Community School: Parents » PA Officers 2010-2011

2011-2012 Room Parent Information

Thank you for agreeing to take on this important role. We are happy to have you join us in ensuring that each class has the information and support they need throughout the school year.

Your Role
As room parent, your role will be to help inform families of upcoming events and activities and to serve as a liaison between your class and the Parents’ Association (PA). Specifically, there are several key tasks that you will be involved with:

·       Classroom Help
Communicate with teacher to see if parents can be of help in the classroom. Some teachers will want to assign specific duties to parents on a regular basis and some will prefer to ask for help as needed. Be in touch with your teacher as soon as possible to assess their needs; then, if necessary, help find parents willing to take on any volunteer needs in the class.
·       Volunteer Opportunities
Making your class aware of upcoming volunteer opportunities, including the garage sale, will be an important part of your job. These events rely on parents’ help throughout the year to raise funds for the school
·       Teacher Treats
Each class will provide faculty lunches approximately once a week during the school year. Your role will be to work with the families in your class to coordinate the treats on the days that your class is responsible for bringing lunch.
·       PA Meetings
Attending PA meetings is mandatory for room parents. As a team, you may take turns going to the PA meetings, but one person from your room parent team must be present at each meeting. (There are only five PA meetings during the school year.) In advance of each meeting, please encourage other parents to attend; PA meetings are a great way to stay in touch with what is happening at school, find out about upcoming events, and learn about student and faculty projects. After the meeting, please send out a brief summary of points covered at the meeting to the class parents.
·       Teacher Gifts
We encourage each class and each family to determine on their own how to honor their teacher. If you and your child would like to create or buy an individual gift, that is great. If you want to get together with other families and create a group gift, that is fine too. As room parent, you can let your class families know the various options.
·       Communication
As parent representatives of your respective classes, we hope that you will help facilitate communication between the parent body and the administration by sending along any concerns, issues, or kudos to your Division VPs. These can then be passed along to the department heads. If issues are passed along quickly, they can be addressed quickly.

By volunteering to be a room parent for your child’s class, you are agreeing to carry out the duties described above. Your role as a room parent is vital to the success of the school’s PA and should be considered carefully.

Team Parent Duties
The most important job for Room Parents is to facilitate communication between the school and the parents. This is done by attending meetings with division heads, PA meetings, by being available to hear concerns from parents and communicating them through the proper channels, and by sending out frequent emails. Other than that, each division and grade have specific duties, outlined below.

12th Grade Room Parent Duties
1. Attend the monthly US team parent meeting with the US head and US VPs. You are also encouraged to attend the PA meetings that take place every other month. 2. Maintain parent email list, and send out emails in a timely fashion. Forward US Head and US VP meeting minutes and any other important information to class parents. 3. Organize the faculty treats schedule for your class. Forward the schedule to Mary Hall.
4. Organize one or two parent-only social/issue evenings.
5. Assist Phil with class Roundtables (if needed).
6. Plan the back to school class party.

The following responsibilities are numerous and they have been split into several "jobs" so that the workload can be shared. The room parents will keep track of the parents who sign up for jobs #7-#11, coordinate with those parents to remind them of their jobs in a timely fashion, send timely emails to parents about all 12th grade activities, and oversee the class budget to determine the funds available for each of the jobs below.

7. Two parents to organize the Senior Prom (with the expectation that many other 12th parents will help).
8. Two parents to organize the Senior/Parent Dinner prior to the Prom.
9. Two parents to hire someone to create the Senior Video and to organize the Video Preview and Potluck (one day before the awards ceremony).
10. One parent to work with the Head of School and the US Head and a committee of seniors, to guide the students in selecting the Class Gift and the school and the Class Gift to the community.
11. Parents have historically organized a senior party after graduation although this does not fall under the auspices of the PA or the school.

