PTA, Parent Committee, & Volunteering: Get Involved

PTA, Parent Committee, & Volunteering: Get Involved 

 

As we all settle back into our school routines and many of us create new ones, we begin to look ahead at what the school year will have to offer and wonder. Rather than wondering parents and guardians should get involved through various programs many schools have to offer. Regardless of the age of the child parents should take this opportunity to collaborate with teachers and other parents, role modeling the interest they would like their children to take with school activities as well as setting a culture of learning and collaborating with others. The purpose of these positions themselves are to increase parent involvement and assist administrators in the generating of activities that are relevant to the developmental needs and culture of our students.  

Volunteering is an easy way to get involved in school activities without making too much commitment to future activities or taking away from other personal and professional endeavors. Leading the monthly playground garbage clean up is a great way to collaborate with other parents and teachers with regards to current and future school activities as well as academic concerns; as a matter of fact it may actually be the ideal situation for addressing an academic concern where there are more administrators and key personnel present to address and answer any inquiries. Presenting ideas and concerns in such manner can prove to lighten the situational mood and may serve as an avenue for a parent to receive more support on an idea or concern from other parents (it can also go completely left and have the majority reject your idea/opinion).The overall purpose of the Parent Teacher Association, or PTA is to make every child’s potential a reality by engaging and empowering families and communities to advocate for all children. While not all PTA's require participants to become members in an official capacity, all opinions rendered and concerns/ inquiries made are addressed the same. PTAs and Parent Committee's work directly with administrative and school personnel, as well as other parents to ensure the needs of all children are met through appropriate developmental practices that will best suit the development of the each individual child wholly. There are usually four positions available in any PTA or parent committee; president, vice president, secretary, and treasurer. The National PTA's website has a listing of resources for PTA's including descriptions of positions available as well as sample of recording technique and documents.   

We do live in a modern world today that leaves many of us very busy, running around trying to fit 12 hours into 8, but our children are important, their education is important and how can we really expect them to love learning if we don't? How can we expect them to celebrate their success as well as get up when they fall to try again if we don't set that example? We can't. We can't teach our children to become productive members of society by sitting idling by, get involved; show your children that you are interested and they will show their interest too!