Do you think parents who volunteer and donate more to schools deserve better treatment for their child?

[Anonymous]

No

[Anonymous]

No.

When my kids were in elementary, I was part of the PTA executive board and did a lot for the school, but it certainly wasn't to get my kids special treatment.

[Anonymous]

I hope not, that's gross.

What I do get out of volunteering is more facetime with the teacher, which means that instead of waiting for something serious to happen to necessitate a call home, he can flag any smallish issues so I can redirect before they get bigger. And I get to observe (some) interpersonal dynamics myself, so I can start conversations at home about my kid's relationship with various peers and have some context for who we're talking about, whether s/he was likely to be joking if they did something that hurt my kid's feelings, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a blanket statement, no. Some students have parents who are working 2 jobs, or are in foster care, and they should absolutely not be penalized for not having basically a SAHP who can volunteer 10 hours a week or a rich parent who can fund the entire PTA.

If we are allowed nuance- I do think that if a parent is an unusually helpful volunteer, or takes on volunteer tasks that one one wants (everyone wants to chaperone the cute half day field trip with their child, no one wants to volunteer to mop the cafeteria floors and take all the trash to the dump after the school carnival ends at 9pm), it should not be frowned upon if that kid's family maybe gets picked to run the most fun carnival booth, or maybe if a parent volunteers to be the backstage mom at a drama club performance- therefore not getting to watch her child perform, since she's backstage, this is a classic job that no one signs up for ever in our school's drama club- then that student's family (the other parent, etc) gets front row seats to the performance and a free copy of the DVD recording to show to the backstage mom afterwords.

Both those examples are preferential treatment for the parent/family, though, not the kid, which I think makes it pretty different.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s a pretty blurred line, slippery slope… I don’t think they should get preferential treatment. But I did volunteer a lot, which put me in the front office a lot, and face time in passing with lots of teachers and students. It gave me an advantage in that I had a better sense of which teachers cared, which students needed remedial help, which students were goofs whom I’d rather not have my child grouped with. Did the school say “Oh thanks so much for volunteering and donating generously. Please take first pick of teachers and tell us of any friend group issues!”? No. But I was able to have conversations which naturally happened over time and over being around the school a lot.

You are the type that teachers don’t like. Using volunteering so that you gossip and snoop. Why would you make it your business to know who needed academic help and why would you need to. The only way you would know is if you rummaged through their files and found the IEP packets.

And you’re observing kids to find the kids who are “goofs” whatever that means. Such a valuable resource you are 🤮

[Anonymous]

No, because it’s intrinsically classist and would unduly punish single parents and/or those with inflexible professions. School shouldn’t function like a country club. I’m sure there are those who disagree.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a pretty blurred line, slippery slope… I don’t think they should get preferential treatment. But I did volunteer a lot, which put me in the front office a lot, and face time in passing with lots of teachers and students. It gave me an advantage in that I had a better sense of which teachers cared, which students needed remedial help, which students were goofs whom I’d rather not have my child grouped with. Did the school say “Oh thanks so much for volunteering and donating generously. Please take first pick of teachers and tell us of any friend group issues!”? No. But I was able to have conversations which naturally happened over time and over being around the school a lot.

You are the type that teachers don’t like. Using volunteering so that you gossip and snoop. Why would you make it your business to know who needed academic help and why would you need to. The only way you would know is if you rummaged through their files and found the IEP packets.

And you’re observing kids to find the kids who are “goofs” whatever that means. Such a valuable resource you are 🤮

Rummaging around to find IEP files? Have you spent any time volunteering at school or in classrooms? You can be a class reader for 15 minutes and know right away which children are problematic. They have an aide or are constantly being primed by the teacher. Everybody who volunteers knows who these one or two kids are. I don’t gossip about that, so if you don’t volunteer, you don’t know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I hope not, that's gross.

What I do get out of volunteering is more facetime with the teacher, which means that instead of waiting for something serious to happen to necessitate a call home, he can flag any smallish issues so I can redirect before they get bigger. And I get to observe (some) interpersonal dynamics myself, so I can start conversations at home about my kid's relationship with various peers and have some context for who we're talking about, whether s/he was likely to be joking if they did something that hurt my kid's feelings, etc.

holy helicopter please land.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I hope not, that's gross.

