As a new volnteer coordinator I have been charged by our new pricipal to "organize" our room parents and get them all on the same page. I have held 2 meetings to go over party procedures, responsibilities, new nutrition guidelines, etc. I'm in the process of writing a guide book that can be a model from year to year. If anyone with experience is willing to share their thoughts or ideas as to what to include, it would be most appreciated. Right now I'm working from a 2 sided sheet that has been copied for what looks like the last 10 years as my starting point. Also if anyone is willing to share their guide books, I would be grateful.
We have had room mothers since the beginning of time so every year, in early May, we send out a flyer to every parent asking them to "return this form if you would like to be room mother". We usually get about half to 2/3 of them this way. (It's harder to recruit in Upper grades because they're tired of it!). Then, we just fill in the gaps in the late summer by calling parents and asking.
The nice thing about room mothers/parents is that THEY really are your connection to that particular grade. Sometimes we would contact, for example, the room mothers in third grade and ask them if third grade could send muffins, for example, for Grandparents' Day. Then, those room mothers would call other parents in Third Grade and solicit donations of muffins. Does that make sense?
I don't know what our teachers would do without room mothers. If we told them we were cutting it out, they would be lost!
I love the idea of the handbook, but was wondering how you got roomparents to begin with. Not all teachers are keen on the idea so I don't know if I presented it correctly or what. I'm a teacher and count on my parents that volunteer regularly to help me with lots of things, but I know some teachers don't want the help. Those of you that have 1-2 room parents per class, please tell me how you got it all started. Thanks!
Wow, this idea would not fly at our school. Not because of our principal, but because each teacher has a completely different scope of what/how and who for parents in the classroom. Some teachers promote having as many as parents as possible at parties, while another only wants one/two people to get the party ready and be in the class.
At our open house each fall, the teachers give a presentation about what is happening in their classroom and ask for the signups for parties, etc.
Oh my gosh, I created a room parent handbook from scratch but it's been 3 years. I have been a room mother for the past 9 years so I just tried to think like I had NO CLUE how to do it and went from there.
The main point I made in my handbook was to stay in touch with your teacher and stay in touch with your parents. Ask the teacher frequently what big events are coming up. I included some "do's and don't" such as "ask a variety of people to drive on field trips" (because some parents get feelings hurt when they arent'asked).
I included a section about how we get reimbursed for expenses and what their budget is. In the folder, I included the reimbursement sheets and a list of all room mothers.
We also include a blank "wish list" in each folder that the teacher can fill out that lists her preferences for things like perfume, favorite restaurants, colors, etc.
One important thing I have learned about recruiting volunteers: you have to ask. Most people will not "sign up" (afraid of commitment) but if you ask them directly, most will say yes. This is really true at our school; I cannot speak for all schools. Don't be afraid to just ASK. You may be surprised. We are a small school (340 in K3-8) and we have 2 room mothers for every classroom.
