The Fearless Volunteer

Thanks for dropping by. This is a space to discuss the nitty-gritty, unglamorous administrative side of being a parent volunteer. (Come to think of it, there’s actually no such thing as a glamorous side.) For more about me, see About Me.

For my first post in a blog about how technology can help parent volunteers, I’d like to start off by stating the obvious: sometimes you’re stuck with paper.

Know your school community before you go for a shiny, high-tech solution. Do all families have regular online access? At our neighborhood Title One school, many families simply don’t have daily access to the Internet. So we use Facebook and  web site and an email group to keep everyone in touch. But we have no choice but to keep sending out paper flyers (translated into Spanish as well) in kids’ backpacks to communicate about events, meeting, and volunteer needs. Otherwise we risk alienating a huge proportion of our neighbors.

If you’re at a smaller school with a population that’s easy to keep track of, you can have an opt-in/opt-list for paper flyers and newsletters to reduce your time copying and sorting. If (like me) your kids attend a big school with a constantly shifting population, that may not be easy. Many schools do have issues with privacy as well and are squirrelly about releasing student information.

If you’re stuck with paper copies, make it less painful. These tips may sound obvious but they come from years of hard-won experience and annoyance:

• Make nice with your office staff who give you the distribution lists. Be mindful of their time and give them lots of notice Shower them with praise, thanks, and gifts.
• If you’re making copies on the school photocopier, give the staff and teachers priority.
• Rotate who does the photocopying. When you’re recruiting volunteers, aim for a group of people who have daytime availability to do this annoying task. Or, if you are lucky enough to find someone to chair an event, make sure they know the system for getting out photocopies.
• Know your school policy on flyers. Here in Montgomery County, there is a Flyer Distribution Policy for other nonprofit organizations. This example does not apply to parent-teacher groups, but it’s still a good idea to know what’s acceptable.
• Does your school have an automatic phone call/email system? (Here in Montgomery County, we use Connect Ed.) Get into the routine of getting your events or news onto their announcements.

I won’t say “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” There’s always room for improvement. If you’re at a small school where parents show up everyday to pick up or drop off kids, maybe the low-tech paper sign-up sheet on the bulletin board is still the best solution. But try an online sign up in addition. Recognize that sometimes even in the twenty-first century you have to take baby steps away from paper.