Volunteering at school

[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.

Them maybe we just ban all volunteers. That will keep the kids safer.

[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.

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.

I am aware of some FCPS schools where PTA at one school adopts another school that has a PTA and the one PTA helps with both.

[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.

Well actually the $400,000 Reid plans to spend for personal security could go a long way towards schools not needing as many volunteers so actually, the 2 threads are not that far apart.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

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.

I am aware of some FCPS schools where PTA at one school adopts another school that has a PTA and the one PTA helps with both.

Sure, it's nice when that happens, but with these new changes, there will be less of that. The robust PTAs are going to lose volunteers and will be less able to help their own school let alone others.

[Anonymous]

This system is so horrible and glitchy. Have to wait and reload. Sloppily put together, clearly part of the employee on boarding, not for parent volunteers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s a good idea. Not all parents are safe.

+1 there are headlines every year about a “trusted” adult within FCPS who isn’t trustworthy, so we need the system and checks every year.

[Anonymous]

What are you talking about? Have there been many arrests of parent volunteers?

[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.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

[Anonymous]

I think it’s only about volunteering during the school day, so concessions wouldn’t apply? But for book fair, or other things like that during the day, yes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it’s only about volunteering during the school day, so concessions wouldn’t apply? But for book fair, or other things like that during the day, yes.

It’s unclear tbh

[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.

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.

Read the whole thread you quoted. A poster said there was little volunteer activity at their kids' school. Another poster said that was impossible. A third said that at some schools, there truly is that little activity (so the first poster was not ignorant, just had a different experience than the second). No comments being made that everyone should suffer.

I think the poster who shared about the tiers has it right--anyone who has direct student contact is not supervised by licensed school personnel at all times should have a background check for children's safety. I look forward to hearing more about implementation so I can be informed before I get up in arms.

[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.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

Yes, concessions and ticket booth are both listed in the orientation slides as a one time event Level 1 activity. Can someone do multiple Level 1 events? Who would know? If you can, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Level 2?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

Yes, concessions and ticket booth are both listed in the orientation slides as a one time event Level 1 activity. Can someone do multiple Level 1 events? Who would know? If you can, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Level 2?

One time is one time we were told..

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

Yes, concessions and ticket booth are both listed in the orientation slides as a one time event Level 1 activity. Can someone do multiple Level 1 events? Who would know? If you can, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Level 2?

By the use of the word "or," it sounds like a person can do multiple level 1 events when those events are "a large event with FCPS staff present at all times." So a parent could, for example, help with book fair and field day without fingerprinting.

A room parent or other volunteer could not, on the other hand, help make copies and stuff folders more than once without fingerprints. That and field trip chaperones would still fall under Level 2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

So a parent can only volunteer at high school concessions one time?

Yes, concessions and ticket booth are both listed in the orientation slides as a one time event Level 1 activity. Can someone do multiple Level 1 events? Who would know? If you can, then doesn’t that defeat the purpose of Level 2?

By the use of the word "or," it sounds like a person can do multiple level 1 events when those events are "a large event with FCPS staff present at all times." So a parent could, for example, help with book fair and field day without fingerprinting.

A room parent or other volunteer could not, on the other hand, help make copies and stuff folders more than once without fingerprints. That and field trip chaperones would still fall under Level 2.

Making copies and stuffing folders doesn’t have direct contact with students. That’s level 1.