Room Coordinators (often called Room Parents) are one way for the adult community to support their child’s teacher and class!
RCs do not need to be available to volunteer in the classroom all the time, but it is helpful for community building if the RC is on campus sometimes or is visible at drop-off or pick-up a couple days a week.
- RCs prepare monthly emails with details of upcoming schoolwide events as well as information for any grade level activities or needs we have.
- RCs should attend the PTO General Meetings so they are up to date on upcoming events. Go to www.csipto.com for dates and times.
- RCs at each grade level work together to organize special days such as Pumpkin Day or Friendship Day.
- Each teacher is unique, but RCs may help by seeking volunteers to help the teacher in the classroom.
- RCs can also organize class gifts for the teachers.
RCs do not need to be available to volunteer in the classroom all the time, but it is helpful for community building if the RC is on campus sometimes or is visible at drop-off or pick-up a couple days a week.
Room Coordinator Procedures and Responsibilities
Welcome to the CSI RC program for the 2022-2023 School Year! We are ready to get things going, so I wanted to share with you information that will hopefully make your job easier. If you have been an RC before, you may find a few minor changes. As always, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at csipto.secretary@gmail.com.
Overview
The general purpose of the RC program is to facilitate communication with parents and guardians on behalf of the PTO and your teacher, support the teacher as they need, and help to build a sense of community within your class or grade level.
Communication
As in previous years, every month I will send you the framework of an informational email. This email template provides the information from the PTO and the school that should be communicated to families. My hope is that you will provide 1-2 opening sentences specific to your class or to your personality, and then copy the body of my email into yours. Personalize it! Last year I referred to the families in Mrs. Hughes’ class as “The Hughes Crew”. It’s silly, but it helps break up the monotony of most school communications!
If you have not already done so, please send your teacher a quick email to say hello and to ask them how they prefer you to communicate with them.
The main shift from previous years is in how we will be communicating with students’ families. In an effort to attain better equity in communication, and to hopefully reduce the number of sources where information is coming from, RCs will be providing teachers an email (the monthly informational email mentioned above, personalized as you see fit, PLUS any additional classroom specific information that you would like to add) that they will then copy and paste into their preferred method of communication, whether it is Seesaw or ParentSquare. This ensures that every family has access to the same information. In the past some RCs have had difficulty collecting adult contact info, leaving many families out of the loop.
Having said that, many of you may still want your own contact list for playdates, organizing teacher gifts, or other activities that teachers do not need to be in the loop for. My proposal is that if you wish to collect contact info for these uses, create a short sentence that you can include in every monthly email you send to the teacher. It can be as simple as, “If you are interested in being on a mailing list for playdates, Teacher Appreciation gifts, or similar items, please email me at emailaddress@email.com.” If you wish to create a Google form to collect information, just use the same sentence and provide a link. The reason you may wish to include this blurb at the bottom of every email is that sometimes parents need to see things several times before they remember to do it.
Volunteering
As the RC, you are not expected to be in the classroom all the time unless you want to be. You are a facilitator. It is a good idea for all RCs to fill out the first District volunteer form listed below, just so you are ready to volunteer as needed/wanted. As parents and guardians ask you about volunteering, here are the guidelines provided by the school and the district.
Michelle Valine or I can answer all questions regarding volunteering requirements. If you are coordinating a group to volunteer for a special day like Pumpkin Day, please provide the list to the teacher for approval before confirming with the parents/guardians.
Privacy Guidelines
RCs should never send a note out on behalf of another parent/guardian without approval from me. Many in our adult community do not want to deal with emails that have nothing to do with the school or the classroom, so requests to provide emails for birthday invites or to send a message out to the class should be turned down. If parents/guardians would like to communicate with other families, please encourage them to use the grade level Facebook page. We cannot share a person’s email address without their explicit consent. If you receive a request and you are not sure, please ask me. I don’t want you to feel put on the spot by another parent/guardian.
PTO Meetings
RCs should make every effort to attend all the PTO General Meetings, either in person or via Zoom. They are the third Wednesday of every other month, starting right after drop-off. Our next one is November 16th. If you are unable to attend, please work with your fellow grade level RCs to ensure that at least one of you attends the meeting and reports back. I have always found it very helpful in understanding the nuances of events, policies, and decisions. Email communication can only convey so much, but in person communication is much more complete.
Money/Gifts
If you wish to collect money for teacher gifts, you are free to do so. Please make sure that parents understand that this is for your class only and is not part of the PTO. Any communication about money should always indicate that there is no expectation of participation and families are able to show appreciation for the teachers in their own ways. Be transparent about any purchases you make with the money you collect so parents are assured it is going to the teacher.
A quick note on gifts: It is best to stick to things that can be found on the Teacher Favorites lists found on the PTO website (www.csipto.com). The PTO will work with new teachers to get their favorites list completed. All the lists will also available in a binder in the Welcome Center. As of right now, it is not complete for this school year, so bear with us. Keep the gifts fairly simple for everyone’s sake!
Training
We are not planning to hold a training meeting this year, but I am more than happy to put one together if several of you wish to meet! Simply let me know by Oct. 5th and I will pull one together.
Thank you so much for stepping up to help our teachers, children, and our school. Our parent volunteers are an integral part of the success of our school. We appreciate all that you do for CSI!!
