Wow! That's fantastic that you would have more than one parent ready to dive in! That is usually not the case at a lot of schools.
Most of the parents in all of my kids classes are pretty social with each other outside of school. So durring the summer, we're usually talking about this sort of thing with each other. When school starts, we already know who is volunteering for room parent. We have the same sign up system at the first parents meeting. A list is out for each class with a spot open for head room parent and then several spots for helpers. There is always a parent would like to help, but can not be available to be at school durring the day. But, if asked, they would gladly send in paper plates and napkins for a party. Having a list of helpers makes it easier on the head room parent to know who she can count on.
Our parent group really does not get involved with room parents other than providing a pack of helpful info to each at the beginning of the year...things like the guideline set by the principal regarding parties, which month their grade is responsible for coving playground duty and some tips on successful class projects for the auction.
Thanks for the suggestions! I really like the idea of sharing the duties between two parents so in case one cannot fulfill their duties there's always a backup.
In my daughters classroom we actually had 2 roomparents. Myself and another parent. We worked together in such an awesome way. The ultimate goal is to provide a great resource for the teacher and we never let her down. The kids parties were always well prepared for because we had 2 people working together. The other roomparent and I continually emailed back and forth our plans and even between the teacher. We had a great communication. Our parents were also the greatest. They always came through when we needed volunteers.
The former president's method does have merit -- first come, first served. If a parent wants the room parenting spot bad enough, he/she will demonstrate it by arriving to the meeting early.
Other ways to select a room parent:
* Any parent who is already handling a time-consuming or important volunteer position at the school is disqualified from also being a room parent that year. For example, if a parent is chairing the school carnival, he/she would not be allowed to also be a room parent.
* Allow each homeroom teacher to select their own room parent.
* Split the room parenting job in two by semester so that two parents in each homeroom class get an opportunity to be room parent.
* Split the room parenting job by task so that multiple parents get an opportunity to room parent
* Interview the teachers before the meeting regarding the performance of their former room parents. Disqualify any parent based on poor past performance from being room parent. Require these parents to complete one year of other volunteer service in a satisfactory manner before being allowed to room parent again.
* Put the names of all interested parents in a hat and draw for the room parent position.
Our teachers choose the room moms/parents. They usually talk to parents at meet the teacher night. A few of the teachers didn't have a parent willing to do it. The PTP does not get involved in that at our school.
I'm the new president for my elementary school PTA and was approached by a parent at a school function. She wanted to know how I was going to go about selecting a homeroom parent when there are multiple people willing to do the job. Apparently, the former president decided to pick the one who got to open house early and signed the list first. How do you all handle the selection in order to be fair?
