"Dad Take Your Child to School Day" Draws Over 400 Participants at Peekskill Schools

It was a busy morning at Peekskill City Schools on September 22 as over 400 dads, grandpas, uncles, brothers and other male role models accompanied their student(s) to school for “Dads Take Your Child to School Day.”

“Dads Take Your Child to School Day” ​is a New York State initiative that promotes the involvement of all male role models by encouraging fathers and father figures to take their children to school for the day, and make a commitment to continue to stay involved in their student’s education throughout the year.

Each building in the District embraced the day in its own way. Upon arriving at the schools, all participants were asked to sign in and register to volunteer 10 hours for upcoming school events. At Hillcrest Elementary, fathers and father figures were invited to enjoy refreshments while staff chatted about school services and programs. At Woodside Elementary, adults were allowed to join their kindergarteners and first graders in classes for the day.

“Today was great,” said Robert Sumpter. Jr, who was just one of the many Peekskill fathers at Hillcrest the morning of the event. Sumpter heard about the day on the school’s website and was excited to have the opportunity to drive his son, Brandon, into school.

“I look at the website every day,” Sumpter said. “I always look at the calendar to see if there are any upcoming events, and if I can make it, I make it. There are a lot of fathers out there that don’t know what’s going on in their kid’s lives. I’m in my son’s life and I want to make sure that he knows I’m in his life, and I want the school to know I’m in his life.”

At Peekskill Middle School almost 80 participants signed up to volunteer their time at upcoming events. Principal Jamal Lewis said he is looking forward to the “increase in volunteerism” at the school.

“Everyone seemed very excited in terms of what our school is going to be doing throughout the school year, so hopefully we’ll see that at our “Men Making a Difference” night in early November, and then at subsequent events throughout the school year,” Lewis said.

In a District wide All-Call sent to PCSD families the evening of September 22, Superintendent Dr. David Fine thanked the event’s participants and called the day an “incredible success.”

“We hope you and your students truly enjoyed the bonding time together,” Dr. Fine said. “We are excited to have so many of you sign up for future volunteer time in our schools.”

If you were unable to attend this event, but would still like to volunteer for upcoming events, please contact your child’s school or consider joining Peekskill’s Parent Teacher Organization (K-12). Upcoming events can be found on the District and school websites. Click here for the Peekskill PTO webpage.

See more photos from this event here.