Jennifer Kirley said:
I encourage all to volunteer, perhaps as mentors, in their local schools. I have often thought that greater up-close, insider exposure to schools would help them see what goes on: some very good, some very bad. There is a need for cooperative support between schools, businesses, families and communities.
And then, there are others who have volunteered themselves into a no hours left situation with other causes that are just as worthy, but unrelated to education.
So, it appears that we need to do a couple of things, actively seek new volunteers from that group of people who do not volunteer at all, and stop placing roadblocks in the path of those who volunteer and are discouraged.
For the first solution, I am not sure that I know of a good method to make this happen. You really cannot make someone take part if they do not want to. For the second, it seems to me that we need to constantly encourage people to know the issues and become politically active to make sure that the "right" people are elected. For that third group of people that already carry a full load elsewhere, we need to applaud their efforts wherever they may be placed, they are important to our communities also.