11th Grade Room Parent Duties
1. Attend the monthly US team parent meeting with the US head and US VPs. You are also encouraged to attend the PA meetings that take place every other month.
2. Maintain parent email lest, and send out emails in a timely fashion. Forward US Head and US VP meeting minutes and any other important information to class parents.
3. Organize the faculty treats schedule for your class. Forward the schedule to Mary Hall.
4. Organize one or two parents social/issue evenings.
5. Plan the back-to school class party.
6. Organize and delegate graduation duties to all 11th grade parents: flowers, decorating the gym, food, clean-up.
7. Organize and set up the Awards Ceremony.

10th Grade Room Parent Duties
1. Attend the monthly US team parent meeting with the US head and US VPs. You are also encouraged to attend the PA meetings that take place every other month.
2. Maintain parent email lest, and send out emails in a timely fashion. Forward US Head and US VP meeting minutes and any other important information to class parents.
3. Organize the faculty treats schedule for your class. Forward the schedule to Mary Hall.
4. Organize one or two parents social/issue evenings.
5. Assist Phil with class Roundtables (if needed).
6. Plan the back-to school class party. 7. Plan the Winter Formal.
9th Grade Room Parent Duties 1. Attend the monthly US team parent meeting with the US head and US VPs. You are also encouraged to attend the PA meetings that take place every other month.
2. Maintain parent email lest, and send out emails in a timely fashion. Forward US Head and US VP meeting minutes and any other important information to class parents.
3. Organize the faculty treats schedule for your class. Forward the schedule to Mary Hall.
4. Organize one or two parents social/issue evenings.
5.  Assist Phil with class Roundtables (if needed).
6. Plan the back-to school class party. Middle School Team Parent Duties throughout the school year
1. Coordinate Beginning of the Year Party for each class (include MS director, teachers, and advisors for the class).
2. Be the liaison between the school/faculty/VP's and the parents in the class.
3. Attend meetings once a month with MS director and MS VP's, and then communicate important information to the parents via email.
4. Attend PA meetings.
5. Coordinate Faculty Treats.
6. Coordinate Roundtables with MS director (approx. 3 times a year).
7. Coordinate MS Dances(each class plans one during the school year).
8. Coordinate End of Year Party for each class (optional, but nice).
9. Assist in finding a replacement for your position for the following school year.
10. 8th grade team parents plan 8th grade Graduation (current budget: $1000).
11. Meet with teachers early in the school year to determine their goals and expectations.
12. Use class budget ($250 currently) for various class events. Elementary School Room Parent Duties
1. Send out a letter to parents after conferring with the teachers; the letter details the upcoming events for the school year and how the parents can participate; then send follow-up email reminders throughout the school year. 2. Call any new families in your class in advance of the beginning of the school year in order to welcome them to the class and make a special point of inviting them to the back-to-school event. 3. Organize and send reminders for Friday teacher treats and assign dates to parents; send reminders one week before parents’ specific assigned date. 4. Organize and facilitate school parties outside of school and during school including: the summer back-to-school event, a year-end class party and, as appropriate, in-class parties (Halloween, Christmas/Holiday, Valentines, teacher birthday, etc); confirm with the teacher, first, his/her interest in class parties for upcoming holidays and events. 5. Organize parent volunteers for in-class projects as needed and as requested by teacher. 6. Coordinate optional group gifts for teachers i.e., Christmas/Holiday, birthday, end of school, and solicit voluntary contributions from parents. 7. Serve as liaison between Parents Association and class parents for any required communication/information.
K only: Organize Parent-Child Craft Projects. 4th only: Coordinate 4th Grade's assistance with the 5th Grade Moving Up Ceremony and post-ceremony event; discuss plans with 5th Grade room parents to determine assignments. 5th only: Organize parents to help with set preparations prior to performances. Organize Moving Up Ceremony and post-ceremony event. Brainstorm a fund raiser to help fund class gift to the school.
