Room Parent FAQ

• Collecting and maintaining classroom funds from parents to use throughout the year for parties, gifts, special supplies, etc.,
• Acting as the primary points of contact with the classroom teacher(s) for the purpose of event planning and general classroom needs,
• Recruiting other classroom parents to volunteer for events,
• Coordinating three (3) classroom parties (Fall, Winter and End of Year),
• Coordinating teacher gifts from the classroom (Winter, Staff Appreciation Week (optional, see below) and End of Year, as budget allows).
• Communicating with the other classroom parents throughout they year.
• Thinking like a kid and when in the classroom, acting (a little) like one. In other words: HAVE FUN!

Being a room parent gives you 10x more back than you will ever invest in time.  Generally, we suggest you allocate 15-mins once a month or so to touch base with each other (outside of the bigger items below).  For the major events listed in the following months, expect to spend two-three hours planning and coordinating the event and 90-mins in the classroom for the event itself, which includes setup, cleanup, and the event itself.

• September:  Collecting classroom funds, email communications.
• October: Planning and facilitiating the classroom Fall party.
• December: Planning and facilitating the classroom Winter party, arranging for classroom gifts for the teacher and IA(s) from all the students.
• May (optional): Arranging for classroom gifts for the teacher and IAs for Staff Appreciation Week.
• June: Planning and facilitating the classroom End of Year party, arranging for classroom gifts for the teacher and IA(s) from all the students.
  • 4th grade room parents may not need to plan an End of Year party as they traditionally have a full grade “field day” in its place – ask your classroom teacher for more details.
  • 5th grade room parents do not need to plan an End of Year party, they have an offsite celebration after their Moving Up ceremony.

No, any parent can volunteer in the classroom so long as they have a CORI for the current year on file.  Room parents can reach out to parents directly to solicit volunteers for classroom parties or other needs.  However, the number of volunteers in the classroom is ultimately the individual classroom teacher’s prerogative.

Yes – you and any other parent that wishes to volunteer at Bancroft in any capacity (classroom events, field trips, student enrichment assemblies, library help, etc) require a CORI form to be on file with the school. Andover Public Schools require a new Criminal Offender Record Information (CORI) check every year for anyone who volunteers at a school or school event. As a room parent, please fill out the APS CORI check form ASAP and return it in person to a school administrator with an original government issued ID. Blank forms are also available at the front office. It can take 2-3 weeks for your application to process and you will not receive a notification once it’s complete. You can confirm your status with the front office.  We also encourage you to remind your classroom parents to do the same, even if they do not intend on volunteering right away.

For events such as classroom parties or other activities that require any parents to be in the building, we ask that the room parents provide a list via email to Lucy Rizzo (lucia.rizzo@andoverma.us) and Laureen Parvin (laureen.parvin@andoverma.us) at least one week in advance.  The list should have the date and time when the volunteers will be in the building and their full names.  The office will confirm CORIs are in place and will be prepared for their arrival.  Please be sure to CC the classroom teacher on those requests (they should know in advance as well).

Because we encourage participation from all classroom parents, when planning for classroom events we suggest you send an announcement email requesting parent volunteers. Similarly, there will be multiple avenues for communicating and coordinating with parent volunteers in the lead up to the event. We also encourage you to communicate with the parents after a classroom party or a gift has been given to the classroom teachers to let them know what has been done.

Finally, throughout the year, you may be contacted by our Room Parent Coordinators and asked to forward on specific information to your classroom parents. Examples include when we are in need of last minute student enrichment or library volunteers, or to notify them of an upcoming event.

The PTO generates a SignupGenius at the beginning of the year for Classroom Contributions.  The PTO distributes this in their newsletter and also promotes it on social media, but we also ask room parents to send out an email to all the classroom parents letting them know when it is available, what it is for, how the funds are used, etc.  Please use the sample email below to help collect the classroom contributions:

You have likely already received a packet asking for you to contribute to Bancroft Bucks, which is an important PTO fundraiser that helps the PTO raise funds to run programs throughout the year, including school wide student enrichment programs and field trips.  This has already been advertised in the PTO newsletter and on social media, so if you have already contributed please ignore this, but if you haven’t, read on!

 

Classroom contributions are completely separate from Bancroft Bucks and go directly towards our classroom. The PTO apologizes for asking for contributions at the same time as Bancroft Bucks, but we need the funds at the beginning of the year so that we can have the funds for classroom parties and class gifts for the teacher(s) in our class.

 

This year, we’re asking for each child to contribute $25. The easiest way for you to make this payment is by signing up at this link: {ENTER PTO PROVIDED LINK HERE}

 

Please note that if you don’t want to contribute $25 (or would like to contribute more), SignupGenius also allows you to contribute a different amount.  Thank you!

