Atlanta Public Schools

Community Service Guidelines

2024-2030

**Effective August 1, 2025 for all schools**

“Everybody can be great because anybody can serve. You don’t have to have a college degree to serve. You don’t have to make your subject and verb agree to serve. You only need a heart full of grace. A soul generated by love.”
-Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

COMMUNITY SERVICE: A DEFINITION

The purpose of the community service requirement is mirrored by the APS mission: ‘Through a caring culture of equity, trust, and collaboration, every student will graduate ready for college, career, and life’. It is the hope that students will graduate with an awareness of the multiple needs of the community, a sense of moral obligation to help those less fortunate and the desire to make their community a better place in which to live.

MAKING YOUR VOLUNTEER HOURS COUNT

Community Service refers to service that a person performs for the benefit of his or her local community. To reap the most benefit from community service, students are encouraged to seek service opportunities that:

• Are aligned with their interests
• Encourage them to step outside of familiar environments and expand their horizons
• Will strengthen their sense of civic engagement and nationalism
• Will broaden their educational, developmental, and social goals
• Will contribute to them becoming responsible, active citizens

As an APS student, you should plan for, and reflect on your community service to reap the most benefit from service opportunities.

COMMUNITY SERVICE: GRADUATION REQUIREMENTS

For students in cohorts 2025 and beyond, earning ½ of a Carnegie unit, or 75 hours of community service, is the requirement for graduation from Atlanta Public Schools. To avoid procrastination, students in cohorts 2025 and beyond are strongly encouraged to complete a minimum of 20 community service hours per school year for three years, and complete 15 community service hours during the fourth and final year of high school (for a total of 75 hours over a four-year period) . Below is an example schedule of how students can remain on track to complete the community service graduation requirement.

*Students who enroll into APS after their freshman year should discuss a plan of action with their school counselor to meet the community service requirement for graduation.

INTERNAL COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

Community service opportunities are everywhere, you just have to be willing to pursue them. In-school community service is permissible and there are multiple opportunities for students to earn community service hours within their school community. Students who are members of extracurricular activities, clubs, and programs may be required to earn service hours as a part of their affiliation with that club, class, or program. Community service hours that are a requirement for other Atlanta Public Schools related clubs, classes, extracurricular activity or programs (e.g., Signature Programming/Diploma Program Students, JROTC, or Career Technical Student Organizations) shall also count towards the service hours for graduation requirement. Unless otherwise specified, it is not necessary for a student to complete community service hours in addition to the hours that have been set as a requirement for graduation.

Community service is an opportunity to give back and support the community. While some APS clubs, classes, and extracurricular programs require the completion of community service hours, only those hours that meet the district’s community service criteria will count toward graduation requirements. To ensure your service hours qualify, please check with your high school counselor or contact the Office of Student Services at communityservice@atlanta.k12.ga.us for more information.

In addition to the service opportunities that may be provided as a part of a school-based club, class, extracurricular activity, or program, students may also access additional service opportunities that are created, sponsored, and managed by a school staff member at their school. Each school is encouraged to build community service opportunities at the school-level that meet the following parameters and are aligned to one or more of the APS profile of a graduate indicators:

Examples of approved school or district-based service activities include, but are not limited to:

• Activities coordinated by an APS Parent Teacher Association (PTA)
• School and/or community beautification activities
• Planning and coordination of a food pantry/canned food drive/clothing drive/blood drive
• After-school peer tutoring
• Participation in Special Olympics or the Best Buddies Program
• Serves as designated school-based student leaders with specific functions and tasks (e.g., Student Ambassadors, JROTC, Peer Leaders)
• As a school-based student leader, community service functions and tasks must be approved by the Office of Student Services for student community service hours to count toward graduation requirements.
• School-based club sponsors should contact Maria Grovner, communityservice@atlanta.k12.ga.us, in the Office of Student Services if they have any questions about the type of opportunities they offer and if they are qualifying community service opportunities.
• If schools would like to partner with the Office of Student Services and identify school-based opportunities to offer students, please contact the Office of Student Services, communityservice@atlanta.k12.ga.us to schedule a meeting.

Examples of non-approved school or district-based service activities include, but are not limited to:

• Purchasing items or donating items for food or clothing drives
• Participation in surveillance testing or monitoring activities
• COVID-19 testing or donating blood for a blood drive
• Taking a universal academic, social, emotional, behavioral screeners
• Participation in general surveys
• Working for or volunteering at a hotel/motel
• Working for or volunteering at a for-profit small business (i.e., food truck)
• Volunteering for an organization that is not a registered as non-profit or does not hold a 501(C) (3) status

For questions about qualifying community service activities, please contact your high school counselor or contact the Office of Student Services, communityservice@atlanta.k12.ga.us. In the subject line type the following: “Qualifying Community Service Opportunities” to direct your inquiry to the appropriate person.

