Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do schools want you to come to all the events and volunteer alot if they giving you financial aid. I know one family that don't go to events but what do schools expect?

They don’t expect anything really except they would like all parents to attend as part of the community. It is your school too and don’t separate yourself. You have every right to attend events and be involved in your kids life as anyone else. That is if you want to attend. If you don’t then don’t worry about it but please do not separate yourself.

Exactly! You do not have to wear a scarlet petter OP. It is your private business if you get FA.

Anonymous wrote:We are an FA family and try to volunteer whenever possible - weekend events, preparation for fundraisers, etc. We are grateful to receive the aid and try to make that clear by giving time when we can. But not everyone can do that. We know another FA family where father is a mechanic and the mother works in retail, so they have to work weekends. I'm sure the school doesn't hold it against anyone. It is primarily the wealthy, SAHMs that run the volunteer events, but I assume that is because they have plenty of time to do so.

We are a similar FA family. My DH and I both volunteer whenever possible and are as engaged as we can be. We get significant aid and figure we should spend our volunteer efforts there as we have been given much. I have found that because we are able to be so present, that we are more a part of the community than other families I know who are on aid but unable to be as present. We are invited to more social events with other parents, there are more play date offers and invitations to join outside of school activities. I recognize the privilege we have with flexible work schedules, and wish that others could be more present if they wanted to do so.