How to Organize Parent Volunteers for an Elementary School

Many parents would love to volunteer.

Elementary schools need many parent volunteers to enhance the educational experience of their elementary students. Parent volunteers are needed for many different tasks, from reading with children to shelving library books. Unfortunately, many elementary schools do not have a system in place to match parents who want to volunteer with outstanding volunteer needs. As a result, many parents would love to volunteer but do not know how to get started, and other parent volunteers feel overwhelmed from overcommitting themselves to school functions. All it takes is one person with good organizational skills to fix this problem. Here is how to organize parent volunteers for an elementary school.

Instructions

1. Compile a list of specific volunteer needs throughout the school. Volunteers generally do not commit to positions or events--they commit to tasks. Send an email out to every school staff member and Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) committee leader and request a list of specific tasks they will need assistance with during the next school year.

2. Construct a volunteer handbook. Include every specific task for which parent volunteers are needed, providing an estimated amount of time necessary to complete each task. Volunteers need to know how much responsibility they are taking on when they commit to a task. Leave copies in the front office so parents can familiarize themselves with the school's volunteer needs.

3. Create a volunteer survey. The survey should provide a place for the parent's name and contact information, the preferred mode of contact (phone versus e-mail) and convenient times to calls. Include an alphabetized list of specific tasks, such as placing phone calls or tutoring, with checkboxes next to each option. This enables parents to scan through a list of volunteer needs quickly and indicate which tasks pique their interest. Be sure to include a bolded statement that filling out the survey does not commit a parent to any particular task.

4. Distribute the volunteer survey at Open House. Most elementary schools distribute folders at Open House with several forms that parents are expected to fill out and return to the school. Place the volunteer survey with those forms to increase the odds of parents completing and returning the survey.

5. Build a database from the returned surveys. Include each parent's preferred mode of contact and preferred time to receive phone calls. Contacting parents in the time and method they prefer greatly increases the number of positive responses to volunteer solicitations.

6. Distribute a list of possible volunteers to each school staff member and PTA committee leader. As volunteer needs arise throughout the school year, the staff or PTA member will have a list of volunteers to contact who have already expressed an interest in helping out in a certain capacity.

7. Update volunteer information annually. Repeat these steps at the beginning of each school year because volunteer needs and volunteer availability change over time.

Tips & Warnings

• Organizing parent volunteers at the beginning of the school year simplifies the work necessary to recruit parent volunteers throughout the school year.

• Include volunteer opportunities for parents who work full-time, such as placing phone calls. Many working parents want to assist but are unaware of volunteer needs that can be done outside of school hours.