EXTERNAL COMMUNITY SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

COMMUNITY ORGANIZATION REQUIREMENTS

Organizations who have been established for a minimum of 1 year and have been recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as tax exempt and non-profit under Section 501 (c) (3) of the Internal Revenue Code for a minimum of 1 year meet the minimum eligibility criteria as an APS approved community service organization. Non-profit organizations may include, but are not limited to, religious entities, charitable organizations, civic organizations, or other nonprofit organizations that are otherwise created for scientific, literary, or educational purposes. Examples of non-profit organizations may include, but are not limited to, homeless shelters, boy scouts, girl scouts, food pantries, or humane organizations.

SERVICE GUIDELINES

VOLUNTEERING WITH INDEPENDENT AGENCIES OR BUSINESSES

If you question whether an activity or service placement meets the eligibility criteria for you to earn community service hours, you should talk to your school counselor before the student participates in the activity. Students will need to speak with LeShon Favors, Leshon.Favors@atlanta.k12.ga.us to learn what documents are required to qualify an organization as an approved community service organization. To access the link to provide additional information, please click here. Pre-approval is required by APS if hours were completed prior to August 1, 2024, and if students did not go through Tiersphere to register for a service opportunity. The organization must be verified prior to the approval of external hours.

TIERSPHERE: COMMUNITY SERVICE TRACKING AND MONITORING EASE

To aid students and schools in the tracking and monitoring of community service hours, the district has partnered with Tiersphere. Tiersphere is the district selected web application used to post, find, track, and mobilize individuals to better impact their communities. Students may access Tiersphere via the portal which is located within MyBackpack. This platform will allow students to research and connect with local service opportunities who need volunteers. To allow students and parents access to monitor service hours in real time, organizations who offer service opportunities are encouraged to contact Tiersphere at help@tiersphere.com or Ashley McGroder at amcgroder@tierpshere.com directly. To enroll an organization into Tiersphere, this link https://tinyurl.com/yv935fh4 should be shared with the partnering organization for verification and approval. Students may perform community service within any organization which meets the community organization requirements. Upon completion of service hours with an organization that is not currently enrolled into Tiersphere, students should present documentation on the organization’s letterhead of the details of service (community service contact name, phone number and address of the organization, dates and hours of service, total hours of service completed, brief description of service tasks completed) to the school counselor for submission to Tiersphere.

NOTIFICATION OF SERVICE OPPORTUNITIES

In addition to locating potential service opportunities within the Tiersphere app, students may also independently seek community service opportunities. Depending on one’s interest, community service projects are everywhere. Students may choose to search service opportunities online; below are a few websites that may assist students in securing placements, however, if a student secures a placement that is not currently within Tiersphere, the school can initiate adding the organization into Tiersphere and/or the student can provide the organization with the link above to directly enroll into Tiersphere. The student should wait until the organization has been added to the Tiersphere platform before beginning a service project with that organization. If an organization chooses not to onboard with Atlanta Public Schools, the schools will agree to take on the responsibility of verifying, uploading, and approving student community service hours into Tiersphere.

Students will not have the ability to upload their community service hours into the platform. Students can only register for future opportunities within Tiersphere, and only club sponsors or event organizers have the ability to approve hours for APS students.

*Students are encouraged to register for an opportunity prior to leaving an event.

COMMUNITY SERVICE UPDATES

Beginning August 1, 2025, all events must be registered within the Tiersphere platform. All service opportunities must go through the APS/Tiersphere verification process and the onboarding process with Tiersphere prior to hosting a community service opportunity. All school-based activities must be posted on the platform prior to a scheduled event to allow students to register in advance. All hours and opportunities must be approved and tracked through the Tiersphere platform for students to receive credit. Please check with your high school counselor or the Office of Student Services to learn more about the community service changes beginning in the school year 2025-2026.

CHANGES TO COMMUNITY SERVICE REQUIREMENTS

Starting in the 2025-2026 school year, the following changes will take effect:

• Paper submissions for community service are no longer accepted. All service hours must be recorded through Tiersphere. For service hours not completed through a verified organization within the platform, students are responsible for submitting documents (i.e., EIN letter, letterhead explaining the hours completed and context supporting the event, and contact information for the organization) to school personnel. Once the hours are verified by school personnel, school personnel will upload student hours onto the Tiersphere platform.
• Community service participation will be a required component for all applicable programs. All school-based clubs and organizations are required to host at least one onsite community service opportunity each semester. 
• Use of the district’s preferred community service app, Tiersphere, will be mandatory for logging and tracking service hours for all APS students.

