Room Parents

Thank you for volunteering to be a Room Parent for your child’s classroom this year!    Being a Room Parent is a unique opportunity to get to know your child’s teacher and to provide her with much needed assistance.  Involved parent volunteers are one of Westpark’s biggest assets.

As a Room Parent, you are helping the teachers serve as a conduit between the PTA and your fellow classroom parents. However each teacher has different needs and expectations of the Room Parent so we encourage you to check with your teacher regarding expectations. 

Room Parent Downloadable Files

Sample Class Donation Letter
Class Funds Worksheet/Log
Staff Birthday List

Westpark Room Parent Guidelines

First - you must be a current PTA member. Please see the Join the Westpark PTA link for instructions on joining!

Room Parent Tasks:

• Collecting funds – There are generally 5 different events for which the room parents collects funds.  Some room parents prefer to collect for all 5 of these events at the beginning of the school year, but you may also collect it at intervals prior to each event. We generally ask for $5 per event, but feel free to suggest whatever donation you feel is appropriate.  You may send a note to the parents (emailed, in the conduits, or both – a sample will be provided), asking for a minimal voluntary contribution.  It is the Room Parent’s responsibility to collect the funds and make any purchases. These 5 events are:

• (1) Holiday, (2) Birthday, and (3) End-of-Year Gifts – Many parents (and teachers!) appreciate it if the Room Parent coordinates group gifts for the teacher (and aide, if applicable). Having one collaborative gift is a nice alternative to 20-30 individual tokens of appreciation.

§  Be very clear when communicating to parents that any contribution is strictly voluntary, and please make no mention of the amount each family has donated.  For gifts from the class, each child’s name should be included in the card, whether or not the family has contributed.

§  You may include a suggested amount in your letter (a sample will be emailed to you), but be sure to include a statement such as "We are aware that this may not be an appropriate amount for all families.  Please feel free to contribute more or less according to your personal situation.”

§  You may want to present any teacher gifts/cards at the beginning or end of the school day in front of the class, but please ask the teacher first if you may take just a few minutes to do so.

• (4) Worlds of Westpark.  This is a multi-cultural event held at the end of the school year where each grade level will host one "game" booth in which "winners" earn raffle tickets, and one "service" booth (i.e., tattoos, color hair spray, lollipop tree, craft, face paint, balloon animal, etc.). The room parents for each grade will collectively decide on these booths at the beginning of the year and work toward getting them together throughout the year. You will receive more information about the WoW throughout the year.

• (5) Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week- Each Spring, the PTA sponsors Teacher and Staff Appreciation Week, with an event each day to celebrate our teachers.  We also now have a “Class Friend” Program - In addition to the class teacher, one staff member is selected to be recognized during staff appreciation week.  You will be contacted in April with further information about this year’s plans.

• Yearbook – Each classroom is asked to submit photos for inclusion in our annual yearbook.  The yearbook staff will provide you with more information. You are encouraged to take group photos throughout the year and to solicit help from other parents so that your child’s classroom will be represented. We prefer photos be submitted on CD so they can be easily uploaded. Please put the class and event name on the CD.  We ask that room parents participate in the final photo selection to ensure that all students in your class are represented in the yearbook.  Details and deadlines will be provided by the yearbook committee. 

• Box Tops – Each classroom has a Box Tops collection envelope.  Please remind parents in your classroom to continue collecting valid/unexpired Box Tops. There will be Box Tops Challenges each trimester. At the end of each challenge, please organize your classroom's Box Tops (remove expired box tops, group them in to “baggies” of 50 or tape them to the Box Tops collection page or a blank sheet of paper in groups of 25 or 50) and turn in your envelope to the Box Tops Collection crate on the PTA desk near the front office.  ***More information to follow as this is a new program this year***

• Class Parties – These are becoming less common; please check with your teacher to see if there are any events he/she needs help celebrating.

Administrative Items:

• To stay in contact with parents, please ask the teacher to notify the class that you are the room parent, and ask them to submit their email address to you.  You may also use the Westpark PTA Directory. Note that some teachers prefer you to email to them any Room Parent announcements and she will forward to the classroom parents.

• From time to time, you may need to send notes home in the children’s backpacks.  Please be sure that any correspondence you send out has the teacher’s prior approval. To have flyers placed in the conduits, communicate with your teacher on the submission deadline.

• Whenever you are on school premises, you must sign in at the front office to log your volunteer hours and obtain a volunteer sticker.

• Please keep requests of the office staff to a minimum.  If you need assistance, make sure to give as much advance notice as possible. Do not make requests during morning arrival or afternoon dismissal time.

• Do not make the front office your work space or linger there.  There is a PTA desk in the library, which you are welcome to use.

Other Room Parent Responsibilities:

• Room Parent Meetings: Room parent meetings are scheduled for August 15, 2013; January 16, 2014; and April 22, 2014. They begin at 8:30am at the Westpark lunch tables. We will meet to give updates, gather feedback, and troubleshoot concerns.

• A Room Parent’s role does not encompass answering academic or school policy questions.  Please refer these subjects to the teacher or principal.

• Confidentiality is one of your most serious responsibilities as a Room Parent.  Information or observations about individual children are to be kept confidential.  If you observe a problem with any student, please notify the teacher only.

• Get other parents involved!  While you are the key to your teacher’s parent support system, please do not try to do everything yourself.  The most important thing you can do for the teacher, students, and parents in the class is to help other parents get involved.  As a room parent, you can be a tremendous resource in matching the right tasks with the right families, if you get to know other parents.

• Bookmark the PTA website at www.ptawestpark.com and “Like” Westpark Elementary PTA for updates on the PTA and Westpark on your Facebook stream.

Have a great year!!