Volunteering at school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't read it that way. It seems like there's flexibilty in #1 to cover most stuff besides field trips.
https://www.fcps.edu/get-involved/volunteer-fcps

Level 1 volunteers are those volunteering one time or for a large event with FCPS staff present at all times. These volunteers do not require a background check, however, they must sign-in at a visitor kiosk by scanning their IDs to check their names against the Sex Offender Registry.
Level 2 volunteers are those who have ongoing or regular contact with students or field trip chaperones.
Level 3 volunteers have one-on-one, unsupervised contact with students.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So if you volunteer for the ES book fair more than 2 days you need a criminal background check and fingerprinting?

More than 1 day.

[Anonymous]

Putting the ability to sign up to volunteer online for any weirdo to complete for any school - what could go wrong?

https://fcps.samaritan.com/custom/501/volunteer_home

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I don't read it that way. It seems like there's flexibilty in #1 to cover most stuff besides field trips.
https://www.fcps.edu/get-involved/volunteer-fcps

Level 1 volunteers are those volunteering one time or for a large event with FCPS staff present at all times. These volunteers do not require a background check, however, they must sign-in at a visitor kiosk by scanning their IDs to check their names against the Sex Offender Registry.
Level 2 volunteers are those who have ongoing or regular contact with students or field trip chaperones.
Level 3 volunteers have one-on-one, unsupervised contact with students.

Then why does the background check form have a level 1 option?

[Anonymous]

[b]

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.

So to volunteer for an hour and help out classroom teacher will now mean hour drive to gatehouse for fingerprint and hour back? Do think many more people will skip volunteering that would have helped out before.

[Anonymous]

Tell me you don't want volunteers without telling me you don't want volunteers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[b]

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.

So to volunteer for an hour and help out classroom teacher will now mean hour drive to gatehouse for fingerprint and hour back? Do think many more people will skip volunteering that would have helped out before.

reads fingerprints not required for everyone. FCPS says “ Background checks vary by application and may require fingerprinting” and “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is fortunate to have individuals, groups, and organizations who contribute time and energy to students as volunteers. Because student safety is of utmost importance, FCPS requires volunteers who meet with students on a frequent and regular basis to have a background check. FCPS covers the fees for background checks for volunteers and mentors.”

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[b]

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.

So to volunteer for an hour and help out classroom teacher will now mean hour drive to gatehouse for fingerprint and hour back? Do think many more people will skip volunteering that would have helped out before.

reads fingerprints not required for everyone. FCPS says “ Background checks vary by application and may require fingerprinting” and “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is fortunate to have individuals, groups, and organizations who contribute time and energy to students as volunteers. Because student safety is of utmost importance, FCPS requires volunteers who meet with students on a frequent and regular basis to have a background check. FCPS covers the fees for background checks for volunteers and mentors.”

The fingerprinting is required for levels 2 and 3. Level 2 is anything beyond a one-time volunteering event. So yes, if you want to go help out in the classroom twice this year, you're getting fingerprinted.

[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.

Sounds like they have no idea what’s going on at their kids’ school. No way there’s this little done by volunteers. What’s the point in even having a pta if their only mission is bingo night? I guarantee there’s hundreds of hours of work you don’t know about.

Actually I kind of feel the opposite. As a teacher at a school that doesn’t really have a PTA (our budget for the last year was approximately $600, and half of that was from suggested teacher dues), there are at least some schools in FCPS that don’t have an active parent community.

I’m always surprised to hear the differences on different sides of the county, but I don’t discount that picture.

FWIW, our librarian runs the book fair by herself once a year. Our staff make their own copies and move their own furniture (big stuff the custodians do). Picture day is run by the PE teachers, classroom teachers line up the kids and help the photographer take the forms and get them in place. We only do field trips that don’t require additional chaperones (because we won’t get any). During appreciation week the PTA budget buys pizzas for the staff but it’s the administration serving it.

One year our PTA in a school of ~800 kids was 3 moms. That’s it. They tried really hard but there’s only so much you can do when the family culture is to let school do school and keep home at home.

[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.

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.

Sounds like they have no idea what’s going on at their kids’ school. No way there’s this little done by volunteers. What’s the point in even having a pta if their only mission is bingo night? I guarantee there’s hundreds of hours of work you don’t know about.

Actually I kind of feel the opposite. As a teacher at a school that doesn’t really have a PTA (our budget for the last year was approximately $600, and half of that was from suggested teacher dues), there are at least some schools in FCPS that don’t have an active parent community.

I’m always surprised to hear the differences on different sides of the county, but I don’t discount that picture.

FWIW, our librarian runs the book fair by herself once a year. Our staff make their own copies and move their own furniture (big stuff the custodians do). Picture day is run by the PE teachers, classroom teachers line up the kids and help the photographer take the forms and get them in place. We only do field trips that don’t require additional chaperones (because we won’t get any). During appreciation week the PTA budget buys pizzas for the staff but it’s the administration serving it.

One year our PTA in a school of ~800 kids was 3 moms. That’s it. They tried really hard but there’s only so much you can do when the family culture is to let school do school and keep home at home.

