Hey SHC...I'm a new PTO pres and we're starting room parents this coming year. The principal has asked me to develop a handbook/set of guidelines for this. Any chance I could get a copy of what you hand out? Thanks... This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
As V.P. last year, I was the room mother coordinator, plus I've been a room mother for years. We do the usual stuff, plan the class parties, find drivers for field trips, etc. I think another good way to use room mothers is to help find volunteers. For example, we might say--the first grade is responsbile for staffing volunteers at the spaghetti dinner from 6-9 on Thursday night. I think it's an effective way to reach the entire school. We are a private school and actually have a "room mother fund" which is kind of an odd concept: every parent is required to pay an activity fee and out of that money comes about $25 worth of room mother money. It's used to pay for a back to school party, an end of the year party and various other little celebrations throughout the year. The schoool accountant oversees this money. We are a private school which probably explains this situation. It works OK for us because we aren't always trying to collect $5 worth of pizza money from 35 kids. We just pay for it out of room mother fund.
Also, we have a room mother orientation meeting right before school starts. We hand out a little notebook with all the info they need in it. I think it's really necessary for new parents, as they are clueless.
