Does your school limit the number of parent volunteers at school parties?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent at said school, and I welcome this change. The parties at our school have gotten out of hand and per the new Principal this really happening for security reasons. MCPS needs to account for all parents, staff and children in the school especially if something happens. what is nice, is she addressed the "room parent" sign up to say you may not use the same volunteers for both parties, and parents may participate in the parade; plus next year it will electronic and sent out to the masses and not be were "veteran" families get first dibs.

Also, a PP is correct; it kills me to no end to plan and run these types of things for parents to volunteer and do NOTHING! We should appreciate and support our school because unfortunately it is not about us but the children.

That is hilarious that the reason is for "security". There is no risk in going and watching your kid at a holiday party. Schools should be inclusive and encourage parent involvement if not it just seems like the principal wants to hide something.

[Anonymous]

It is pretty unusual for schools to still have halloween parades.

[Anonymous]

The school doesn't but individual teachers have - and I can understand why. In theory, more people = more help, but in practice it can often just mean more chaos. Especially for the older grades it doesn't take that many people to run a party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent at said school, and I welcome this change. The parties at our school have gotten out of hand and per the new Principal this really happening for security reasons. MCPS needs to account for all parents, staff and children in the school especially if something happens. what is nice, is she addressed the "room parent" sign up to say you may not use the same volunteers for both parties, and parents may participate in the parade; plus next year it will electronic and sent out to the masses and not be were "veteran" families get first dibs.

Also, a PP is correct; it kills me to no end to plan and run these types of things for parents to volunteer and do NOTHING! We should appreciate and support our school because unfortunately it is not about us but the children.

I’m another parent at the school and I think it’s a great change. I don’t know how long you’ve been at the school but the parties were out of control. Easily there were 30 to 40 parents crammed up against the wall to the point where you couldn’t even move. I think some of the parties were also out of control. Magicians, ice cream sundae bar’s and really over-the-top activities. I’m not saying you can’t have fun, I think the parties are fantastic but toning it down is a step in the right direction. You also failed to notice that she has implemented a separate fall harvest party for the kids who do not participate in Halloween. This allows the one teacher who doesn’t celebrate along with several children who would otherwise be absent from school. The party is open to anybody who wants an alternative which might also include kids to find parties overwhelming. There will still be an outdoor Halloween parade which has been my favorite tradition and it will work just like it has previously. We all just line up outside and wait for the parade to start. I don’t know if either of you were at the PTA meeting but I was and she is really cracking down on security at the school and I applied for for that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am a parent at said school, and I welcome this change. The parties at our school have gotten out of hand and per the new Principal this really happening for security reasons. MCPS needs to account for all parents, staff and children in the school especially if something happens. what is nice, is she addressed the "room parent" sign up to say you may not use the same volunteers for both parties, and parents may participate in the parade; plus next year it will electronic and sent out to the masses and not be were "veteran" families get first dibs.

Also, a PP is correct; it kills me to no end to plan and run these types of things for parents to volunteer and do NOTHING! We should appreciate and support our school because unfortunately it is not about us but the children.

That is hilarious that the reason is for "security". There is no risk in going and watching your kid at a holiday party. Schools should be inclusive and encourage parent involvement if not it just seems like the principal wants to hide something.

There is always a risk when you open up the doors to an entire community. You don’t know who is and who is not a parent in that school and anybody can waltz in. Yes there is a security risk. I want to add that this is not her role but it is a countywide rule.

[Anonymous]

This would be a welcome rule change at my kid's school. There are way too many parents at parties, but your kid expects you there if every other kid's parent is there. Limit it to a few for each party/field trip and everyone will get a turn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This would be a welcome rule change at my kid's school. There are way too many parents at parties, but your kid expects you there if every other kid's parent is there. Limit it to a few for each party/field trip and everyone will get a turn.

Except they won't all get a turn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This would be a welcome rule change at my kid's school. There are way too many parents at parties, but your kid expects you there if every other kid's parent is there. Limit it to a few for each party/field trip and everyone will get a turn.

Except they won't all get a turn.

Definitely not for the parties Maybe not for the parties but there are many other volunteer opportunities. But I think we all realize that all the parents at the parties were volunteering. Most were standing around watching.

[Anonymous]

OP just speculating - maybe at previous parties, parents were standing around and chatting, taking up space, raising the room temperature and level of noise, but not helping with the activities and the kids?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is pretty unusual for schools to still have halloween parades.

My child’s school stopped all Halloween celebrations two years ago due to too many whiny/complaining parents.

[Anonymous]

Nope, i think we had 8 or 9 parent volunteers come for the Kindergarten Halloween party. But they lose interest, and I think by Valentine's day only 2 parents came to help with the party.

[Anonymous]

Our school rule is that you can't come to the party unless you signed up to be a volunteer.
Other parents pick up their child outside just as usual.
This is perfectly reasonable.

In your situation, OP, you need to complain to the PTA and the principal, and ask that they send sign-up sheets to everyone at the same time and not abuse their position.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school rule is that you can't come to the party unless you signed up to be a volunteer.
Other parents pick up their child outside just as usual.
This is perfectly reasonable.

In your situation, OP, you need to complain to the PTA and the principal, and ask that they send sign-up sheets to everyone at the same time and not abuse their position.

The room parent can use 2 volunteers. I guess they can do a lottery for everyone who wants to volunteer to be fair.

[Anonymous]

Our school would require parents to sign up to be room parents and asked for 4-6 people per class. No one was ever turned away and K would sometimes have 7-8 parents which was helpful with the K kids considering how complicated costumes have become now. By 4th and 5th grade, you were lucky to get 4 volunteers for the entire grade of 3 classes.

I agree that it shouldn't be an open community day where anyone walks in but there is no reason to turn away parents who are willing to sign up in advance. In years with more parents it was less efficient - everyone went and got one item rather than one person just doing all the shopping but it got people involved which is the point of these things.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our school rule is that you can't come to the party unless you signed up to be a volunteer.
Other parents pick up their child outside just as usual.
This is perfectly reasonable.

In your situation, OP, you need to complain to the PTA and the principal, and ask that they send sign-up sheets to everyone at the same time and not abuse their position.

The room parent can use 2 volunteers. I guess they can do a lottery for everyone who wants to volunteer to be fair.

From what I observed, it looks like the room parent simply lined up her friends.