New Room Parent Question

[Anonymous]

I'm a kindergarten room parent for my oldest. I wasn't looking for the job, but apparently no one else was either . I'm wondering whether parents would prefer being asked to bring something in for a party, or whether they would prefer being asked for, say, $5 towards a party and have the room parent buy all the snacks and games (obviously voluntary whether they give or not). The school is economically very diverse though the teacher had mentioned the last room parent asked for $5. I'm expecting this gig to cost me some money. Also, any tips on room parenting? (other than don't do it? ) I WOH so can't be in the classroom a lot.

[Anonymous]

I am a room parent and we ask for a contribution that is completely voluntary. About half of the parents contribute. If it is very diverse and there are many middle class families, you might consider upping the suggested to $10 to compensate.

[Anonymous]

I'm a room parent this year too. Trial by fire.

I just sent out requests for donations for a class gift basket that gets auctioned off as a fundraiser. I stressed that it's voluntary, but we accept items or cash. I suggested parents consider $5 or $10 (based on class size and goal). I asked them to let me know what items they wanted to donate, so I had an idea what's coming in. But the nature of the basket makes it easy to have duplicates. So personally I try to offer more choice in what they give in an effort to maximize donations and participation.

I email everyone once a week with class reminders regarding due dates, events, etc. I use Mail Chimp, a free bulk email service.

Other than that, I just help the teacher as needed.

[Anonymous]

I'm not a room parent and have never been - we have the other issue in our school. Everyone wants the job. Each year, we usually have 3-4 per classroom.

Anyway, here is what ours do. They collect $15 at the beginning of the year for everything - it's a voluntary contribution. We are a diverse school economically as well. We have three parties - Halloween, Valentine's and End of year. Occasionally, there are more. For example, in kindergarten my kids did a Thanksgiving dinner.

Each time there is a party, the room parent asks for volunteers to bring things and to assist with activities. If you buy a non food item, such as craft supplies or game prizes, if you keep your receipt and request reimbursement, the room parent will reimburse you. They do not reimburse for food items or food related paper products but we have no shortage of parents who are willing to bring them in even though we've collected money. For everything that people don't sign up to bring, the room parents get it using the money that was collected. At the end of the year, any money left over is given to the teacher as an end of the year gift.

Our room parents usually set up a bank account and meticulously manage the money - receipts for everyting and an accounting at the end of the year for anyone who wants to see it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a room parent and have never been - we have the other issue in our school. Everyone wants the job. Each year, we usually have 3-4 per classroom.

Anyway, here is what ours do. They collect $15 at the beginning of the year for everything - it's a voluntary contribution. We are a diverse school economically as well. We have three parties - Halloween, Valentine's and End of year. Occasionally, there are more. For example, in kindergarten my kids did a Thanksgiving dinner.

Each time there is a party, the room parent asks for volunteers to bring things and to assist with activities. If you buy a non food item, such as craft supplies or game prizes, if you keep your receipt and request reimbursement, the room parent will reimburse you. They do not reimburse for food items or food related paper products but we have no shortage of parents who are willing to bring them in even though we've collected money. For everything that people don't sign up to bring, the room parents get it using the money that was collected. At the end of the year, any money left over is given to the teacher as an end of the year gift.

Our room parents usually set up a bank account and meticulously manage the money - receipts for everyting and an accounting at the end of the year for anyone who wants to see it.

Yikes, this sounds like a lot of work. We usually use sign up genius and have people bring stuff for the parties - paper plates, food, etc. I think it is too much for the room parent to bring everything. At the end of the year, we did combine the multiple teacher events into one donation - so one donation was requested for Teacher Appreciation week and the end of year teacher gift. But then we still had the end of year party and did a sign up genius for that. If you sign up for something, you pay for it yourself. It seems to work out ok. If you do not have money, you can always volunteer to help at the party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm not a room parent and have never been - we have the other issue in our school. Everyone wants the job. Each year, we usually have 3-4 per classroom.

Anyway, here is what ours do. They collect $15 at the beginning of the year for everything - it's a voluntary contribution. We are a diverse school economically as well. We have three parties - Halloween, Valentine's and End of year. Occasionally, there are more. For example, in kindergarten my kids did a Thanksgiving dinner.

Each time there is a party, the room parent asks for volunteers to bring things and to assist with activities. If you buy a non food item, such as craft supplies or game prizes, if you keep your receipt and request reimbursement, the room parent will reimburse you. They do not reimburse for food items or food related paper products but we have no shortage of parents who are willing to bring them in even though we've collected money. For everything that people don't sign up to bring, the room parents get it using the money that was collected. At the end of the year, any money left over is given to the teacher as an end of the year gift.

Our room parents usually set up a bank account and meticulously manage the money - receipts for everyting and an accounting at the end of the year for anyone who wants to see it.

Yikes, this sounds like a lot of work. We usually use sign up genius and have people bring stuff for the parties - paper plates, food, etc. I think it is too much for the room parent to bring everything. At the end of the year, we did combine the multiple teacher events into one donation - so one donation was requested for Teacher Appreciation week and the end of year teacher gift. But then we still had the end of year party and did a sign up genius for that. If you sign up for something, you pay for it yourself. It seems to work out ok. If you do not have money, you can always volunteer to help at the party.

I agree. That is a lot for one parent to do. I would rather help contribute for stuff like parties. For teacher appreciation, I would rather do something like a group gift card.