January 22, 2003

Job Club works for academy students

Students earn paycheck, responsible for bills, rent

By Carol South
Herald contributing writer

       Morgan Olson knows about responsibility, first hand.
      A fifth-grade student at Grand Traverse Academy, Olson is a supervisor in the school's Job Club, which pairs fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students with school maintenance and administrative chores. For the past few weeks, Olson is one of two students making sure all 22 jobs get done properly and on time - day after day.
      "I have to make sure everyone is doing their job right and on time," said Olson, a student in Kerri Ferris' classroom. "It helps us learn responsibility because in the future when we get jobs we will know how to do them."
      "I think I'm more responsible now and take the job more seriously after seeing some people goof off or be late," Olson said.
      The Job Club has been part of Olson's mixed age classroom since just before the Christmas holidays. The club will rotate to one of the school's five other upper-elementary-age classes this month.
      As members of the Job Club, students spend up to 20 minutes each day completing jobs ranging from cleaning the entrance, vacuuming the halls and cleaning up the kitchen to recycling, cleaning bathrooms and helping in the principal's office.
      The goal of the club is twofold: give students a taste of grown-up responsibility and increase their sense of ownership in the school. Every month when the club cycles to a new classroom, the students choose their top three jobs, fill out an application and give references. They then interview with relevant adult personnel who will oversee the position.
      Students are pleased with this experience and boost it gives them as they look ahead to their first jobs.
      "This helps us because when you got to get a job and have to fill out an application, we will already know how to do it," said Elizabeth Kerby a sixth-grade student whose job is bathroom cleaner.
      Once accepted for a position, it is theirs to complete daily, under the watchful eye of the student supervisors.
      To make the experience as realistic as possible, everyone in the Job Club receives a paycheck once a week. Pay scales are in the range of $4 a day, with different pay rates for different jobs. Employees are docked for being late (a $.50 deduction per minute) or not completing their work. Students are allowed one sick day during their month on the job; future sick days will be subtracted from their paycheck.
      The students pay rent for their desks, about $11.75 a week. They can receive raises for good work or pay cuts for poor performance. Participants must keep their own checkbook current, tracking income and expenses while reconciling the balance.
      One student is the designated banker who pays everyone each week. The banker is also responsible for ensuring that students pay their rent, utilities and other expenses on time.
      "We try to simulate as much real life stuff as possible," said Jennifer MacArthur, a paraprofessional at the school who helped design the concept. "The kids like it a lot."
      MacArthur serves as the designated "natural disaster" who instills the lesson of buying insurance: some evenings she randomly declares a fire, flood or theft, secretly removing a desk or two from the classroom. The next morning, the affected students have to see her to get their desks back. If their weekly $3 insurance premiums are not up to date, an extra fee is tacked on to retrieve their belongings.
      The many responsibilities that go along with holding a job and earning money are sinking in with the participants.
      "I think the Job Club is helpful because it teaches you to balance a check book and to pay rent on time," said Olivia Jeffs, a fifth- grade student who is designated locker duster and conference room cleaner. "It teaches you to do a good job if you want to get full pay."
      This class is the second one to participate in the Job Club. Each student is also writing up a job description describing their responsibilities to help future Job Club participants.
      As the end of the cycle, Ferris said she plans to hold a party with whatever money is left over from the kids' checking accounts. A fan of the Job Club, the teacher has watched her students throw themselves into their tasks and is pleased to see their increasing maturity.
      "The love it, they absolutely love it," she noted. "It has given them a greater sense of responsibility and ownership of the school."