How are room parents chosen at your lower school?

[Anonymous]

Do they ask the whole class for volunteers or just ask certain people to do it? I'm just curious.

[Anonymous]

At our's, the teachers selected them.

[Anonymous]

At ours it's a mafia. The queen bee (head of the PA) hand selects one of her minions to oversee all room parents. If you lobby and court the minion or the bee, you will be selected as the room parent. However, a courtesy email will go out to the entire class asking if anyone wishes to volunteer as the room parent. This makes the process appear transparent.

[Anonymous]

Usually they beg people to do it. Not many takers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Usually they beg people to do it. Not many takers.

At our school, there are volunteers, but a large number end up not following through. It is hard to find a dependable room parent, especially if this is a school or grade that requires a lot of parental involvement.

[Anonymous]

Room parents?

I put 5 kids through "lower school" (oh, except we call it "elementary school" in our part of the 'hood), and we never had "room parents." Just lots of volunteer parents who came in all the time for all sorts of things - reading to kids, helping in the art room, lunch room, playground, etc.

Such a thing still exists???

[Anonymous]

At ours, the current room reps and room rep head put together a short list of people (moms) that they want. Over the summer they call and ask until someone agrees. Usually it is friends of the head room rep, if they have friends in your class.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Usually they beg people to do it. Not many takers.

This. The teacher asked for volunteers at Back to School night.

[Anonymous]

I neither know nor care.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At ours it's a mafia. The queen bee (head of the PA) hand selects one of her minions to oversee all room parents. If you lobby and court the minion or the bee, you will be selected as the room parent. However, a courtesy email will go out to the entire class asking if anyone wishes to volunteer as the room parent. This makes the process appear transparent.

Love you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At ours it's a mafia. The queen bee (head of the PA) hand selects one of her minions to oversee all room parents. If you lobby and court the minion or the bee, you will be selected as the room parent. However, a courtesy email will go out to the entire class asking if anyone wishes to volunteer as the room parent. This makes the process appear transparent.

This is exactly how it's done at our kid's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At ours it's a mafia. The queen bee (head of the PA) hand selects one of her minions to oversee all room parents. If you lobby and court the minion or the bee, you will be selected as the room parent. However, a courtesy email will go out to the entire class asking if anyone wishes to volunteer as the room parent. This makes the process appear transparent.

This is exactly how it's done at our kid's school.

I've been the minion, and let me acquaint you with my perspective. My friend, who is basically taking on a part-time job by heading up the PA, begs me to find room parents (or grade reps in MS and US). I, knowing from personal, hard experience what a thankless job it is to be a room parent or grade rep, gird myself to, in turn, beg anyone I know who might possibly be willing to do said thankless job.

First, I try sending cheery emails ("Hope you're having a great summer! Looking ahead to the school year . . ."). When these fail to yield the required roster of room parents, I fortify myself with a glass of rose (pink for optimism) and start dialing up folks ("Hey -- how are you? I understand Ruby will be in Miss Piggywinkle's class this year . . . " ). I do my best to make the job sound like fun, fun, fun and tell all kind of lies about how other parents will step right up to pitch in as needed. I tell myself that the folks I'm conning will eventually forgive me . . . or not, and, if the latter, hey, I only need to spend the next x years until graduation avoiding them at every school function.

If, at any time during this process, someone were to "lobby and court" me, I would swoon in relief, gratitude and elation, and happily check that class/grade off my list. Then, I would pour myself a celebratory glass of rose and thank God that I myself have only had to be grade rep once in my life!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At ours it's a mafia. The queen bee (head of the PA) hand selects one of her minions to oversee all room parents. If you lobby and court the minion or the bee, you will be selected as the room parent. However, a courtesy email will go out to the entire class asking if anyone wishes to volunteer as the room parent. This makes the process appear transparent.

This is exactly how it's done at our kid's school.

I've been the minion, and let me acquaint you with my perspective. My friend, who is basically taking on a part-time job by heading up the PA, begs me to find room parents (or grade reps in MS and US). I, knowing from personal, hard experience what a thankless job it is to be a room parent or grade rep, gird myself to, in turn, beg anyone I know who might possibly be willing to do said thankless job.

First, I try sending cheery emails ("Hope you're having a great summer! Looking ahead to the school year . . ."). When these fail to yield the required roster of room parents, I fortify myself with a glass of rose (pink for optimism) and start dialing up folks ("Hey -- how are you? I understand Ruby will be in Miss Piggywinkle's class this year . . . " ). I do my best to make the job sound like fun, fun, fun and tell all kind of lies about how other parents will step right up to pitch in as needed. I tell myself that the folks I'm conning will eventually forgive me . . . or not, and, if the latter, hey, I only need to spend the next x years until graduation avoiding them at every school function.

If, at any time during this process, someone were to "lobby and court" me, I would swoon in relief, gratitude and elation, and happily check that class/grade off my list. Then, I would pour myself a celebratory glass of rose and thank God that I myself have only had to be grade rep once in my life!

+100! The PP's response is what I've experienced...more like begging and pleading, not courting and lobbying. Not sure what school you attend, but that sounds more like an urban legend (or something out of a Hollywood movie) rather than real life.

[Anonymous]

Yeah the begging and pleading is what happens at our elementary.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yeah the begging and pleading is what happens at our elementary.

Same here. We have multiple kids, and I've done it twice now, and my spouse also did it twice. I think we're the call-of-last-resort when they can't find anyone else to volunteer. If any parent out there feels it's some cherished position, and that you're being excluded by not getting the chance to do it, you should just ask. I'm sure the help would be welcome. The only reason I can imagine anyone being refused is if (a) there really is already someone else lined up, or (b) the person has a reputation as a little flaky. It's not a hard job, but you do have to be organized and can't blow stuff off.