Reply to Did Covid disrupt the parent volunteer pipeline

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]It's dual employment. Severe shortage of SAHPs. [/quote]

Also, the funny thing is, when there were more SAHPs, there were less of these extra school activities. Back in the day, you maybe had one field trip and one class party per year. I'd prefer going back to that myself. I don't think fairs, gardens, etc. are worth the trouble. I'd rather schools just focus on in class learning.

I'm older, but I think the younger generation of parents is onto something. [/quote]

I had a sahm growing up and she was not spending nearly as much time on school-related volunteering as many of the moms I know with full time jobs. And there was no expectation for it. There were only a few events or activities each year where parent volunteers were needed and she would do those and that was consider A+ work.

Another thing that happens when there are fewer events is that the school actually winds up handling the bulk of the work. I know people will freak out about not overburdening teachers and I'm NOT suggesting forcing teachers to organize a bunch of events for kids and families. But if you reduce the total number of events down to 2-3 and it's the same event year after year it's actually not that hard for teachers and admin to handle the actual organization part of it and then just ask parents to donate time and supplies. So like at my elementary school growing up there was

(1) one fall fundraiser event for families (sort of giant combo of what would now be BTS night and a fall festival and a bake sale but all at once) -- kids would set up the event under teacher direction after school and then parents would be asked to bring a baked good and donate whatever money felt appropriate and then all families would help clean up after. Kids would run the bake sale table under the supervision of a couple parent volunteers.
(2) one spring fundraiser and performance -- this would happen outside and kids would perform songs they'd been working on in music all year (there was a separate holiday concert but it was not a fundraiser and was 100% run by the music teacher) and again kids would set up the event with teachers after school and then parents would donate food to a potluck style treat table and would again be asked to donate what they could adn then everyone would help clean up after.
(3) end of year field day -- this was held on the last day of school and all parents were expected to send in food to share (like chips and bottled water and stuff) and then parents who could agree to chaperon would do so. This one wasn't a fundraiser and was purely for the kids and the activities would be organized by the teachers and admin no parents -- parents were just there to help watch the kids with some of the manual labor of running the field day.

The PTA was a chill organization that would meet a few times a year and organize sign ups for the bake sale and the potluck and other things but otherwise mainly existed as a conduit for communication between the school and parents -- people came to meetings to hear from the principal or to discuss a concern they have about a school issue (say broken playground equipment or behavioral concerns) and teachers and admin would respond and discuss solutions. They'd announce at the end of the year how much they'd raised for the school (it would be a few thousand dollars and would go to pay for stuff like holiday decorations or that field day -- it was not a major or important part of the budget).

This was a GREAT set up. Parents didn't expect tons of events -- no movie nights and festivals and special "bike to school" events. No coffee socials in the morning or constant requests to stock the teachers lounge or whatever. There would be classroom-related volunteering just like there is now -- calls for chaperones for field trips or people to come speak on career day. But these were school day events and run by the teachers. The PTA and the events I just described absolutely functioned as a way for parents to get to know each other and learn about what was going on at the school.

Oh and notice how much kids participated in these events often setting them up after school and being expected to help clean up. I never see this now -- sure some of the kids of the very involved PTA parents will help with things but it's not the same as it just being an expected activity overseen by teachers. This gave kids a sense of importance and responsiblity for their school community. I remember setting up chairs and tables and making and hanging decorations for the school events and then being so proud when my parents showed up to show them what *we* had done.

Now kids are supposed to only be recipients of these activities. No labor involved and a lot of effort is put in to making sure there is all this extra stuff for them -- face painting and a bounce house and special games and all that. I didn't need that as a kid. You just ran around with your friends and played and went around with your parents to show them your art or whatever.

That is what school community is supposed to look like and it wasn't this hugely burdensome thing for everyone involved. I really do not know what the heck we're doing now.[/quote]

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