Welfare Aides

School Administrator, May, 1997

Extra adults' hands always are welcome in overtaxed schools, even if they belong to welfare recipients.

That's the attitude in Frederick County, where the school district and social services department recently launched a program to place adult welfare recipients in schools as unpaid interns. Several weeks after the program began, principals had offered 54 slots for clerical, tutorial, and maintenance assistance, though only seven interns were placed.

The principals have discretion to accept the interns and assign them to particular duties. The welfare recipients continue to receive their benefits, plus $5 to $10 per day to offset transportation costs.

The county social services department is funding the program, believed to be the first of its kind in the country.