60 Room Mom Tips, page 2
Rallying Parent Support
16. Sharing opportunities and duties with all interested parents as equitably as possible is very important. Some parents may have time to give, while others would prefer to give donations rather than time.
17. Rotate the people you call on to make sure you give every parent a chance to help out.
18. Offer options for working parents or those with young children who can pitch in from home like preparing materials and purchasing supplies.
19. Build rapport with each family in your class. This will go a long way to creating a warm community feeling and will help in securing volunteer needs.
20. Put the power into the other parents' hands. If you organize online, parents can sign up with someone they know or swap responsibilities without you as the middleman. SAMPLE
21. Always recruit for ongoing support needs like carpool help, class readers, science lab, material preparation, and recess supervisors.
Sample Sign Ups
22. Enlist an Assistant Room Mom to help fill in when responsibilities get to be too much to handle or you have a scheduling conflict.
23. It's your role to motivate the other class parents. Some school volunteering options won't sound very appealing. Explain to parents why they are necessary!
24. If the response to a request is less than favorable, inform the teacher. He or she may have an alternate solution for the event or activity.
25. Be a decision-maker. It's good to ask for input from other parents. Yet, when it comes down to it, be willing and able to make a final call.
26. If conflict arises with other parents, work to diffuse the issue quickly. Show empathy for any concerns that have been brought to your attention but don't feed into any unnecessary drama.
27. Find out what special skills, hobbies, or family traditions each parent would be willing to share with the class. Share your findings with the teacher so she or he can weave this into lessons.
28. Be a resource for other parents. Let your families know that if they have any questions or concerns that you are available to help get them the answers.
29. Show your support for school fundraisers and encourage others to follow suit. Send brief but frequent updates to parents to show them how the hard work makes an impact!
30. Having trouble getting parents to step up? Here are some great ways to boost parental involvement in your classroom and school!
Recent Resource Articles
Just a note to say how much I love SignUpGenius. I'm coaching a team from Team-in-Training that is fundraising and training to ride 100 miles around Lake Tahoe to benefit The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. We have weekly training rides that need volunteer support and a need to get RSVP's from the cyclists so I know who will show up at team rides. Using SignUpGenius, I have ride support volunteers for almost all our rides through early May. This has been like pulling teeth in the past. It was so simple to set up and send out and easy for the volunteers to sign up.
Art Saffran