This sounds really bad -- but I hate volunteering at my child's private school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our school wouldn't let any old mom work on the auction pp. It had to be the ones with the deepest pockets.

Same at our school. Or maybe we are at the same school? The auction jobs are controlled by certain mothers. They are plum jobs that do not go to just anybody, certainly not to newbies like me, as I found out.

[Anonymous]

Maybe we're at the same school. In MD?

[Anonymous]

No, my school's in DC. But I know exactly what you're talking about! I think I can guess which school yours is, but I don't want to name ANY names. The fact is, auction culture differs between schools, with some parents talking about a completely open access that does not exist at your school or mine.

[Anonymous]

I think the more elite the school is -- the less likely that just any old mom could participate. The truly elite schools want to have tiers of participation depending on whether the parent is a "VIP" is some way or not.

[Anonymous]

Yuck. Glad my kid is at public school.

[Anonymous]

What a bunch of rubbish. Trust me ... at our school anyway, no one in their right mind really wants to work on the auction, as it is a LOAD of work. Attending? Yes. Putting it together? AIEEEEE .... So anyone feeling snubbed by not "getting" to work on the auction should seriously count themselves very lucky indeed.

[Anonymous]

I "got" to work on the auction one year. What a disaster. The item that I presented went for over $1500, but apparently that wasn't good enough because I was told someone else would be handling that item in future years.

[Anonymous]

Exactly pp. That's what I mean.

[Anonymous]

Don't presume to know what the auction culture at another school is like. They do differ.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yuck. Glad my kid is at public school.

The auction culture at my DC's big-3 private school is quite like that of my other DC's MoCo public, Chevy Chase Elementary. You can't generalize about auction volunteering at publics any more than at privates. Being at a public is no guarantee that you can have the volunteer job you want.

[Anonymous]

My kids go to a school where literally any mom or dad who wants to can chair the auction. I find it amusing that the auction comments on DCUM are either "I'm shut out by the queen bees from working on the oh-so-desirable auction" or "yuck, can you believe those pushy auction ladies who are always in your face demanding you help them grub for money." I wonder why auction is so polarizing and something like Sally Foster is not?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think the more elite the school is -- the less likely that just any old mom could participate. The truly elite schools want to have tiers of participation depending on whether the parent is a "VIP" is some way or not.

Huh? My DC is at one of those schools which people think of as elite, and they're delighted with any volunteers in any role. And, once you volunteer for one thing, they start inviting you to volunteer in new ways. No VIP issues here at all.