So you want to volunteer in school. Great! We need/love/want/begfor...oh yeah, and sometimes dread, volunteers.
So lets get the hard part out of the way. Don't become a volunteer if any of the below apply to you:
1. You want to spy on your kids teacher and see what REALLY goes on in there. This is not going to help the school trust you or help your child's education. It will be a distraction.
2. You want to spy on another kid. Are you scoping out the cheerleading competition? You don't like the kid's mom and you know the kid is just like her? That kid is picking on your kid and you want to let them know you are watching them? Let school officials handle these issues...that's why they get the big bucks!
3. You are a registered sex offender, convicted felon, etc . Maybe you've turned over a new leaf, but we don't take risks with our kids so don't bother.
Ok. So now we know you are an altruistic saint who wants to help your child's school be the best! Here is what you need to do and what you can expect:
1. Fill out a volunteer application at your child's building or central office . Ask the building secretary what you need to do.
2. Be willing to do WHATEVER the school needs done . You are not going to be teaching lessons or grading papers...that is the teacher's job and you legally cannot do those things.
3. Be prepared to sign a confidentiality agreement. You may overhear information, see documents, or witness behavior regarding other children that is protected by privacy laws.
4. Be prepared to go through volunteer training . Most schools have a formal program that everyone has to sit through, not just you. Pay attention and ask questions. Ask lots of questions. Not just now, but anytime you are unsure of something or think there might be a better way. Realize that because you think something could be done better doesn't mean school policy, employment law, and/or state and federal regulations will allow for a change.
5. Be prepared for a background check . The school is required to run these on anyone who has contact with students--especially if there is a chance that you might be alone with children without a school employee present.
6. Volunteer somewhere other than in your child's classroom . Some schools don't allow this, but you and your child will both get more done if you aren't in there.
7. Look for little ways you make the teachers' days easier and they will ask for you more and more often. For example, help preschool and kindergarten kids cut up pancakes at breakfast. Help move kids through the lunch line so teachers can go scarf their lunch. Learn to use the copier and go room to room asking if they have copies they need made. Sharpen pencils. Monitor the playground. During flu season help disinfect door handles, lockers, walls, etc. Shelve books or wipe off book covers in the library. Let a special needs kid read to you. Disinfect bus seats. Pick up trash around the school grounds. Disinfect the weight room equipment.
8.Thank the teachers and administration for the opportunity to serve kids and for the work that they do every day. You are going to hear more thanks in a day (and it still won't feel like much!) than an educator hears on a year.
9. Finally, you will help your school out in one way more than any other . When you leave the school, tell others how great the school was, how wonderful the teachers were, now nice the principal was, and how smart the kids were! You will be strengthening a key aspect of the school by doing this: the school IDENTITY. You will be promoted from being a volunteer to being an ambassador.
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