Parent coodinators doing a great job!

The plan to increase classroom volunteerism is working, according to your feedback as well as the teachers. In fact, when we followed up the teachers, their responses ranged from "I'm getting all the help I need," to, "I am getting absolutely fantastic support." In other words, it goes from good to excellent.

We thought you would want to know that you, collectively, are doing a terrific job.

Have a wonderful holiday and keep up the good work!

-Charles and Martha

Kudos and Volunteer Plan Feedback

Hi PC's,

First of all, much thanks and appreciation to all of you for helping to create such a wonderful Halloween carnival. All of your time and effort with the booths, auction items and Haunted House truly helped to make it a fun night for everyone!

It's been a month since our last PC meeting where we launched a plan for increasing volunteerism and we wanted to know how it is going. (A previous post on this blog gives the details of the plan.)

Please give us your feedback on how the plan is working in your family group. We would appreciate if you could be specific on what is working and/or not working and as well as suggestions of things that might improve the plan.

By getting your feedback as well as touching base with the teachers, we hope to see if this approach to increasing volunteerism is effective in it's implementation, or if there are ways that the plan can be improved to better help everyone.

As usual, please email reply to both of us.

Thanks,
Martha and Charles

Classroom volunteerism plan

The following was sent to teachers today about our plan for increasing classroom volunteers:

Dear Chugach Teachers:

We had an excellent parent coordinator meeting this morning, wherein I passed on the thoughts from Wednesday's staff meeting and presented a plan Martha and I had sketched to address the challenges and opportunities of increasing volunteerism at Chugach.

Short version: Your coordinators will be contacting you for one-on-one meetings to find ways to make volunteers available to you in the most effective way for your classroom. Key agenda items will be establishing a sense of the needs (and please, think big, as we are trying for a quantum leap), setting up a communication system that works for both sides, and going over class lists and surveys to developed a shared feel for the available resources.

Your coordinators will then call each of the parents in your family group to get a better sense of their skills and availability in relation to your needs.

All this is going toward the goals of matching people to jobs so you have all the help you need, with minimal effort on your part. Our concept is that a personalized process of talking to each parent will work best. Coordinators will try to meet parents at their own level, with baby steps for those who haven't developed the volunteering habit. Their goal will be to become match-makers between the skills of individual parents and particular classroom needs.

Here is the plan as we laid it out with the coodinators:

1. Classroom volunteer needs

a. Our goal for volunteerism at Chugach

i. Better than other schools?

ii. Everyone volunteers 36 hours/year?

iii. Every teacher has all the volunteers she can use?

b. Teacher feedback and needs

i. Lack of volunteer help in the classroom

ii. Need for a strategy to get parents into the classroom

1. Identify volunteers/skills and bring in new people

2. Communicate needs to potential volunteers positively, individually (going back to pre-email days)

3. Match parents to jobs effectively

4. Reduce work load on teachers (so that PCs are point of contact)

c. Strategy outline

i. PCs meet with teachers

1. Establish communication routine between PC and teacher

a. Regular meetings or phone calls?

b. Job lists?

c. Amount of advance warning needed to get volunteers?

2. Review with teacher the class list, surveys, current participation levels

ii. Call parents for interests, availability, skills; as needed to expand on survey

iii. Communicate with teachers again to share information gleaned, begin matching volunteers to jobs.


feedback: parent coordinators seemed enthusiastic to do this and make it work. Some of their concerns were--
* Predictability for parents who need to plan their work schedule around volunteer opportunities;
* Effort at communicating with volunteers when plans change and they are not needed;
* Freshening up of job lists and improved communication of casual volunteer needs so opportunities don't go to waste--including clarifying that every parent can help every class;
* Need for diplomacy and discretion on the part of coordinators so teachers control the agenda in the classroom (your day shouldn't work around volunteers; volunteers should work around your day).

Thanks for your help on this. Please send feedback to me or Martha about how it is working out.