What I do get out of volunteering is more facetime with the teacher, which means that instead of waiting for something serious to happen to necessitate a call home, he can flag any smallish issues so I can redirect before they get bigger. And I get to observe (some) interpersonal dynamics myself, so I can start conversations at home about my kid's relationship with various peers and have some context for who we're talking about, whether s/he was likely to be joking if they did something that hurt my kid's feelings, etc.

holy helicopter please land.

+1, the sad thing is that parent doesn't realize how many children she's holding her kid back

[Anonymous]

No. There should be no "compensation" for "volunteering". That misses the WHOLE point of the concept of volunteering.

[Anonymous]

No. Favoring or disfavoring children based on their parents' behavior is wrong. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No. There should be no "compensation" for "volunteering". That misses the WHOLE point of the concept of volunteering.

Yeah the school owes me nothing for volunteering. However if I work hard on some alpha PTA lady’s pet project she should have the courtesy not to avoid eye contact and ignore me the next time she sees me. That I would appreciate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a pretty blurred line, slippery slope… I don’t think they should get preferential treatment. But I did volunteer a lot, which put me in the front office a lot, and face time in passing with lots of teachers and students. It gave me an advantage in that I had a better sense of which teachers cared, which students needed remedial help, which students were goofs whom I’d rather not have my child grouped with. Did the school say “Oh thanks so much for volunteering and donating generously. Please take first pick of teachers and tell us of any friend group issues!”? No. But I was able to have conversations which naturally happened over time and over being around the school a lot.

You are the type that teachers don’t like. Using volunteering so that you gossip and snoop. Why would you make it your business to know who needed academic help and why would you need to. The only way you would know is if you rummaged through their files and found the IEP packets.

And you’re observing kids to find the kids who are “goofs” whatever that means. Such a valuable resource you are 🤮

Rummaging around to find IEP files? Have you spent any time volunteering at school or in classrooms? You can be a class reader for 15 minutes and know right away which children are problematic. They have an aide or are constantly being primed by the teacher. Everybody who volunteers knows who these one or two kids are. I don’t gossip about that, so if you don’t volunteer, you don’t know.

Our schools don't use parents to come in and read. Not only for the reason of parents gossiping about children but it’s just not helpful. Parents go in when invited for a demonstration or show of artwork in the younger years. I know I’ve never noticed who has the aide or who is disruptive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s a pretty blurred line, slippery slope… I don’t think they should get preferential treatment. But I did volunteer a lot, which put me in the front office a lot, and face time in passing with lots of teachers and students. It gave me an advantage in that I had a better sense of which teachers cared, which students needed remedial help, which students were goofs whom I’d rather not have my child grouped with. Did the school say “Oh thanks so much for volunteering and donating generously. Please take first pick of teachers and tell us of any friend group issues!”? No. But I was able to have conversations which naturally happened over time and over being around the school a lot.

You are the type that teachers don’t like. Using volunteering so that you gossip and snoop. Why would you make it your business to know who needed academic help and why would you need to. The only way you would know is if you rummaged through their files and found the IEP packets.

And you’re observing kids to find the kids who are “goofs” whatever that means. Such a valuable resource you are 🤮

Rummaging around to find IEP files? Have you spent any time volunteering at school or in classrooms? You can be a class reader for 15 minutes and know right away which children are problematic. They have an aide or are constantly being primed by the teacher. Everybody who volunteers knows who these one or two kids are. I don’t gossip about that, so if you don’t volunteer, you don’t know.

Our schools don't use parents to come in and read. Not only for the reason of parents gossiping about children but it’s just not helpful. Parents go in when invited for a demonstration or show of artwork in the younger years. I know I’ve never noticed who has the aide or who is disruptive.

How would you not noticed someone being disruptive if they were disruptive? If they actually were, everyone notices. Just because you're oblivious doesn't mean everyone is. Also even outside of school at things like a birthday party you get to know the kids.

[Anonymous]

No, and I also don't think the city should be spend $2000 less per child on kids who go to charter schools vs kids in DCPS, but that's the world we live in.