Once the parents have contributed, the PTO will provide a check to one of the two room parents; we encourage you to decide amongst yourselves who will handle/track the money throughout the year.  That person will reimburse parents for party supplies, teacher gifts and any other classroom needs throughout the year.  We will ask you to track those expenses throughout the school year on an online spreadsheet. Each classroom’s room parents will receive a link to an online tracker by early October.  A few notes about classroom contributions and spending throughout the year:

• Meet with your fellow room parent at the beginning of the year to get a rough idea of how you will spend the classroom contributions throughout the year.  You’ll need to spread total contributions between three classroom parties and teacher gifts from the classroom.  Try not to get too top heavy on one over the other.  Our experience has demonstrated the kiddos remember the event, and not the decorations.  Likewise, our educators highlight the ‘little things’ from the classroom that bring a smile to their face.
• If your classroom teacher approaches you and asks for funding for something for the classroom, have them reach out to the PTO first.  We have discretionary funds set aside for every grade, and we prefer that those requests come out of that bucket first.  If you have funds leftover at the end of the year you can certainly work with the teacher to find something fun/useful for the classroom to contribute it to.
• If you feel that you do not have enough funds for your classroom, please reach out to the PTO and let us know what you think you may need to fully fund the year.  In most cases, the PTO will be able to help backfill the classroom contributions.  At no point should room parents or classroom parents feel responsible to take on costs themselves and not be reimbursed.  
• There are circumstances when a volunteering parent may want to chip in on something extra and not be reimbursed for it, and that’s fine so long as it’s a smaller contribution.  Anything large needs to be run through the PTO as we stress equality between the classrooms.  If you’re ever in doubt, reach out to us.
• Please do not solicit parents for classroom contributions to be made directly to you.  We run classroom contributions through the PTO so that donations can remain confidential from other parents in the room; that way no one feels obligated to donate when they may not be in a financial position to do so.  The PTO also keeps track of the total funds a classroom has to spend; if room parents are also collecting funds, we have no way of ensuring those donations are being used for the classroom.

• Be sure to coordinate with the classroom teacher to see how they envision the event before you begin any formal planning.  Ask them what their preferences are in terms of activities, food, volunteers, timing, etc.
• Reach out to other classroom parents to see who would like to help that day.  Be sure to remind them that they need an approved CORI form on file for the current school year prior to volunteering in the building.  This can take some time to process, so they should do it far in advance of the party.  Confirm with the classroom teacher in advance how many parents are permitted to be at the party at once (this may vary depending on the teacher, time of year and type of event).
• Classroom parties are typically broken down into 3-4 stations that involve games, crafts, and snacks.
  • Work with the classroom teacher on the best method to split up the kids into groups.  Colored glow bracelets are a great, inexpensive way to keep track of who is in what group.
  • Station ideas: snack station, reading a themed book, doing a themed craft, doing an active game or activity, doing a class competition between teams (trivia, word searches etc..)
  • In accordance with the district’s wellness policy, as well as state and federal regulations, any foods or beverages served to students during the school day must meet a certain set of nutritional standards. Be sure to follow the APS guidelines for any snacks brought into classroom parties or events (*this link is currently broken on the APS website, we’ve reached out to them to update it, in the meantime see below for a graphic we had made that outlined the details*).  APS also provides catering for classroom parties!  Click here to learn more or to place an order.
• If you do not have enough classroom funds for party supplies/snacks, please reach out to the PTO for assistance.
• Focus on the fun, not the decorations!
• Fall Party: While the fall party must remain fall themed, not Halloween, costumes are at this time permitted (but can change at the discretion of the administration and the classroom teacher).  Remind the parents in advance that no masks/weapons, accessories, or makeup are allowed at the parties.  The PTO thanks you for your consideration.
• Parking on party days can be tricky, come early and don’t park in the lot where parents line up for parent pickup if it’s an afternoon party or you may get stuck.
• No matter what grade you’re working with, be sure to take and save photos for the 5th grade yearbook!  If you want to share them with the parents, please do so through the classroom teacher only so that they may adhere to any parent requests to omit their child(ren) from photo distributions.

• There are state laws surrounding the monetary gifts that can be provided to teachers.  Individuals can gift a teacher anything with a value of less than $50.  Classroom gifts however have separate rules, a classroom gift cannot exceed $150.
• Traditionally two bigger gifts are given, one at the winter break party and one at the end of the year party.
  • Often classes do something personalized for part of the end of the year gift (book with pages from each student, photo of the class that everyone signs, fingerprint picture) etc..
• Classes may opt to do something smaller in addition for teachers’ birthdays and Staff Appreciation Week (balloons, cupcakes, flowers, cards from the class etc.), if funds allow.  The PTO does a lot for Staff Appreciation Week for the full building so it’s not necessary to duplicate it if funds aren’t available.
• Please be sure to include the Instructional Assistants that are a part of the daily classroom experience as well.
• Not sure what to do for the teachers?  Ask them to fill out this form at the beginning of the school year for inspiration!