Big Men on Campus

When attendance at local PTA meetings dropped off, and there was a shortage of parents involved in school activities, Charlie Guess took it as a personal challenge.

He founded the Dads Club in Irvine two years ago and ever since he’s been encouraging fathers to take on school responsibilities that have traditionally been handled by mothers. With more than 25 members, the group is getting rave reviews from school officials and fathers, too, who say it has helped them better their relationship with their children.

“We started out with just one thing in mind,” said Guess, 41, whose son attends University Park Elementary School. “We just wanted to make fathers more comfortable with being involved in their kids’ school. Parent participation in general had been declining, especially at the PTA meetings. We couldn’t even get moms to attend regularly. So, we figured, let’s get dads involved.”

The reasons more fathers are getting involved are varied. Schools--and groups like the Dads Club--are doing more to make dads feel welcome. And with more mothers in the work force, more and more fathers are opting to be the hands-on parent at school. But they say the reason they stay involved is simple: The best Father’s Day gift of all is spending time with your children.

Irvine Unified is not the only district benefiting. In recent years, officials at districts across Orange County say there are more fathers than ever among the ranks of parents who volunteer at schools. Fathers with children at Serrano Elementary School in Villa Park are planning to get a group started there in the fall.

El Camino Real Principal Jeff Herdman said a similar program at the Irvine school has been “just dynamite.”

“The first year alone, they completely refurbished the girls and boys bathrooms,” Herdman said, adding that the group’s “loose change” drive raised about $7,000 toward purchasing computers and other hardware for the school media center. And that was before they tackled building the shelves in the library.

“The dads have done just about everything we could think of around the school in terms of projects,” he said. “Now, we’re getting them more involved in the classroom. Some of them show up on a regular basis to read to some of the classes. Many things that were traditionally done by moms are now being taken on by fathers. It’s been interesting to watch.”

Guess’s group in Irvine is pretty typical. About 25 men regularly attend PTA meetings to keep themselves up to date on school activities. They also have regular “work days” at the school, where they serve as homeroom helpers and plan events such as the school’s “hoedown” social. They hold monthly meetings, and fathers who have free time during the day or work nearby frequently meet their children at school for lunch.

Some are CEOs for large corporations, others are professors at UC Irvine or have other high-profile jobs. It’s not unusual for them to show up at recess time, remove their coats and ties, roll up their sleeves, and join their kids out on a field for a friendly but competitive game of kickball.

Their ultimate goal is to have an endowment fund so that the PTA doesn’t have to spend so much time organizing fund-raisers.

Guess and his wife, Becky, have an 11-year-old son, Brian. Guess recalled when he and other fathers made their first official trip to the school as the Dads Club.

“We got there and the kids didn’t seem all that excited,” he said. “But then we later found out that the teachers had their hands full all morning because the kids wouldn’t sit still and kept talking about how they couldn’t wait until we got there. Of course, when we did arrive, they had to act cool, like it was no big deal,” he said with a laugh.

And how do the wives and moms feel about these super dads?

“For the most part, their reaction has been, ‘Well, it’s about time!’ ” Guess said.

Hogan Hilling is a stay-at-home dad and co-founder of another Irvine group, Dads in Action, which which was founded in 1994 and has about 25 fathers who are active at El Camino Real. He said the job goes beyond fixing things and painting or raising money.

“We’re also there for the kids who don’t have fathers, and we can serve as role models or mentors for them,” he said. “I always tell the fathers that what they need to realize is they don’t have to be perfect. They just have to be a presence in their children’s lives.”

Hilling’s wife, Tina, is a teacher in the Irvine Unified School District. The couple has three children: Grant, 10; Wesley, 8, and Matthew, 5.

Jeff Stark, 46, has also been active in Dads in Action. Stark and his wife Kathy have two children: Jenna, 12, and Luke, 10. He said he relishes his time on campus.

“When myself or any of the other dads walk on to campus, there is a feeling that we are really a part of things,” Stark said. “It’s such a different feeling from if you are just there to drop off or pick up your children.”