Our school doesn't have room parents at all. They don't even "officially" have any type of holiday parties. Teachers handle parties individually by sending home treat/volunteer request forms. In December, some teachers have a "winter party" before winter break. It's all in the spirit of togetherness and celebration, no matter how you label it.

At first I thought the idea of no room parents was odd, but now I really like it. No one is (or feels) excluded, and everyone has a chance to lend a hand.

Sheila
Co-Pres

Wow! It seems like your PTO might almost have too much control over classroom parties!! We have our sign ups in the fall at our meet the teacher night. The lists are in the teachers classrooms and parents can sign up to bring items to the parties or to help at the parties. Our parties generally consist of a craft, game and a treat. Sometimes there are goody bags that parents make up and send in. We are allowed to have as many parents as we would like at the parties. Generally there are 3-5 depending on the class. If parents were only "allowed" to sign up at the PTO meetings we would have no help at parties!! You must have great attendance at your PTO meetings which is a great thing. In some classes we do have to almost beg for help while in others there is more than enough. The PTO has nothing to do with field trip chaperones- and I"m glad about that!! The teachers handle that and they see that anyone who wants a chance gets a chance to chaperone. It is so interesting to hear what other schools do!! Thanks for sharing!

We do things a little differently, although I don't know if that's a good thing or not!
The only involvement the PTO has "in" the classroom is for the 2 parties held each year. Halloween and Valentine's. (the school doesn't allow any other holiday celebration because of "religous beliefs", although personally, Halloween also would fall under this catagory, but let's not go there [img]smile.gif[/img] ). We hold sign ups during the monthly meeting that holiday falls on. This year we were only allow 2 parents for each room to help for Valentine's Day and 4 parents for Halloween. This did not go over well, but I had no say in the matter. That was the principals request.
The PTO provides the treats for all the classrooms. This is usually pizza and a drink. In the past, a few parents would go all out in their child's room and the principal put a stop to that. He felt it was not fair to other classrooms and that it made the other students feel bad that they didn't get to have the same things. You would be amazed at what some parents would bring in!
Anything else that goes on in the classrooms is done by the teachers. The PTO is not involved in this. It is up to the teacher to decide who she would like in her room to help.
I too would be interested in how others handle this. I have had a lot of complaints about having the sign up at the meetings, but I don't know how else to make it fair. I don't think it is fair to allow someone who has done very little to help with PTO activities all year, to be allowed to help with the parties over someone that has put in many hours into the PTO. The school as a whole does not have many opportunities for parents to help out in the classroom. If you don't have a teacher that likes to have parents come in and help, then the only time you get to do so, is for parties. I just don't know of a way to do it so it is fair for everyone. We also have field trips coming up where we need parent chaperones! Boy is this a nightmare! Sign ups will be at the next meeting, (which is a morning meeting), and after those in attendence that would like to go, sign up, then any openings are opened to the other members not in attendence. We allow 10 parents for each classroom, so most of the time, everyone that would like to go, gets too. Once in awhile it will come down to who help the most throughout the year.
If someone has a system that really works for them, please let me know! I am looking for anything that would make my job easier! I hate having to tell a parent they can't attend!

I have two children in two schools that handle this differently from each other:

Primary school - each child is asked to donate $5 to the party fund. All the money is pooled into the PTO account and that amount becomes the total funds available for the 4 parties. Each party is planned by the entire group of room parents, consistent from classroom to classroom. Items are purchased in bulk and redistributed for each class. So, basically, all the parties are the same. Volunteers who make purchases for the party submit their receipts to the PTO to be reimbursed.

Elementary School - the head room parent for each class collects $6 per student and keeps the total money on her own. She reimburses expenses from this cash stash. The hrp and other classroom parents plan their own unique party, and all classes have their parties simultaneously. So, depending on the budget and enthusiasm in each class, the parties vary widely from room to room.

The Chief Head Room parent reports at our PTO meetings. But there is no requirement that individual class's room parents or classroom volunteers must be PTO members.

We have sign up sheets at registration for each classroom. Parents can sign up for the head room parent position or put their name under many other areas that only require one time involvment. We have a VP that coordinates the program:finds head room parents for classes where no one signed up, provides hrp's with class list, copy of sign up sheet, and general information on what is acceptable for parties. Our hrp's coordinate classroom parties with their teacher, they also handle set up and staffing of a game booth at our spring carnival, and do the yearbook pages for their classroom. We explain all of the requirements on the sign up sheet so they know right from the beginning what they are getting into. One thing we did do differently this year was made the sign up sheet more detailed. The hrp used to have to call parents to bring stuff for parties and then call again with a reminder-this year they could sign up at registration and all the hrp has to do is make the reminder call and maybe find a person for a slot that wasn't filled. We also made areas where parents could sign up to do the yearbook page and to volunteer to work the spring carnival. I know as an hrp myself it has made life easier. I didn't even have to do my yearbook pages because a mom who scrapbooks signed up to do them! For the parties I just send notes home to the parents who signed up about a week before. You could try to break your duties down like we have. It may be easier and less stressful for the hrp's. It's worked for us!

Our room parents are not connected to the parent group, and neither are classroom volunteers. At the beginning of the school year the volunteer coordinator sends out forms listing the different volunteer positions in the school. The names are CORI checked and then given to the teachers. The teachers pick a room parent from the list, and decide when they want volunteers and what they want them to do. There is a wide variety- those who have no parents in at all to those who have a parent in almost every day.

Generally, it's the teachers who plan what they want for a party, and they give a list of what they need to the room parent, who calls everyone. The room parents aren't actually "planning" anything.

The parent group has no affilation with the room parents- we don't require meeting attendance or anything like that since we have no say in the matter. Of course all parents are by default "members" of the parent group, but not necessarily active members.