School to Community Connection
September 17, 2003

Issue 51

Keep in Touch With School
Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles are all encouraged to get involved in the schools at whatever level they can. Studies show that students get higher grades when parents take an active interest in the school. Opportunities range from regular hours each week to occasional hours as needed. There are day time and evening opportunities at the schools, and a few jobs can even be done from home.  Here are some examples:

• Attend Back To School Night in the fall, Open House in the spring – These are opportunities to visit your child’s classroom(s), meet the teacher(s), and see what your child is doing and what is expected of him/her. See the school websites for the dates of these events.
• Attend Parent/Teacher conferences – This is a meeting with the parent and teacher to discuss the child’s progress and allow parent concerns and questions to be addressed. At the elementary level, one meeting a year is automatically set up in the fall – at the secondary level, parents can set up a teacher/parent/student conference whenever they feel it’s necessary.
• Subscribe to and read weekly bulletins – Take an interest in the day to day activities and read the weekly bulletins offered by each school. E-mailed bulletins are produced each week at all schools - see school websites for subscription directions.
• Attend Parent/Teacher [PTA/PTO] organization meetings – The PTA/PTO at your school usually meets about once a month to discuss ways to make improvements in the school and show staff how much they are appreciated. Notices about these meetings are listed in the weekly bulletin from each school and on the school websites.
• Attend School Board meetings – These monthly meetings are open to the public and address a wide range of topics related to the district as a whole and occasionally a specific school. See the district website for the schedule of meetings, agendas, and recaps.
• Drive students on field trips – Parents are needed at all grade levels to drive on class field trips. The school offices have application forms which must be on file before the date of a field trip.
• Assist with noontime activities – Each school offers noontime activities to students such as sports, crafts, arts, computer lab, student newspaper, student store, tutoring, and clubs of all kinds. Parents are encouraged to participate and teach a favorite skill to eager students. Call the school offices for more information about these programs.
• Assist in the classroom – Many teachers, especially at the elementary level, welcome parent help in the classroom. Contact your teacher for specific information.
• Assist in the school office – The school offices can use volunteer parents to help with answering  phones and clerical tasks. Contact the office for more information.
• Assist in the school cafeteria – Cashiering help is needed in the HJH/HHS cafeterias during lunch and break times.
• Assist on the school play field – The elementary schools and HJH need parents to help supervise students on the school play fields during lunch and break times.
• Chaperone dances –  Parents are needed to chaperone HHS/HJH dances. 
• Be involved with fundraisers – Contact PTO/PTA groups and HHS grade level advisors for information about fundraisers. These include such activities as gift wrap sales, magazine sales, car washes, the annual HHS spaghetti dinner, etc.
• Assist with Graduation Celebration – A group of volunteer parents work all year long to put on a spectacular all-night celebration for HHS graduates. Parents of freshmen, sophomores and juniors are encouraged to participate in order to learn what its all about. See weekly bulletins and website for meeting schedule.
• Be available as needed for special events – The staff at each school can often use an extra hand for special events such as school registration, distributing snacks during school-wide testing,  Fossopoly reading program, end of the year celebrations, etc.
• Volunteer as a tutor – Tutoring classes, such as AVID (Advancement Via Individual Determination), need volunteer parents. Training is provided.
• Prepare yearbook – The elementary schools need parent assistance in preparing the school yearbook. Help is needed in taking photos of school events and laying out pages.
• Escrip assistance – Each school needs parents to assist other parents in signing up for Escrip.
• Layout school newsletter – HHS and HJH need parents to accept articles from school staff and lay them out into a newsletter which is then sent to all parents. This requires knowledge of a desktop publishing program. These are prepared monthly at HJH, every 6 weeks at HHS.
• Gather weekly bulletin info for HHS/HJH – A parent is needed at both schools to inquire of school staff once a week about activities of interest to parents. This info is then sent in a weekly bulletin to parents who request it.
• Stuff and mail weekly bulletins – Weekly bulletins at HHS/HJH are postal mailed to some parents. A volunteer is needed to stuff and mail these bulletins each Friday.
• Coordinate volunteers – Each school needs a volunteer parent to keep track of the volunteer sheets and contact volunteers when their services are needed.
• Post game scores on website – The HHS/HJH websites include game schedules and results for each sport. If you attend most of your child's athletic events and would like to see the scores listed on the website, please contact Pat Louvau [plouvau@husd.com] to find out how you can help. The process is VERY EASY and provides a nice record of the team's accomplishments for the season.
• Run for Site Council – Each school has a Site Council which oversees school improvement plans and has its own budget. Meetings are once a month. Several parent representatives are needed on each Council. This is an elected position, so if you are interested, send the school a paragraph about who you are and why you would like to serve.
• Join a district committee – There are many district level committees that welcome parent participation. Committees concerning topics such as budget, communication, curriculum, technology, etc. meet regularly and need input from interested parents. The Communications Committee, which publishes this column, is particularly in need of parents who are interested in getting vital information to the Healdsburg community. Contact Patti Jobson [pjobson@husd.com] if you are interested in being a part of any of these committees.

Each school has a volunteer sheet that you may fill out to sign up for many of these jobs. If you haven’t already sent one in, ask your student to bring one home – they are available in the school office. Or call your school office – the secretary will gladly accept your offer to help.