For more information or assistance with Tiersphere (i.e., accessing your account, getting Tiersphere credentials), please contact Tiersphere at help@tiersphere.com. To ensure your request is directed to the appropriate team member, please include one of the following in the subject line of your email:

• APS Student
• APS Parent 
• APS Counselor/Teacher 
• APS School-Based Club Sponsor 
• APS Potential Partner 
• APS Current Partner 
• APS Stakeholder

STUDENT LOGIN CREDENTIALS FOR TIERSPHERE

Students will not create their own login credentials. All credentials are automatically generated using the information provided in Infinite Campus.

• Student usernames for the platform are their school-issued email addresses. 
• Student passwords are their lunch identification numbers.

EXAMPLE LOGIN:

• Username: JDoe1234@apsk12.org
• Password: 123456

If you experience any login issues or need assistance accessing the platform, please contact Tiersphere at help@tiersphere.com with the following subject line in your email:

• HELP! Login Support Requested

TIERSPHERE TRAINING SUPPORT

To schedule a community service training with the Office of Student Services, please contact the Office of Student Services, communityservice@atlanta.k12.ga.us. Training for all APS staff can take place throughout the year, but all high schools must schedule an initial Tiersphere training session before the first day of school. It is recommended that a principal, assistant principal, business manager, or counselor schedule this training session with Maria Grovner in the Office of Student Services. If you are not the current principal or assistant principal of your school, please ensure you copy your principal and assistant principal in the email when you schedule all training sessions.

COMMUNITY SERVICE IMPACT REPORT

The Office of Student Services, in collaboration with the Office of Research and Evaluation, will produce a quarterly Community Service Impact Report for the district. This report will provide insights into the impact of community service initiatives across schools and highlight their contributions to the community. Each quarter, APS stakeholders will receive community service updates. This information will be listed on the APS website.

Students may access the following sites by clicking on the links below to locate local service opportunities. For all opportunities selected that are not listed in Tiersphere, school personnel will verify the hours completed by students and upload the hours onto the Tiersphere platform.

https://volunteer.handsonatlanta.org/

https://www.atlantaparent.com/where_to_volunteer_as_a_family_in_atlanta/

https://365atlantatraveler.com/service-projects-for-kids-in-atlanta/

https://kidsthatdogood.com/news/five-volunteer-opportunities-teens-atlanta/

https://www.upparent.com/lists/volunteer-opportunities-for-kids-in-atlanta

If you are a counselor, to learn how to upload opportunities in Tiersphere, please click here for more information.

STUDENT SUCCESS GUIDELINES

Remember that at your community service agency, you are not only representing yourself, you are representing Atlanta Public Schools. You are responsible for arriving at the given location on time, wearing the appropriate attire aligned to the service task, and respecting all the rules and regulations of the agencies with whom you are volunteering.

APPEARANCE & DRESS
Your personal appearance is considered very important. A standard of dress reflecting your community service status is equally important. The service project and location will largely determine how a student should dress. For example, a student who is helping to build homes with Atlanta Habitat for Humanity, tackle urgent needs through Hands On Atlanta, or prepare food with Project Open Hand would likely dress very differently for service than a student who is volunteering for the Ronald McDonald House or Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta. Students are encouraged to inquire with the service agency or the school counselor if they have questions regarding appropriate dress. Students should also practice good hygiene when participating in service.

SERVICE ACCOUNTABILITY
Your service hours should be submitted and maintained in accordance with the district's recommended specifications. School personnel, including but not limited to school counselors and graduation coaches, will engage in conversations annually with students about their status towards achieving the 75 hours. School staff are available to provide support to students, however, satisfying the APS community service requirement is the responsibility of the student.

BENEFITS
You will benefit from your volunteering by building on your leadership, communication, and decision-making skills. You will also learn a lot about yourself. This will help you develop academically by being able to integrate your learning experiences with practical experiences. At the same time, others will benefit from your volunteerism.

CHAPERONES
If an adult chaperone is required for a student to complete community service hours at a specific location, the student is responsible for securing the chaperone prior to signing on as a community service volunteer.

STUDENT BEHAVIOR
Remember that you represent your school and district when you are out in the community. Your actions are a reflection on you and your school. Any misbehavior or unlawful activity while on a volunteer assignment within the community may be reported to the local authorities and/or your School Principal, and may be addressed according to the APS Code of Conduct.

TRANSPORTATION
You are responsible for obtaining your own transportation to and from service opportunities. Atlanta Public Schools does not assume liability for any student traveling to and from service opportunities.

PERSONAL ACCOUNTABILITY
Although you are giving your time, your service agency is counting on you to be prompt and dependable to aid them in accomplishing their goals. Unless an emergency arises that prevents you from attending or participating in the agreed upon schedule for service, you are expected to attend and participate.

COMPENSATION
No monetary compensation is permitted for work done for community service;community service is unpaid.