Regards,
Maria Gray
csipto.secretary@gmail.com
Welcome to the CSI RC program for the 2022-2023 School Year! We are ready to get things going, so I wanted to share with you information that will hopefully make your job easier. If you have been an RC before, you may find a few minor changes. As always, if you have questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to me at csipto.secretary@gmail.com.
Overview
The general purpose of the RC program is to facilitate communication with parents and guardians on behalf of the PTO and your teacher, support the teacher as they need, and help to build a sense of community within your class or grade level.
Communication
As in previous years, every month I will send you the framework of an informational email. This email template provides the information from the PTO and the school that should be communicated to families. My hope is that you will provide 1-2 opening sentences specific to your class or to your personality, and then copy the body of my email into yours. Personalize it! Last year I referred to the families in Mrs. Hughes’ class as “The Hughes Crew”. It’s silly, but it helps break up the monotony of most school communications!
If you have not already done so, please send your teacher a quick email to say hello and to ask them how they prefer you to communicate with them.
The main shift from previous years is in how we will be communicating with students’ families. In an effort to attain better equity in communication, and to hopefully reduce the number of sources where information is coming from, RCs will be providing teachers an email (the monthly informational email mentioned above, personalized as you see fit, PLUS any additional classroom specific information that you would like to add) that they will then copy and paste into their preferred method of communication, whether it is Seesaw or ParentSquare. This ensures that every family has access to the same information. In the past some RCs have had difficulty collecting adult contact info, leaving many families out of the loop.
Having said that, many of you may still want your own contact list for playdates, organizing teacher gifts, or other activities that teachers do not need to be in the loop for. My proposal is that if you wish to collect contact info for these uses, create a short sentence that you can include in every monthly email you send to the teacher. It can be as simple as, “If you are interested in being on a mailing list for playdates, Teacher Appreciation gifts, or similar items, please email me at emailaddress@email.com.” If you wish to create a Google form to collect information, just use the same sentence and provide a link. The reason you may wish to include this blurb at the bottom of every email is that sometimes parents need to see things several times before they remember to do it.
Volunteering
As the RC, you are not expected to be in the classroom all the time unless you want to be. You are a facilitator. It is a good idea for all RCs to fill out the first District volunteer form listed below, just so you are ready to volunteer as needed/wanted. As parents and guardians ask you about volunteering, here are the guidelines provided by the school and the district.
- Occasional classroom or on-campus volunteers must:
- Fill out the District Volunteer form (link here). This form does not include the LiveScan background check.
- Provide a negative TB test. These are good for four years, so if you provided one last year, you are still good. If you can’t remember when your last negative TB test was, check with Michelle Valine in the Welcome Center and she can let you know if you need to provide a new one.
- Sign-in on the day you volunteer, and wear a volunteer sticker while on campus.
- Regular, weekly classroom or on-campus volunteers must:
- Provide a negative TB test as well as proof of Covid vaccination.
- Fill out a more detailed District volunteer form (link here).
- Submit fingerprints via LiveScan for a background check. This does cost money. I believe it was $50 for me last year, but I also think there was another place to go that was cheaper. The District form has information on their preferred location for LiveScan, which is not the one I used.
- Volunteers only need to fill out this form once. If the volunteer also works for the school or district, the background check for their employment fulfills this requirement.
Michelle Valine or I can answer all questions regarding volunteering requirements. If you are coordinating a group to volunteer for a special day like Pumpkin Day, please provide the list to the teacher for approval before confirming with the parents/guardians.
Privacy Guidelines
RCs should never send a note out on behalf of another parent/guardian without approval from me. Many in our adult community do not want to deal with emails that have nothing to do with the school or the classroom, so requests to provide emails for birthday invites or to send a message out to the class should be turned down. If parents/guardians would like to communicate with other families, please encourage them to use the grade level Facebook page. We cannot share a person’s email address without their explicit consent. If you receive a request and you are not sure, please ask me. I don’t want you to feel put on the spot by another parent/guardian.
PTO Meetings
RCs should make every effort to attend all the PTO General Meetings, either in person or via Zoom. They are the third Wednesday of every other month, starting right after drop-off. Our next one is November 16th. If you are unable to attend, please work with your fellow grade level RCs to ensure that at least one of you attends the meeting and reports back. I have always found it very helpful in understanding the nuances of events, policies, and decisions. Email communication can only convey so much, but in person communication is much more complete.
Money/Gifts
If you wish to collect money for teacher gifts, you are free to do so. Please make sure that parents understand that this is for your class only and is not part of the PTO. Any communication about money should always indicate that there is no expectation of participation and families are able to show appreciation for the teachers in their own ways. Be transparent about any purchases you make with the money you collect so parents are assured it is going to the teacher.
A quick note on gifts: It is best to stick to things that can be found on the Teacher Favorites lists found on the PTO website (www.csipto.com). The PTO will work with new teachers to get their favorites list completed. All the lists will also available in a binder in the Welcome Center. As of right now, it is not complete for this school year, so bear with us. Keep the gifts fairly simple for everyone’s sake!
Training
We are not planning to hold a training meeting this year, but I am more than happy to put one together if several of you wish to meet! Simply let me know by Oct. 5th and I will pull one together.
Thank you so much for stepping up to help our teachers, children, and our school. Our parent volunteers are an integral part of the success of our school. We appreciate all that you do for CSI!!
Regards,
Maria Gray
csipto.secretary@gmail.com