-Charles and Martha

PS to teachers: I regret something I said in the staff meeting, and I said it much better in the coordinator meeting. It's about how we value volunteers. In the staff meeting I put it in terms of some high-wage earner who is giving his or her time. A better way of thinking of it is a single mom with two jobs who takes unpaid time off to come in. That's worth a lot, and we should make sure such a precious resource is well used. That's the coordinator's job, and the teacher's job.

Choosing a day for your Teacher Appreciation Luncheon

Here are a couple of suggestions when choosing a day for your family group's Teacher Appreciation Luncheon.

Wednesdays or Early Release Fridays would probably work best for different reasons:

On Wednesdays, school specialists Jana, Kim W and Margritta are at Chugach during lunch bringing the total staff count to 26, however the staff has staggered lunchtimes.
On Early Release Fridays, the classroom teachers and specialists all eat lunch together, however Jana, Kim W and Margritta are not at Chugach so the total staff count is 23.

***Most importantly, once you have chosen the day of your luncheon, please let both Anne Salzer and Diane/Diana know the date ahead of time, so they can inform the staff.***

Teacher appreciation lunch schedule

Here is the schedule for when family groups are preparing appreciation lunches for teachers, arrived at through exhaustive discussion and voting.

Oct - Jean and Caycee
Nov - Kate
Dec - Sharon/Cami
Jan - Sharon B
Feb - Leigh
Mar - Kass
Apr - Heidi, Pam and Dagmara
May - Linda

Appreciation lunch vote outcome

Here at election central the votes are in and tallied. The questioned and absentee ballots have been reviewed. We do not have a write-in campaign to consider. And the winner is:

Monthly teacher appreciation lunches: 7 family groups.
Quarterly lunches: 2 groups.
Tied vote: 1 group
Did not vote: 1 group.

Here's what we'll do. There are 8 months left in the school year. The 7 groups that want to do monthly lunches can each do one months, and the other 4 groups can team up to do the remaining lunch.

Some have already requested certain months:
Kate FG: November
Sharon Brooks FG: January
Leigh FG: February
Kass FG: March
Linda FG: May


Others: if I missed your month preference in the reams of email, I apologize.

Martha and I have ordained with our coordinator scepter that the team-produced lunch will be in March, so the combined groups have plenty of time to get organized. So that means:

April: Heidi, Pam, Dagmara and Jean's FGs

Leaving the following groups to choose among the following months. First-come, first-served, by email to me and Martha (please address both so we don't get doubled up):

Caycee, Sharon/Cami
October, December

Sincerely, Charles and Martha

School-wide Surveys and Teacher luncheons

Hi Everyone,

We have collected a number of the schoolwide surveys that your parents filled out on the Open House nights, but we don't have surveys from all the family groups yet.

These surveys are a way to help us find volunteers for schoolwide activities by looking at what our parents have expressed interest in helping with. This differs from the individual family group surveys which some classes have and some don't, and if they do, they are usually specific to each class. This is why having a standard schoolwide survey will help so much.

Please turn these surveys in as soon as possible by putting them in the "Schoolwide Survey" envelope that is hanging on the small cork board in the Parent Workroom.

The votes regarding the Teacher Appreciation luncheons are slowly coming in from each family group. Please let us know if your family group prefers monthly lunches (one lunch served per family group) or quarterly lunches (groups of classes serve each lunch). We'd like to have all votes in by this Friday, Sept. 24, and we'll have the results for you on Monday, Sept. 27.

Whatever the result of the vote, the important thing is that everyone is included in the decision and we go forward together as a community.

Thanks for all you are doing!

Martha and Charles

School-wide Surveys

Hi Everyone,

There is an envelope labeled School-wide Surveys hanging on the small cork board in the Parent Workroom. Please put the filled out surveys from your Open Houses in this envelope for Charles and I to gather and create a volunteer database for school-wide activities.

