I'm in Colorado and we are not allowed to grade papers, make copies, use the kitchen, and some parents have been asked NOT to come into the classroom without an appointment (they have been very disruptive and [this kills me] helping their children with tests)
One of the reasons we were given was it was a matter of confidencality (privacy) and insurance (machines). Our teachers have found many MANY areas to help that we can do at home ie. tear out workbook pages, make folder games, make cooked play dough, repair dress up items, wash towels used as mats, taking turns providing snacks.....
With my middle school student we are offered the chance to go on feild trips, lunch room duty, a couple of us have even offered to help our younger teachers help with their message board in the hall to make it fun and easy on him!

Sounds like to me they want job security, which is fair, I mean in this day who doesn't want that but I agree at the sametime don't cut the hand that feeds...or helps.

I'm not lawyer and a union is liable to have well qualified legal representations in any effort it undertakes.

Yes, talk to your principal. Once it's clear this is a real threat, as individual parents', I'd want to be very visible - attend school board meetings, write your congressional representatives, testify at city council meetings, etc.

No Child Left Behind is the federal reform act of 2001 "designed to improve student achievement and change the culture of America's schools." While I don't know that it protects your rights as firmly as you might wish, it does promote parental involvement. The union could possibly argue that parents can become involved without performing any of the restricted tasks. Meanwhile, at least it's one more "flag to waive".

Here's an excerpt from one of the pieces on parent involvement.

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No Child Left Behind supports parent involvement because research overwhelmingly demonstrates the positive effect that parent involvement has on their children's academic achievement (Clark 1983; Comer 1980, 1988; Eccles, Arbreton, et al., 1993; Eccles-Parsons, Adler and Kaczala 1982; Epstein 1983, 1984; Marjoribanks 1979 as cited in Eccles and Harold 1996). In the event a school is identified as needing improvement, corrective action or restructuring, the law requires the local education agency to notify parents accordingly and to explain to them how they can become involved in school-improvement efforts. In any event, the law requires the same agency to provide parents with local report cards, which include data on each individual school in the district, as described earlier. Thus, parents have up-to-date information about their child's school, which they can use in whatever manner they choose to be involved. Parents may help their child's school in a number of ways, including: Attending parent-teacher meetings or special meetings to address academic problems at the school; volunteering to serve as needed; encouraging other parents to become involved; and learning about the school's special challenges, community resources and the No Child Left Behind Act. In addition, parents should take advantage of the increased flexibility given local decision-makers by No Child Left Behind and talk with their school board members, principals and other state and local education leaders about which programs they think will help their students the most.

In addition, the law has other specific requirements on parent involvement that include the following:

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• Each state education agency must support the collection and dissemination of information on effective parent involvement practices to local education agencies and schools.</font>
• The law in Title I spells out specific measures that local education agencies and schools receiving Title I funds must take to ensure parent involvement in significant areas, including: overall planning at the district and school levels; written policies on parent involvement at both levels; annual meetings; training; coordinating parent involvement strategies among federal education programs (i.e., Title I, Head Start and Reading First); and evaluating those strategies and revising them if needed.</font>
• Schools that have schoolwide programs must involve parents in developing plans for such programs--that is, programs designed to raise the achievement of low-achieving students in high-poverty Title I schools by improving instruction throughout the entire school (thus using Title I funds to serve all children).</font>
• The law provides for involvement of parents of private schools students served by various federal education programs such as Title I.</font>

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Here's the main web site: www.nclb.gov/index.html

[ 08-31-2003, 03:56 PM: Message edited by: JHB ]

Hi PTO Mayor... I don't know what your legal rights are but in order for the union to stop volunteers from being in the classrooms it would have to go before your school board first. Sounds like they are trying to chnage policy or come up with a new one...the district HAS to approve what they want first. No union can legally go over your boards head(they are the governing body for policies...etc.) Your principal might be able to help a little with this but don't expect much at all as this is really between union and school. I would try meeting with your principal state your concerns and then if the answers arent there go to your board. My husband serves on our district board and all union matters along this line has to be approve by them. I find it hard to believe that any school board will put parents in this spot...stoping volunteers is a HUGE thing and can backfire if the board makes the wrong move!! Good Luck!!

I have yet to see this problem posted. I'm the PTO president for a small district (elementary and middle school). The members of the classified staff for both schools (this means teacher's aides, office workers and custodians) have recently joined a union. Just as recently, our school has experienced major state budget cuts and had to make serious cuts in the district budget. As a result, one classified staff member lost her job, and hours were cut in other classified staff positions. Many teachers were handed out pink slips, but they managed to find jobs elsewhere.

The problem: apparently, the classified staff union, in protest of the district's cuts, wants to put a stop to any person coming onto either campus and doing a task that could be done by the classified staff (making copies, correcting papers, etc.). If they are to get their way, this would be the end of parent volunteers in the classroom (unless we want to just observe the classroom). As you can imagine, we parents are outraged.

What are our legal rights? We are a non-profit organization.