Year after year, we have the same Moms being the room parent. I think the rest of us are daunted because we don't know what is expected. I am currently doing a "Everything you Need to KNOW About ____" for our PTO. When I asked some RMs they just said everything/anything. When I asked some teachers they said "we don't want to impose so anything would be great".
So I have nothing specific for our "notebook". Can you post your notebook for all us NewBees--PLEASE!!!
Zog, i like this teir system alot.
We have a room parent coordinator/volunteer coordinator (me) that is on the board. i am running into a couple of teachers that would rather not have room parents because they say they would rather plan the party themselves and just buy the stuff themselves instead of adding to the other fliers that parents don't read, and asking for money that you probably won't get. we are a LOW income school, and that has been the case. i asked for $1.00 from 19 parents last year and got 7 (2 from one parent who is my best friend and felt sorry for me, and another from the teacher). It is hard when my role is to promote involvement and volunteerism and all that and then have a teacher say no thanks. Out of 32 teachers about 5 have said they would rather do without. As a parent, it would hurt my feelings not to be able to do things or even be asked. but at the same time, i do see where they are coming from.
Don't know if this gives you any new ideas, but our PTO has several tiers to Room Parents. First, we have the Grade Coordinator, who sits on the Board and has many responsibilities. One of the things that this person does is to oversee the Grade Chairs.
Each grade level has a Grade Chair. The Grade Chairs oversee the Room Parents for their particular Grade.
Information gets passed to the Grade Coordinator, who passes it directly to the Grade Chairs, who then pass it directly to the Room Parents.....which goes to the parents in that class.
The Grade Coordinator, who sits on the board, selects the room parents for each class from the applications received. This person first selects parents who haven't been a room parent before, which is noted when parents first apply.
The Room Parents set up a meeting with the teacher in the first week to go over expectations and to find out what the teacher needs. During this meeting the Room Parents present the teacher with a packet of events/volunteer opportunities (prepared by the Grade Coordinator...same is used year after year, with few changes.)
The teacher then decides which parties to hold, which field trips they need help with, which events they want assistance/parents, etc. It seems to work for our school because it became a win-win situation for the room parents, the parents and the teacher. The teacher decides the amount of parent involvement for classroom pre-scheduled events and the parents know ahead of time the amount of involvement is required for the Room Parents and the other parents.
Incidentally, these packets of forms all require help from parents other than the Room Parents, so everyone can be involved if they want to be.
hello I am wondering more about your basket auction. How successful have you seen it been for your school and what all goes into it? Do you set a $ limit, do you have several baskets? What time of year do you do them, etc.... Thank you