Thanks for all of your time and energy!
Martha

Open Houses & Community Assembly meeting

Hi Everyone,

This is a relatively busy week at Chugach with Open Houses and the Chugach Community Assembly meeting.

Open Houses:
Surveys for school-wide events - These surveys are a way for us to gather parent volunteer information for school-wide events. (The surveys were handed out at the PC meeting. A copy is attached if needed)

Please talk with your teachers about the surveys before your Open House and ask to speak for a few minutes at the Open House to explain the surveys to the parents. At the Open House have your parents fill out the school-wide surveys and then return the surveys to Charles or Martha so we can create a database of volunteers for school-wide events.

At the Open House, if any children are brought and are out on the playground, please ask 1-2 parents to supervise them outside. This is obviously for safety reasons.

Chugach Community Assembly meeting this Tuesday, Sept. 14, 6 - 7:30pm.
Sharon B's class responsible for providing 1-2 parents to help with childcare.

On another topic, if you are contacting parents by email, here is an item you can add. The School District would like to let everyone know about an anti-racism speaker, Tim Wise, who will be giving a special free presentation open to parents Tuesday, September 14th 2-4 PM in the ASD Center Boardroom. More information about this is in last Friday's Scoop.

Here's to a great week!
Thanks!
Martha

Teacher lunches updated

Hi Everyone,

Charles and I like Aspen's idea of assigning the Teacher Appreciation luncheons to each family group level.
So here are the assignments:

October - Elder Group
November - Middle Group
February - Primary Group
April - Kindy Group

Please let Charles and I know if these assigned months work for your family groups. As Charles mentioned, you can work out
the exact date later when you plan your lunch.

Remember that these luncheons are meant to spread throughout the year our parents' appreciation for our wonderful teachers. That way the official Teachers Appreciation week can be more about our children's appreciation for their teacher.

Please make sure that all your parents have the opportunity to contribute by not only putting up a sign up sheet, but also contacting them via email and/or phone, since some parents don't necessarily see those sign up sheets.
Thanks,
Martha

Scheduling teacher appreciation lunches

Based on the perceived consensus from our meeting Friday, let's try teacher appreciation lunches quarterly, assuming there is enough interest from family groups to pull it off.

Please sign up your family group for one of the four following months by responding to me or Martha, or commenting on the blog. You can work out the exact date later when you plan your lunch. Each date should end up with two or three family groups signed up (11 family groups over 4 lunches). We will post the results to get each of you together with the other family group coordinators volunteering for your month.

October
November
February
April

-Charles

Notes from the first PC meeting

Parent Coordinator Meeting
Sept 3, 2010

Introductions

Chugach Philosophy and Volunteerism
Our community works when we are all participate = Many hands make light work.
Our job as PCs is to inform parents of volunteer opportunities and to delegate these, encouraging everyone’s participation as an important and integral part of our children’s education at Chugach. Our PCs should not be trying to do it all, nor should the same super-volunteer parents who always fill sign up sheets. One of the main reasons families come to Chugach is because of our unique educational philosophy that depends on parental involvement. Call the parents on this, literally. Use classroom and schoolwide surveys (see below) to reach out (via email or phone) to parents asking them to volunteer for specific tasks they have expressed interest in doing. Invite a somewhat absent parent to join you or another parent in volunteering. Once they’ve volunteered and felt the fun and fulfillment of helping, they’re more likely to feel that they’re part of the Chugach community and volunteer again.

Old business:

Back to School Picnic – Thanks to volunteers – Feedback?
Positive feedback
Next year provide parking info in advance re: 2 hour limit on side street, Overflow parking lot. (Anne Salzer)
Only drawback to tents was occasional water coming down between awnings.
New Parent Orientation - Thanks to PCs who attended
Next year call on PCs to provide baked goods/coffee/tea.

New business:

Scheduled PC meetings: Fridays at 8:30 in Art Room (Multipurpose room if Art week)
- October 8 (Multipurpose Room)
- January 21
- March 25

Still need younger PCs for Sharon B and Sharon Lee.
All PCs are encouraged to help find people to fill these two positions.

