Palomares Parent Teacher Club

Room Parent Committee

Coordinator: Jean Mufty

This committee is a wonderful way to directly aid the teachers in the classroom. Each teacher has many needs during the school week, and usually a list of activities that can be done in the evenings. The members of this committee will work with the teachers to understand what they need, recruit parental assistance and communicate back to the PPTC any financial requirements. Classroom parties and field trips are coordinated through this committee.

The time commitment will vary from a few hours weekly for some room parents to a few hours a year for those helping after school.

The Coordinator Guide can be downloaded in MS Word format or viewed online below. All of the guides share a common Forward.

Room Parents Committee Description

The Room Parents Committee is responsible for supporting the teachers. Room Parents help out in the classroom under the direction of the teacher. They also help organize field trips, parties, and on-campus events for their class. Room Parents are the liaison between the teacher and the parents of the students in their class. As such, they promote information flow out to the parents, and solicit help from parents as needed. This committee also manages a budget for classroom supplies, field trips, and other material support.

The Room Parents Committee works in cooperation with other PPTC committees that need publicity or participation from parents and/or students. For example, the Fine Arts Committee holds a Fine Arts Festival and needs extra help from parents in the classroom.

Structure

This committee is comprised of the Room Parents and a Coordinator. There should be at least 2 Room Parents for each class. The Coordinator can be one of the Room Parents, or not. Thus the total membership for this committee is about 12 parents (or a few more).

Time Commitment

This committee is great for parents who love to be involved in their child's educational experience and have the time to do so. The time commitment varies considerably depending on the individual teacher's preferences and the grade. The younger grades (K, 1, 2) typically involve more in-class time than the older grades. Estimate about 3 hours per week per room Parent for the younger grades, tapering off dramatically to about 3 hours per month as the kids get older.

Duties

The specific duties of the Room Parents will vary according to the teacher, but will largely encompass the following:

Assist the teacher in the classroom with lessons, homework folders, photocopying, etc.
Help recruit 2-3 parents from the class to serve on the Events Committee.
Help keep parents informed regarding upcoming parties, field trips, book fairs, food drives, fundraisers, and other events. Send home fliers from other PPTC committees or make up your own for classroom-specific activities.
Organize classroom parties. Circulate a signup sheet among the parents to bring treats and to help out. Acquire serving supplies (plates, cups, napkins) as needed from the Hospitality Committee.
Help organize field trips. Recruit chaperones. Ensure that all permission slips, medical releases, and other paperwork have been completed and turned in. Collect all fees.
Notify the Health and Safety Coordinator whenever a student leaves or joins the class. Each student needs to have a Disaster Preparedness Pack.
Coordinate with the Hospitality Committee for Teacher Appreciation Week.
Meet with the teacher either before or early in the school year to learn the teacher's expectations from the Room Parents. Maintain a library of start-of-year forms and notifications for each teacher, updating each year as needed. Assemble a package of such paperwork to send home with parents at the start of the school year.
Act as a liaison between the teacher and the PPTC Board. Communicate teacher wish-list items, anticipated expenses, material needs (like paper), and any concerns that may arise over the course of the year.
Participate in the budget process. Then monitor classroom expenses versus the budget.
Report to the Board on a monthly basis.

Operation

It is up to the discretion of the Coordinator as to how to run this committee. Most of the committee's work will be done right around the time school starts in the fall, getting organized, getting paperwork together and distributed, and recruiting parents to help out in various capacities. For the remainder of the year the committee's business can probably be conducted substantially via email.

In large part, this committee acts as a support group where Room Parents can share knowledge and ideas. New Room Parents can certainly benefit from those who have been around a long time - a priceless resource when the going gets rough.

Some helpful tips for Room Parents:

DON'T try to do everything yourself. Enlist help from the parents.
Try to get every family to help out in some way over the course of the year.
Be tactfully persistent. If a family says that they cannot help with the current party, ask if they can help with the next one, for example.
Keep parties short and simple. Bring a large garbage bag for cleanup.
Make up a phone tree for calling parents.
Call chaperones the night before a field trip to verify that they are coming. Try to have backup chaperones available in case of last minute conflicts or no-shows.

Schedule

The schedule for the committee itself is concentrated at the beginning of the school year. After that, the committee mainly serves as an information conduit, though it will periodically allocate supplies and funds to the classrooms on an as-needed basis.

The specific schedule for Room Parents will vary from class to class. Follow the teacher's lead.

Resources

Teacher-specific Room Parent materials for the start of the school year.