Director of nonprofit working in schools tries retirement again

ASHEBORO — Paula Owens is retiring … for the second time. 

The executive director of Communities In Schools of Randolph County will work her last day on June 30 after 11 years at the helm.

Prior to 2015, Owens had a career in public education, first as a teacher and then in administration. She moved from Guilford County in 2009 to serve as an assistant principal and later as principal in the Asheboro City Schools. Her first retirement was from Donna Lee Loflin Elementary School in 2015.

“I saw this job advertised,” she said from the CIS office at 1003 Sunset Ave., Asheboro. “I knew about Communities In Schools as a principal and I knew how important the programs were.”

She soon learned that what she believed would be a “retirement gig” was actually another fulltime job. She had 13 employees to manage, a budget to oversee, grants to write and dozens of other issues to be concerned with.

“I’m finally going to pack it in,” she said. “I’ve enjoyed every minute of it. The staff is so valuable, committed to young people.

“It’s been an amazing journey but I’ll continue to volunteer and to support (CIS) financially because I think the work is critical. Communities in Schools provides advocacy for kids and families to help them be successful.”

Asked to describe Communities In Schools, Owens said, “It’s a nonprofit with the mission to surround students with a community of support so they can be successful in school and in life.”

Communities In Schools of Randolph County is affiliated with state and national organizations, which provide protocols and training for the programs of CIS.

An important program is Backpack Pals, Owens said. “It came about when people at school talked about students coming to school hungry” and unable to perform. A backpack is loaded with food and given to a student on Friday afternoon to feed the child for the weekend.

The CIS of Randolph County website says: 

“Communities in Schools of Randolph County collaborates with various local individuals, civic groups, churches, businesses, and the Randolph County United Way to supply bags of food on weekends during the school year for students and families in need. Volunteers are responsible for shopping, packing, and delivering these bags to local schools, where they are distributed to children requiring food for the weekend. Our summer BPP program is currently delivering weekend food directly to 172 students.”

To find out how to help, visit www.cisrandolph.org/our-projects/backpack-pals. 

Owens said her organization and its partners provide backpacks for Asheboro City Schools, the Randolph County School System and Uwharrie Charter Academy. A total of 550 students are served at this point.

The current cost of Backpack Pals is $120,000, with CIS’s portion between $15,000 and 20,000.

The summer Backpack Pals program started in 2020 and now serves between 170 and 200 students. CIS is able to deliver those backpacks directly to the homes.

Another initiative of CIS is Stepping Up, designed for middle and high school students, to “target needs around attendance, behavior while nurturing leadership goal-setting and career readiness.”

Programs include Girls Club (girls in real-life situations), SMARTS (leadership through martial arts), Dream Big (high school seniors mentoring younger students), and Reality Store, which increases students’ awareness of financial realities, given specific career and life choices. 

Communities In Schools also helps provide school supplies to needy students.

“Our largest impact is through our staff deployed in schools,” said Owens. 

There are currently 12 student support specialists working a minimum of 32 hours per week in schools. 

“They coordinate community resources and recruit volunteers as mentors,” Owens said.

“We’ve got some amazing folks,” she said of volunteer mentors. “They spend time in a child’s life. We’re always looking for volunteers to help in that.”

Another program is Freedom School, held during the summer for “40 kids in need of a safe environment,” Owens said. 

Using a state grant, Freedom School is held five days a week for six weeks and is literacy based. 

“We hire college students as instructors, all of them education majors. There’s a field trip every week and two meals a day with special activities.

“We followed students after the first year and 20 of the 40 are returning. They’re doing better in school. The school system provides transportation and there’s a nice salary for the instructors.”

With so many projects ongoing, the CIS operation must be supplemented by allocations from the school systems, Randolph County government, the United Way of Randolph and of Greater High Point, various grants and fundraising. 

Owens said the CIS held its first Student Showcase in February with youth showing off their talents during an entertaining show at the Sunset Theatre. There were more than 40 sponsors.

“The Student Showcase gives students the chance to shine,” Owens said.

Owens will be succeeded by Dr. Karen Burress, a retired educator who is from Randolph County.

To learn more about Communities In Schools of Randolph County or to find out how to be involved, visit www.cisrandolph.org.