In General: Talk to your teacher at the beginning of the year to find out what their expectations are. It is important to respect the teacher's wishes: not all teachers are alike in their needs. At the beginning of the school year, the ES VP's will advise you of your budget for the year that is set by the PA; use your budgeted amount wisely to last you the entire school year, and don't go overboard with parties, kids are easy to please. The ES VPs meet regularly with the ES Director, and room parents can and should speak with the VPs when necessary in order to facilitate communication between the parents and the ES parents and Director; in this way, the room parent is part of the chain of communication between the class parents and the school administration. Be as organized as possible at the beginning of the year and follow through with commitments parents have made to help. E-mail or post volunteer opportunities early so you can get an early commitment from parents. The PA relies heavily on the participation of parents at each PA fundraiser: encourage your parents to participate and set the example by participating yourself.
Executive Committee
The persons filling the offices of the PA shall constitute the Executive Committee.The term of office for positions which are jointly held (Co-Presidents, Division VPs, and Co-Treasurers)shall be two years and shall be staggered annually in order that there be a senior and junior officer for each office. The term of office for Secretary shall be two years. The term of office for VP of Fundraising shall be one year.
Co-Presidents: The senior Co-President will be deemed to be the head of the PA. The duties of the office of Co-President shall be shared between the two Co-Presidents and shall be to:
a. act as a liaison between the Headmaster, the PA and the Board.
b. keep the Executive Committee informed and current on all PA business.
c. set dates and agenda, and preside at all meetings of the PA and of the Executive Committee. d. call special meetings of the PA and of the Executive Committee if necessary. e. perform such duties as may be assigned by the Executive Committee or prescribed by these Standard Operating Procedures. f. determine the need for temporary task forces and designate the chairperson thereof with approval of the Executive Committee. g. ensure all PA positions are filled in the event of a vacancy. h. with assistance from the Executive Committee, handle all business that comes before the PA. i. review all written contracts and other contracts, on behalf of the PA, and submit those in excess of $1000 to either the Business Office or a member of the Board Finance Committee for approval and signature. j. with assistance from the Executive Committee Liaisons, oversee all PA committees. k. at the beginning of every year, with assistance from the Executive Committee, review duties and determine committee objectives with their respective chairs. l. attend the meetings of the Board as an Ex-Officio member, and prepare the PA report required for Board meetings. m. represent the PA at school functions. n. submit articles for school publications.o. review with Executive Committee these Standard Operating Procedures and the Annual Budget at the first Executive Committee meeting of the year. p. collect notebooks (see Section 10) from each Executive Committee officer. q. produce a year-end report and submit it to the Secretary, a copy of which will be given to the incoming Executive Committee, as well as to the Head and the Board.
Division Vice-Presidents There will be six Vice-Presidents, two each representing the Elementary (“ES”), Middle (“MS) and Upper School (“US”) divisions. The duties of the Vice-Presidents shall be to: a. preside at the meetings in the absence of both Co-Presidents (by order of seniority, beginning with US Senior VP, MS Senior VP, ES Senior VP, US Junior VP, MS Junior VP, ES Junior VP). b. serve as liaison between the Division Head and Room Parents of their respective divisions and the Executive Committee. c. oversee and hold regular meetings, within each division, between Room Parents and Division Heads. d. give a report on activities in their respective divisions at PA meetings as requested. e. coordinate with Room Parents special events particular to their division within the mandates of the Annual Budget. f. attend the New Parent Welcome Reception. g. collect updated notebooks (see section 10; one per grade) from Room Parents at the end of the year. h. act as the Nominating Committee (one VP from each division). i. produce a year-end report (one per division) and submit it to the Secretary, a copy of which will be added to the notebook (see Section 10) and given to the incoming Executive Committee. j. acknowledge that the following duties apply to specific division VPs:
Elementary School VPs shall: I. communicate with 4th grade Room Parents about the ES Moving Up Ceremony. II. coordinate weekly faculty treats for ES staff and faculty. III. give welcome address at Back To School Night (introduce VPs and Room Parents, and explain their roles). III. give welcome address at Back To School Night (introduce VPs and Room Parents, and explain their roles). IV. represent the PA at the ES Open House. V. coordinate any PA business, special functions (eg, retirements) specific to the ES. VI. coordinate ES specialist birthday cards and gifts. VII. hold year-end meeting with outgoing and incoming room parents and incoming ES VP.
Middle School VPs shall: I. coordinate weekly faculty treats for MS staff and faculty. II. give welcome address at Back To School Night (introduce VPs and Room Parents, and explain their roles). III. represent the PA at the MS Open House. IV. coordinate any PA business, special functions (eg, retirements) specific to the MS. V. in conjunction with coaches, Room Parents and Division Head, arrange MS Sports Banquets. VI. coordinate with Division Head and Room Parents for all MS dances. VII. communicate with 8th grade Room Parents about the MS Moving Up Ceremony. VIII. oversee and coordinate with 8th grade Room Parents the US Back To School Day lunch. IX. hold year-end meeting with outgoing and incoming room parents and incoming MS VP.
Upper School VPs shall: I. write US Team Meeting Minutes and distribute via email to US parents. II. communicate with 11th grade Room Parents about the Graduation Ceremony. III. communicate with 11th grade Room Parents about the US Prom. IV. coordinate weekly faculty treats for US staff and faculty. V. coordinate any PA business, special functions (eg, retirements) specific to the US. VI. in conjunction with coaches, Athletic Dept, team captains’ parents and the Division Head, arrange all US Sports Banquets. VII. act as liaison between PA Executive and Student Senate. VIII. coordinate the production of the Senior Class Video. IX. hold year-end meeting with outgoing and incoming room parents and incoming US VP.
Co-Treasurers
The duties of the Co-Treasurers shall be to: a. monitor and adhere to the Annual Budget, as approved at the Annual Meeting the preceding spring. b. keep a record on a monthly basis of all receipts and expenditures of all PA financial activities and to make available reports at Executive Committee and PA meetings; financial reports should include a comparison of the Annual Budget to the actual expenditures to date, cash on hand, and a total of bills outstanding. c. receive all bills and make all payments that are allowed within the current approved budget and any others approved by the Executive Committee; the signature of either a Co-Treasurer or a Co-President shall appear on all checks; any check over $1000 will require a Co-President’s signature as well as a signature from the Business Office or member of the BoardFinance Committee. d. outline accounting procedures to each fundraising event committee. e. be responsible for the timely deposit of all PA monies. f. with the assistance of the Executive Committee, determine the PA’s annual financial commitment to TCS. g. develop, with the assistance of the Executive Committee, a budget of projected annual revenues and expenses. h. secure approval of this budget from the Executive Committee. i. submit this budget to the Board Finance Committee for review, approval, and recommendation for approval by the Board of Directors. j. present the approved budget to the PA annually at a scheduled PA Meeting, for approval by majority vote. k. produce a year-end report and submit it to the Secretary, a copy of which will be added to the notebook (see Section 10) and given to the incoming Executive Committee. l. submit an annual financial statement to the business office and the Treasurer of the Board of Directors at the end of June.
Secretary The duties of the Secretary shall be to: a. record the minutes of Executive Committee and PA meetings, post PA meeting minutes on the website, and make copies available as appropriate. b. announce upcoming PA meetings to parent body and reserve school facilities as necessary for PA and Executive meetings (via Assistant to the Head). c. keep a file of important incoming and outgoing PA correspondence. d. attend to all correspondence of the PA. e. collect all Officer and Committee year-end Reports, and give them to the incoming Executive Committee. f. provide a comprehensive list of incoming PA Officers, Committee Chairs and Room Parents for the following year’s directory. g. maintain the PA pages of the website. h. produce a year-end report, a copy of which will be added to the notebook (see Section 10) and given to the incoming Executive Committee.