We are truly appreciative and grateful for our volunteers!!
At ALL schools - volunteers are there to make our childrens lives and their communities a better place!!
What A Great Gift!!

Well, I don't have much to say, except that I agree with most that volunteering is supposed to be on a "volunteer" basis. I don't believe that you can get the best out of people by making the do something that they don't want to do.

closetwriter, it's good to "see" you again. I've been gone for awhile and miss your wit & humor.

K&K I do understand your point if they are not required to attend your school and they know the volunteer contract and it works good for you but at our public school it just wouldn't. I guess it is based upon a school to school volunteers. Good luck with how you work your volunteers but most of all be happy with the ones you have.

Attending our Charter school is completely by choice.
Nobody is districted or forced in anyway to attend our school.
Anyone who shows any interest in attending the school is informed of the volunteer requirement and agrees to it or they would not register their child.
There are many different ways that a person can
volunteer even from home (making phone calls, cutting shapes etc...)we try to accomodate all schedules and any hardships.
Any family member (Grandma, Grandpa, Aunt, Uncle etc..) can contribute to your childs time.
NO VOLUNTEER is left alone with the students for obvious safety precautions.
We are blessed to live in a country where we have choices!!

I am the PTO co-president of a charter school in Florida.
We require 20 hours of volunteer time per family each school year.
The family must sign a contract saying that they are willing to take on this responsibility when they enroll their child at the beginning of each school year.
If they do not meet the requirement at the end of the school year then they are asked to return to their districted school.
Our principal is very generous on what is considered volunteer time (even having lunch with your child counts!)
The goal is to get the families involved and show their children how important their education is.
It worked wonderfully last year- very few students were asked not to return this school year based on broken contracts.
We have a waiting list of families willing to gladly fufill this obligation and then some!!

I'm not taking a side for or against this, but it's more likely to work in a situation where families are voluntarily or, or even eagerly, choosing the school.

Charter schools - at least where we live - are more like private schools in that regard. Families are proactively trying to get into those schools. So if a small number of volunteer hours is part of the conditions for enrolling my child, I wouldn't have a problem with that.