How does your school/sport handle required parent volunteer work?

[Anonymous]

Our school and the kids' sports require a certain number of parent volunteer hours. All well and good. Before this year, it was by family, and now it's by parent, so double. Sort of still well and good, but DH has been deployed for the past month, and I'm now being told I have to to make his hours for the year as well. I'm drowning between regular life and now this. Just curious, how do your schools and sports teams handle volunteer hours, especially for single parent households, even temporary ones?

[Anonymous]

Our swim team doesn't really care which parent helps with the work (one, both, additional family members) as long as you make required hours, which are high. I hate it.

Our other activities don't have required volunteer hours.

Our school doesn't either, though they provide many opportunities.

[Anonymous]

We don't have volunteer hours. You sign up if you want to. I've done snacks but never volunteered.

[Anonymous]

Schools and sports can’t mandate you to volunteer. They can suggest and encourage, but they can’t force free labor. Donate some money instead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Schools and sports can’t mandate you to volunteer. They can suggest and encourage, but they can’t force free labor. Donate some money instead.

Well sure. Most ask you to cut a check and if you dont hit your hours, they cash it.

But its really crappy to not volunteer (which, to be fair, is not what OP is doing). Bc those jobs still have to be done. That just means somebody else steps up to do more.

And some of these positions are actually really important to the success of the event. Like score keeping, or timing, or stat keeping, etc. We're not just talking about taking the fees for parking or working the concession stand

[Anonymous]

Do they know he’s deployed? Surely they’d reassess if they knew. I think a deceased spouse or deployed spouse would be different and only require 1 persons hours. If it’s not, ask them to change the rule. That’s not unreasonable, but maybe hasn’t come up yet.

[Anonymous]

What do they do for single parents? Ask for the same, as you only have one adult in your household.

“I see that the winter schedule requires 10 hours of support per adult in the home. Brad is deployed until June 2025, so we’re effectively a single-parent household until next summer. Could you please adjust our family’s hours to reflect that?”

Note to parents whose spouse travels “a lot”, or who has a “really demanding” job: You don’t get to ask for the same.

[Anonymous]

Is it something that *really* needs to be done or is it busy-work invented by Those Parents who ... "some of us do it all."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools and sports can’t mandate you to volunteer. They can suggest and encourage, but they can’t force free labor. Donate some money instead.

Well sure. Most ask you to cut a check and if you dont hit your hours, they cash it.

But its really crappy to not volunteer (which, to be fair, is not what OP is doing). Bc those jobs still have to be done. That just means somebody else steps up to do more.

And some of these positions are actually really important to the success of the event. Like score keeping, or timing, or stat keeping, etc. We're not just talking about taking the fees for parking or working the concession stand

One of the people who has done all of the listed, pretty much. Most people, by your definition, are "really crappy," because I am usually volunteering for things with the same skeleton crew.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools and sports can’t mandate you to volunteer. They can suggest and encourage, but they can’t force free labor. Donate some money instead.

Well sure. Most ask you to cut a check and if you dont hit your hours, they cash it.

But its really crappy to not volunteer (which, to be fair, is not what OP is doing). Bc those jobs still have to be done. That just means somebody else steps up to do more.

And some of these positions are actually really important to the success of the event. Like score keeping, or timing, or stat keeping, etc. We're not just talking about taking the fees for parking or working the concession stand

Or maybe the school can hire someone to do it

[Anonymous]

How does the school enforce this? If you have a teen have them do some of the work.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools and sports can’t mandate you to volunteer. They can suggest and encourage, but they can’t force free labor. Donate some money instead.

Well sure. Most ask you to cut a check and if you dont hit your hours, they cash it.

But its really crappy to not volunteer (which, to be fair, is not what OP is doing). Bc those jobs still have to be done. That just means somebody else steps up to do more.

And some of these positions are actually really important to the success of the event. Like score keeping, or timing, or stat keeping, etc. We're not just talking about taking the fees for parking or working the concession stand

One of the people who has done all of the listed, pretty much. Most people, by your definition, are "really crappy," because I am usually volunteering for things with the same skeleton crew.

Do you not work though? The people doing this are usually the retired/not working/very flex schedule. People who work ft can't just take off that easily and it's understood at our school. We all pitch in for snacks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools and sports can’t mandate you to volunteer. They can suggest and encourage, but they can’t force free labor. Donate some money instead.

Well sure. Most ask you to cut a check and if you dont hit your hours, they cash it.

But its really crappy to not volunteer (which, to be fair, is not what OP is doing). Bc those jobs still have to be done. That just means somebody else steps up to do more.

And some of these positions are actually really important to the success of the event. Like score keeping, or timing, or stat keeping, etc. We're not just talking about taking the fees for parking or working the concession stand

One of the people who has done all of the listed, pretty much. Most people, by your definition, are "really crappy," because I am usually volunteering for things with the same skeleton crew.

Do you not work though? The people doing this are usually the retired/not working/very flex schedule. People who work ft can't just take off that easily and it's understood at our school. We all pitch in for snacks.

Oh come on. I work FT. I have a flex schedule now but haven't always. A) USUALLY people can take off -even part day-once a year or so. And B) many times the volunteering is after hours or weekends. Our HS has one coming up this weekend. It needs donated items (which we don't have) and slots for live bodies. The slots are 1-3 hour increments depending on the job. And we STiLL don't have enough people. So, yeah, I have to step up again b/c no one else will. And it's sh---y. Your kids will reap the benefits of our fundraising while you do nothing. It sucks.

But also my last year in FCPS so not my problem anymore.

[Anonymous]

Our schools never required anything. Certain sports team did, but it was really only youth and HS football and wrestling. It was never by parent and always a “requirement” but the same families signed up. My kids never were on a summer swim team but I know there is a lot with that. They played a lot of other sports but there wasn’t volunteering.

How I handled it for football and wrestling - I took the spots instantly that I could do. That way I didn’t feel guilty saying no if I was asked later and it was inconvenient. I often volunteered to buy things rather than volunteer my time. My husband traveled for work a lot and with multiple kids, it was hard for me to work a snack bar or a tournament. I would rather spend the money towards buying the team dinner.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Schools and sports can’t mandate you to volunteer. They can suggest and encourage, but they can’t force free labor. Donate some money instead.

Well sure. Most ask you to cut a check and if you dont hit your hours, they cash it.

But its really crappy to not volunteer (which, to be fair, is not what OP is doing). Bc those jobs still have to be done. That just means somebody else steps up to do more.

And some of these positions are actually really important to the success of the event. Like score keeping, or timing, or stat keeping, etc. We're not just talking about taking the fees for parking or working the concession stand

One of the people who has done all of the listed, pretty much. Most people, by your definition, are "really crappy," because I am usually volunteering for things with the same skeleton crew.

Do you not work though? The people doing this are usually the retired/not working/very flex schedule. People who work ft can't just take off that easily and it's understood at our school. We all pitch in for snacks.

Oh come on. I work FT. I have a flex schedule now but haven't always. A) USUALLY people can take off -even part day-once a year or so. And B) many times the volunteering is after hours or weekends. Our HS has one coming up this weekend. It needs donated items (which we don't have) and slots for live bodies. The slots are 1-3 hour increments depending on the job. And we STiLL don't have enough people. So, yeah, I have to step up again b/c no one else will. And it's sh---y. Your kids will reap the benefits of our fundraising while you do nothing. It sucks.

But also my last year in FCPS so not my problem anymore.

What is it your high school needs volunteers and donated items for?