Volunteer Surveys for schoolwide events.
- PCs talk with teachers about surveys before Open House and ask to speak for a couple of minutes at Open House about the surveys.
- At Open Houses, PCs explain surveys to parents and get them filled out that night.
- Return surveys to Martha & Charles - Create database of volunteers for school-wide events
- Open Houses: Primary Group on Sept.16, Middle Group on Sept.13,
Upper Group on Sept 15.
PCs need to find a couple of parents to supervise children on playground during each Open House.

Big Simple – Randee Liles and Krista Johnson
Information going out about Big Simple next week
Information to be presented to parents at Open Houses

Halloween Carnival – Saturday, Oct 30 (tentative time: 5:30 – 8p.m.)
Phil Tafs – Carnival
Irene Tresser and Laile Fairbairn – Auction

Teacher Appreciation luncheons – Continue? – Feedback
Liked it but nearing the end of the school year, it begins to feel a little overwhelming.
It’s one more thing that the super-volunteer parents end up signing up to do.
Possible solution: Quarterly teacher luncheons shared by 2 or 3 family groups and calling on parents solicited via email/phone to provide food.

Scoop Newsletters – Children getting the Scoop via email should have red dots next to their mail slots. These kids do not need a paper copy of the Scoop.

PCs inform parents on Open House about reducing paper consumption by getting the Scoop via email and having red dots on their child’s mail slot to signify no paper Scoop needed.

1st Assembly meeting on Tuesday, Sept 14, 6 – 7:30p.m. – Childcare

Meetings are usually held the 2nd Tuesday of each month.
The parent who helped with childcare last year, Warwick King, has volunteered to run the childcare during Assembly meetings again. However, one or two extra parents are needed to assist him, so each family group has been assigned a month to provide parent volunteers to help. Below is the schedule:

September 14 – Sharon Brooks
October – Dagmara
November – Heidi
December – Kass
January – Linda
February – Leigh
March – Kate
April – Pam
May – Sharon Lee

Other items:
- Bulletin board for Chugach philosophy/Overview of school’s educational approach
- Possible Kindergarten Open House to inform Kindy parents about specific Chugach events/fundraisers and Chugach terminology (“Upper”, “Elder/Younger”, etc.)

Parent Coordinator Meeting today

Friday, Sept. 3, at 8:30a.m. in Art Room
Look forward to seeing everyone there!

Martha & Charles

Picture day volunteers and other opporunities

Picture Day at Chugach is scheduled for Wednesday, Sept. 15, during the morning time. Two parent volunteers are needed to help bring each class to the photographer and to check that everyone looks their best. A request for these two volunteers was already made in last week's Scoop with instructions to contact their class Parent Coordinator if they were interested in helping. Please let me know if you get any volunteers.

Also, mentioned in the Scoop are two Parent Workroom Training sessions, scheduled for Thurs, Sept 2, at 8:30a.m. and Thurs, Sept 9, at 2:15p.m.. These are for anyone who wants to learn how to use our new copier and laminator. Please encourage your parents to attend either session. They will feel more confident volunteering if they know how to use the machines.

There will also be another training session right after our PC meeting this Friday, for any PC who wishes attend. We can better help our parents if we also know how to work our new machines.

Thanks,
Martha

Parent co-ordinator meeting Sept 3

Martha and I are planning to keep parent co-ordinator meetings to a minimum, just three or four during the whole year, so it is important to make it, especially to the first one. We will be meeting on September 3, which is a half day, right after school starts. The meeting will be in the art room. We have a lot of important stuff to discuss and get feedback. --Charles

New parent orientation Aug 24

We are planning a new parent orientation on August 24 at 8:30 am. Classroom co-ordinators, especially for the younger classes, are encouraged to attend to help new parents get their questions answered and make sure they feel welcome. We will meet in the multi-purpose room.