start by asking your teachers what exactly they want a room parent to do. then you can do a flier of what each position requires.

after each event, we create a "lessons learned" page. this gives us a legacy as well as a paper trail of what works and what doesn't work for the next person that heads up any event. it includes contacts, vendor info, pricing etc...

Hi and welcome!

Although a daunting task, I agree with your principal that this is a move in a positive direction. I am in a school where we also have no set " handbook" for volunteers, although our board, and the principal and other admins' are very close, and have been for the 9 + years I have been at the school.

Although I have always wanted to create better guidelines, time has always prevented me from going that extra 10 miles to do so. The few " job descriptions" I have done, have come out of difficult situations with volunteers, and I have done so out of necessity.


I think by having clear-cut guidelines, it may help reduce some of the in-fighting, and gray area. It will also put all the teachers on a more level playing field, because each will receive comparable volunteer assistance.

Having said that, the REALITY is that some volunteers have more time to give, some teachers LIKE having more help than others, and of course matching personalities, and how those relationships evolve, are all things you CAN'T control.

Most importantly, it is a VOLUNTEER position in a public school, and youare at the mercy of the people who chose to help. It is not something like Junior League where you pay dues for the privilege of being assigned X # of hours of community service a year.

If you make your " guidelines" too stringent, I think you will scare people away. I would tend to make them ALL simple and brief, thereby satisfying the request of the Principal. That also leaves room for a little creativity.

I have also said somewhere in another thread that we have changed our language to " volunteer opportunity".. rather than " WE ( the board) need people to help US"... that has changed the focus to the kids ( which is why we are all there).... as opposed to people resenting us and not wanted to help " those cliquey women". We have had AMAZING positive results with this, in just a few months.

So, each of your pages can say " Volunteer Opportunity for Room Parent, or Field Day, or whatever you do.

Hello All,

I have just discovered this wonderful site and have been doing searches and reading through the boards. There is a wealth of information here and I am already so appreciative.

I am the volunteer coordinator of a school that has a PTA history of infighting on the board and with the principal. From what I've been reading, you all know the long hard haul to change things for the positive. VC is not a board elected position although some on the board look to me for much input and as a sounding board. I enjoy being at school, I also substitute. But at times I feel so overwhelmed.

We have a new 1st year principal who has, and rightly so in my opinion, asked for a policy/procedure binder to be created for all board positions, committee chairs, events, etc. I was shocked to find the only resource was the PTA bylaws with the general brief descriptions.

I have decided to start with not only outlining what responsibilites I have, but also organizing and detailing Room Parent and Coordinators duties. It seems that these have been handled by word of mouth or by individual teacher preference. Our principal would like everything spelled out and detailed so each parent will know what to expect from year to year and that someone new would be able to see what is expected from the start.

I guess what I am asking for is any help or guidance regarding room coordinators and parents. If you have any other ideas on where to go next with this I would appreciate the suggestions. Basically all volunteer opportunites in our school have nothing in writing as to what to expect or what is expected.

I look forward to enjoying the wealth of knowledge of this site for years to come.

Thank you,
Michelle This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.