I am also working on the room parent idea. I was excited to see alot of good ideas here. In addition to the things you have listed, have any of you had the R.P. contact the parents of the students in their class to recruit volunteers for PTO events? Last year a couple of people made phone calls in search of vol's for PTO events and it was not very successful. So I was thinking that the R.P. will get to know their parents and which ones will volunteer for things and also build a relationship with those parents. Therefore, the R.P. would be more successful at recruiting vol's than one or two people trying to call parents that they don't know. I was thinking of having 2 R.P. per class to tackle this task along with a few other tasks. I realize that R.P. can't be the only people recruiting new vol's, but it will take all of us working together to get this job done. What are your thoughts on this idea?
totally! At our schools, we have some very indulgent parents, and everyone wants their kid to be in that class! The drawback to it is the class across the hall is watching Santa Clause, his sleigh, the live nativity and choir, and the schmorgasboard get hauled into Mrs. Lucky's class as they sit before a napkin with a half a twinkie and cup of water. [img]smile.gif[/img] Our principals actually handle these 'special requests' from room parents with the focus on keeping things reasonable.
So, I would suggest a two-fold response: ask your principal to take the veto role on special classroom events that room parents propose (take the PTO out of the loop there). Let the principal inform them of PTO protocol with regard to financial requests as well, or send them to the PTO Board.
Second, ask for a grade level coordinator from each grade to rep at meetings. Or at least install these folks for an easy 'call tree' style of communication and then dole out the communication lead to someone on the board. This role is simply to inform and request on PTO related stuff, not class parties and the like.
How do you all feel about there being a "LEAD" Room Mom who sits on the PTO Board. That way, the Room Moms have their own committee and their own leader.
We seem to have Room Moms that do way too much (guilty as charged last year) and others who do wy too little. We even had a couple of Room Moms who seemed to get pleasure out of cirumventing the PTO completely and just doing their own thing. One in particular decided to coordinate a field trip for her entire grade and then handed us receipts and a check request for $850 on the last day of school. We're not going to give her that, of course because the expense was never approved, but it's all getting out of hand.
The current bright idea to resolve this is for a LEAD ROOM MOM to be appointed and she controls her committee. I'm sorta numb to the idea right now and was wondering if you guys could come up with some pros and cons.. and a possible worst case scenario so we can prepare ourselves!! Ha Ha..
But I think the one thing that gets me is that if I want to take $100 of my own money and throw my daughter's class a really rockin' holiday party, I should be able to with the teacher's consent. I shouldn't have to worry about what the other classes and Room Moms are doing. My role as an indulgent, over the top mother is completely seperate from my role as PTO Treasurer & FUndraising Chair. I don't want someone managing the part of me that gives as a Mother would to her child. Am I making sense?
It's a simple list of questions that each teacher/parapro fill out at the beginning of the year to give the R.P. ideas for gift buying. Here are some examples:
When is your birthday? (month and day)
What is your favorite color?
What is your favorite resteraunt?
and you can ask for favorite perfume, store to get a gift cert., shirt size, hobbies & interests, books, etc. etc.
Re: Teachers Lounge
I know that we (parents) are off limit in the staff meetings unless we're scheduled to be there for an announcement. But since when (and what teachers have time to) hang out in the teachers lounge talking about kids? There's hardly anyone ever in the teachers lounge, and it's not sacred space at our schools. Volunteers are actually told to pick up or drop off dishes or donations there (by our administration). We (the PTO) set up food for them and use the space for special events during Teacher Appreciation week.
Teachers shouldn't talk about kids in front of parents period. Whether in the classroom, hallway, or lounge.
Re: Room Parent Backlash
This is definitely a sign that those teachers need some help defining the role of a room parent (which is a staff development thing for the admin). If I were a teacher and had an overzeleous parent, I would put them in the hallway to cut stuff out or send them to make copies...if that doesn't work...This can be done with the help of the administration in a tactful way...maybe telling that parent that the media center would really appreciate their help. everyday. from 9-2 [img]smile.gif[/img] Most schools would kill to get parents like that!
I think it's really counterproductive to cut off room parenting or younger siblings from parties because of a few bad experiences. When parents are wounded from a bad experience or sense that they're not welcome, they won't come asking to help again.
Any other ideas for Room Parent training? The ones above are great!
Hey! We hae a teacher lounge and a teacher workroom but the lounge has the bathrooms and a fridge and snack machine. Our teachers don't gather there or anything, they always go to the workroom cause it is bigger and has a nice table and stuff. Our parents don't hang out int he lounge, just go because of the bathrooms. But I understand your point. We certainly wouldn't want any issues with that.
The only task our homerm parent provides, IF the teacher wants it at all, is to organize class parties/supplies.
Its up to the teacher to decide how much parental involvement is allowed in the classroom proper and if parties will be hosted at all so it varies greatly at our school from class to class.
Some parents went way overbaord (some homerm moms visited the class on a daily basis to 'help out')so there was a backlash and some teachers dont have them at all.
BTW, why does a volunteer need to know where the teachers lounge is? THis a staff area, off limits to non staff, becuase of the nature of infos that are exchanged there, about students, etc. No parents allowed!!
You wouldnt want infos about your child shared inadvertently or overheard, by other parents would you?
