How to Be a Room Parent

When your child starts school, you'll probably be struck by the urge to volunteer in the classroom. One of the best ways you can support your child's class is to volunteer to be the room parent. The room parent serves as a liaison between the teacher and the students' parents. Common responsibilities of a room parent include planning holiday celebrations and seeking volunteers to chaperone field trips or provide support to the teacher in other areas.

Difficulty:

Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Contact the teacher early in the year to find out if she has already assigned a room parent. If not, ask the teacher how you go about volunteering for the role of room parent.

2. Meet with the teacher once he has confirmed that you are the room parent to discuss how he prefers you to work. Some teachers have very specific expectations regarding party planning, donations and volunteer solicitation and other room parent functions, while others prefer to delegate every single detail to the room parent.

3. Ask the teacher if it's OK to send a memo to each family introducing yourself and requesting contact information, including email addresses. Some teachers will have a form that they use for this purpose. Others will welcome your willingness to write your own memo. Once written, distribute the memo via the student's school-to-home folders.

4. Collect contact information forms from the parents, and set up an e-mail group list for the class. Include the teacher on the group list so she is kept in the loop. Sending out information seeking donations and volunteers for parties and field trips is much more efficient using e-mail. For those families who do not provide an email address, send the teacher a list of the family names, and ask her to send a printed copy of the email home with those students. Always include your phone number in the email for those families so they can contact you easily.

5. Send out an email to the class group list about 3 to 4 weeks before an event. Include a specific list of the items you need donated as well as the number of volunteers you need to help at the party. Print a copy of this email once you have sent it. Beside each item, note the name of the family who has agreed to donate the item or volunteer.

6. Remind the group by sending out a reminder email a few days before the event. Include the list of items to be donated and the name of the family that agreed to provide the item. Also, include the list of people who agreed to volunteer at the event. Specify when the items are due in the classroom as well as when and where volunteers should plan to meet.

7. Remain professional at all times. Do not release any family's contact information to anyone at any time, and do not gossip about the teacher, students or families regardless of what inside information you may be privy to in your role as a room parent.

Tips & Warnings

• Confidentiality rules and laws may prevent the teacher from sharing student or family contact information with you. That is why it is important for you to request and receive that information directly from parents or guardians directly.

• If you prefer to seek donations and volunteers by telephone, that's fine, too. It just takes a lot more effort doing it that way.

• Some schools ask families to donate a fixed amount of money at the beginning of the year to the class party fund. If your school does that, the teacher will give you the money to spend as you see fit. Keep your receipts to document expenses. This money is generally spent on buying supplies for party crafts and games. Most party funds don't begin to cover the true cost of class parties, that's why you will almost always need to seek donations of things like food and paper goods for parties.

• If your teacher is agreeable, ask for several sheets of school letterhead and write letters to local department stores asking for donations. Introduce yourself, identify the school and class for which you are the room parent, and ask for a donation of goods, service or gift cards. Almost all chain stores will agree to donate as much as a $25 gift card to help defray out-of-pocket expenses.

• If you have any concerns regarding inappropriate behavior by a parent or other volunteer, address your concerns to the teacher and let him deal with it. It is not your job to manage difficult personalities.

Resources

• Family Fun offers ideas for class parties and tips for room parents.
• Class Parties offers information on planning successful class parties.