So are you suggesting this is an equity thing? Our school has dozens of active volunteers, a vibrant pta that does events monthly and coordinates many volunteers for picture day, book fair, school pics, etc. I guess since your school doesn’t have that, it’s not equitable so everyone should suffer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:[b]

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.

So to volunteer for an hour and help out classroom teacher will now mean hour drive to gatehouse for fingerprint and hour back? Do think many more people will skip volunteering that would have helped out before.

reads fingerprints not required for everyone. FCPS says “ Background checks vary by application and may require fingerprinting” and “Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) is fortunate to have individuals, groups, and organizations who contribute time and energy to students as volunteers. Because student safety is of utmost importance, FCPS requires volunteers who meet with students on a frequent and regular basis to have a background check. FCPS covers the fees for background checks for volunteers and mentors.”

I don’t think anyone knows. Word on the street is some of the asst superintendents aren’t even aware of this new policy. Hard to imagine but that’s their story when asked about it. Actually, with Dr Reid, not too hard to imagine. She’s probably more concerned about picking out a new vehicle that can accommodate her security detail.

[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.

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.

Sounds like they have no idea what’s going on at their kids’ school. No way there’s this little done by volunteers. What’s the point in even having a pta if their only mission is bingo night? I guarantee there’s hundreds of hours of work you don’t know about.

Actually I kind of feel the opposite. As a teacher at a school that doesn’t really have a PTA (our budget for the last year was approximately $600, and half of that was from suggested teacher dues), there are at least some schools in FCPS that don’t have an active parent community.

I’m always surprised to hear the differences on different sides of the county, but I don’t discount that picture.

FWIW, our librarian runs the book fair by herself once a year. Our staff make their own copies and move their own furniture (big stuff the custodians do). Picture day is run by the PE teachers, classroom teachers line up the kids and help the photographer take the forms and get them in place. We only do field trips that don’t require additional chaperones (because we won’t get any). During appreciation week the PTA budget buys pizzas for the staff but it’s the administration serving it.

One year our PTA in a school of ~800 kids was 3 moms. That’s it. They tried really hard but there’s only so much you can do when the family culture is to let school do school and keep home at home.

This makes me a little sad. I take for granted all our PTA does. I hate that they are always asking for money, but this post now makes me appreciate our PTA more. We have one family event a month from October to May, like bingo, movie night, international night, family BBQ and ect… There are 4 in class events a year that room parents organize, Halloween party, Winter Party, Valentine's Day party and EOY party.

The PTA runs the book fair, raises money for teacher gift cards (every staff gets one at Christmas and teacher appreciation week, not just teachers).

I think we have at least 50 parents that regularly volunteer, between the class parties, events and other school activities (field trips, library and lunch duty).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

Sounds like they have no idea what’s going on at their kids’ school. No way there’s this little done by volunteers. What’s the point in even having a pta if their only mission is bingo night? I guarantee there’s hundreds of hours of work you don’t know about.

Actually I kind of feel the opposite. As a teacher at a school that doesn’t really have a PTA (our budget for the last year was approximately $600, and half of that was from suggested teacher dues), there are at least some schools in FCPS that don’t have an active parent community.

I’m always surprised to hear the differences on different sides of the county, but I don’t discount that picture.

FWIW, our librarian runs the book fair by herself once a year. Our staff make their own copies and move their own furniture (big stuff the custodians do). Picture day is run by the PE teachers, classroom teachers line up the kids and help the photographer take the forms and get them in place. We only do field trips that don’t require additional chaperones (because we won’t get any). During appreciation week the PTA budget buys pizzas for the staff but it’s the administration serving it.

One year our PTA in a school of ~800 kids was 3 moms. That’s it. They tried really hard but there’s only so much you can do when the family culture is to let school do school and keep home at home.

This makes me a little sad. I take for granted all our PTA does. I hate that they are always asking for money, but this post now makes me appreciate our PTA more. We have one family event a month from October to May, like bingo, movie night, international night, family BBQ and ect… There are 4 in class events a year that room parents organize, Halloween party, Winter Party, Valentine's Day party and EOY party.

The PTA runs the book fair, raises money for teacher gift cards (every staff gets one at Christmas and teacher appreciation week, not just teachers).

I think we have at least 50 parents that regularly volunteer, between the class parties, events and other school activities (field trips, library and lunch duty).

Ours too. You can genuinely tell how much the teachers and staff appreciate how much gets taken off their plate. And how much they raise for them to get new equipment and supplies in their classroom. There’s such a partnership that exists. But here comes the county leadership to create a division.

[Anonymous]

I love that this forum has one thread complaining that the superintendent cares more about her own safety than that of students.

Yet here we are, complaining about a process intended to keep students safe.

Well done, DCUM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I love that this forum has one thread complaining that the superintendent cares more about her own safety than that of students.

Yet here we are, complaining about a process intended to keep students safe.

Well done, DCUM.

When was the last time you saw a news article about a parent volunteer arrested?