Volunteering at school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s a good idea. Not all parents are safe.

Maybe they should hire us armed bodyguards like they did for Dr Reid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s going to be a big, big problem, and they are going to need to walk this one back. No way are people going to take time off of work in order to get fingerprinted at Gatehouse just to be able to volunteer twice or go on a field trip. Probably well intentioned but extremely short-sighted.

Adults are often alone with small groups of students on field trips (including in restrooms).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s going to be a big, big problem, and they are going to need to walk this one back. No way are people going to take time off of work in order to get fingerprinted at Gatehouse just to be able to volunteer twice or go on a field trip. Probably well intentioned but extremely short-sighted.

Adults are often alone with small groups of students on field trips (including in restrooms).

So are all the rando’s just visiting the various museums, parks, etc. Will Dr Reid’s bodyguards be at the bathroom door to background check them before they go in to take a squirt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s going to be a big, big problem, and they are going to need to walk this one back. No way are people going to take time off of work in order to get fingerprinted at Gatehouse just to be able to volunteer twice or go on a field trip. Probably well intentioned but extremely short-sighted.

Adults are often alone with small groups of students on field trips (including in restrooms).

The teachers will have to deal with it since there will be a shortage of chaperones. They’re going to earn their 6% raise.

[Anonymous]

Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s going to be a big, big problem, and they are going to need to walk this one back. No way are people going to take time off of work in order to get fingerprinted at Gatehouse just to be able to volunteer twice or go on a field trip. Probably well intentioned but extremely short-sighted.

Adults are often alone with small groups of students on field trips (including in restrooms).

Don't you think they'll just cancel the field trips?

The teachers will have to deal with it since there will be a shortage of chaperones. They’re going to earn their 6% raise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s going to be a big, big problem, and they are going to need to walk this one back. No way are people going to take time off of work in order to get fingerprinted at Gatehouse just to be able to volunteer twice or go on a field trip. Probably well intentioned but extremely short-sighted.

Adults are often alone with small groups of students on field trips (including in restrooms).

Don't you think they'll just cancel the field trips?

The teachers will have to deal with it since there will be a shortage of chaperones. They’re going to earn their 6% raise.

Probably

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

This is sad. Our school is flush with volunteers. Or should I say “was”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All for it. I don’t want any weirdos coming into the schools.

Amen! It’s a good thing and glad FCPS is doing it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

Really? Not helping at library? Or being room parents, stuffing folders, making copies, organizing things, field trips, parties, field day, grade-specific days like pioneer day, picture day, book fair, probably more I forgot. We have a lot of repeat volunteers even if they are doing each of those events once or twice a year, it adds up to many times in the school in total. That's before any PTA events if those count.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

This is sad. Our school is flush with volunteers. Or should I say “was”.

+1. Schools with lots of volunteer opportunities are going to take a big hit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

Really? Not helping at library? Or being room parents, stuffing folders, making copies, organizing things, field trips, parties, field day, grade-specific days like pioneer day, picture day, book fair, probably more I forgot. We have a lot of repeat volunteers even if they are doing each of those events once or twice a year, it adds up to many times in the school in total. That's before any PTA events if those count.

Nope. We have 2 librarians so no volunteers, no room parents in the building that I'm aware of (they do collect money for supplies for the teacher at the beginning of the year and organize material gathering for classroom events), and teachers make their own copies and organize their own things like field day and field trips (there aren't many--maybe 1 per year?). The main office coordinates picture day, the library does the book fair. The only PTA event is the annual bingo.

It's not sad, it's just different. The school functions just fine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

This is sad. Our school is flush with volunteers. Or should I say “was”.

+1. Schools with lots of volunteer opportunities are going to take a big hit.

Or if the parents have that much time and desire to volunteer repeatedly, they probably have an extra hour to get fingerprinted and fill out a form? It's not a huge ask. This isn't a TS-SCI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

Really? Not helping at library? Or being room parents, stuffing folders, making copies, organizing things, field trips, parties, field day, grade-specific days like pioneer day, picture day, book fair, probably more I forgot. We have a lot of repeat volunteers even if they are doing each of those events once or twice a year, it adds up to many times in the school in total. That's before any PTA events if those count.

Nope. We have 2 librarians so no volunteers, no room parents in the building that I'm aware of (they do collect money for supplies for the teacher at the beginning of the year and organize material gathering for classroom events), and teachers make their own copies and organize their own things like field day and field trips (there aren't many--maybe 1 per year?). The main office coordinates picture day, the library does the book fair. The only PTA event is the annual bingo.

It's not sad, it's just different. The school functions just fine.

It was a different poster who said it was sad, I was just surprised. Volunteers run our whole book fair from set up to take down including advertising, decorating, helping kids pick books when the classes come in, running the cash registers, delivering preordered books to the kids in their classrooms, etc. I've done almost all of those jobs and most of the ones in my first post and I'm not a top volunteer in terms of hours per year at all. It's interesting to hear other schools operate so differently.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Are there that many volunteer situations that are critical? In my kid's 6 years of elementary school, they've asked for volunteers to:

--Come in for 1 hour on the 4th tuesday of the month to change out the bulletin boards
--Set up TAW snacks in the teacher's work room
--Sell bingo cards for the evening bingo game

That's it. If the first two don't happen I think it's probably okay, and the last one shouldn't be an issue since all kids have to come with a guardian in the evening anyway. Some guardians are just going to sit at a table and take money.

My school doesn't have weekly/monthly volunteers for anything.

This is sad. Our school is flush with volunteers. Or should I say “was”.

+1. Schools with lots of volunteer opportunities are going to take a big hit.

Or if the parents have that much time and desire to volunteer repeatedly, they probably have an extra hour to get fingerprinted and fill out a form? It's not a huge ask. This isn't a TS-SCI.

I disagree. The level that requires fingerprinting is for 2 or more instances of volunteering in a school year. A lot of people who are infrequent volunteers but do like to help a little aren’t going to make the time to drive over to Gatehouse for fingerprinting just so they can volunteer twice. Plus, that level states that an FCPS staff member must always be present during the volunteer’s involvement. If that’s the expectation, then why the need for such a stringent background check? I’m sure is well intentioned, but it’s not at all well thought out.