she said.