To room parent or not to room parent?

[MMMommy]

For those with elementary school room parent experience, can you share the pros and cons of being room parent? Is there a lot of politics and having to deal with different parental wants and opinions? Thanks for any insight.

[C99]

I think it depends on your school's culture, the classroom teacher's outlook and expectations, and the expectations of your fellow parents. I have been the room parent in my DD's K class this year and thanks in part to a really on-the-ball teacher and in part to a strict school-wide no-food/parties policy, it's been a really easy gig. I send all requests out via email and keep a spreadsheet to make sure that everyone gets a chance to volunteer if they'd like to. The biggest challenge has been getting enough volunteers as my DD's class was more than 50% working parents this year.

[Neatfreak]

I've had a mixed experience. Kindergarten was really fun - I shared the role with two other parents, and DD's teacher had us planning of couple of parties, finding parents to volunteer for cultural festivals, etc. The class teacher gave us a list of email addresses for all of the parents in the class right at the beginning.

I am ripping my hair out for first grade, though. We moved, so it's a new school. DD's teacher doesn't need much support, but the PTA communicates through the room parents a lot. I am again sharing the room parent role, and my co-room parent has an annoying habit of forwarding me the PTA messages (which I already have in my inbox) with a quick note saying, "Can you take care of this?" like I am her secretary. Also, email addresses for the families in DD's class were not required, so there are some parents who haven't shared ever, and it's frustrating to track them down to keep them in the loop! I don't plan on volunteering for the second grade. It is a good way to get to know the teachers, though.

[SnuggleBuggles]

I've done it 2 years now and coordinate them for the school. At our school, the expectations come from both the homeroom teacher and me. From my end I need room parents to pass on messages re. school wide announcements (last minute) or to round up extra volunteers. We have learned that people tend to pay more attention to emails from room parents more than any other form of communication. The other thing I need is for them to collect $, projects or such for our holiday gift for specialists and staff appreciation week. I try to make both as easy as possible- just copy, paste and send.

In the homeroom, it will vary based on the teacher. Some teachers are a dream to work for. They know what they want and need and you can just plug right in. My 1st teacher had tons of requests and needed a lot of help. This teacher wants nothing, to the point that it's a boring gig!! :) Mostly I have to find volunteers for things, plan parties (this could totally be delegated though), and organize class wide gifts. Normally I email everyone but I don't have everyone's address. A few times/ year I send things home on paper to keep those people in the loop. They do miss last minute or regular emails though. I tried harder year 1 to reach them but I've had too much else to do now.

The politics are very minimal. I want to say they have been a non issue but I think there have been some minor complaints here and there. Easily handled though.

My school has a hard time getting volunteers. My friend's school OTOH has to beat them off with a stick, especially for chaperoning and parties. I used to have more volunteers in 1st grade and I did a 1st come, 1st served plan for a while. But, there are probably more fair ways to handle it and it would be something that could be an issue you'd have to deal with. It's never good to always pick the same people and even worse to pick your friends.

I don't regret being a room parent and it has been a fantastic way to get to know other families!

Beth

[alien_host]

I'm the room parent w/ another parent in DD's K class. I did it mainly because DD has food allergies and I wanted to help control what food came into the classroom.

It has been pretty easy. We organized a Halloween event, Thanksgiving event, the holiday gifts for the teacher and her assistants, the end-of-year party and the end of year gift for teachers.

I do most of it via e-mail. I ask the teacher questions and try to get the parents answers about these events. Overall it's been a fun gig and I'd like to do it again next year.

All PTO activities are separate (correspondence and organization). Between Jan and now there has been very little to do as a room parent and I sort of felt like a slacker ;)

Also for parties where we need people to bring food and if we need a headcount, I use Evite, that seems to work pretty well. No major politics, except some about the class gift which in the end worked out ok.

ETA: I also feel that I have a very good relationship w/ DD's teacher. Being a room parent gives me a good amount of access to her which is nice.