School requesting "mandatory volunteer hours"?

I know, I know, after this post and the last post, you will probably say "Why the heck does she even bother with this school?" But it is two blocks away from our house and we are still assessing whether we will send DS (and subsequent children) to this school for 8 years (DS is in nursery).

At the beginning of the year, we received a letter from the school stating that we needed to contribute 10 volunteer hours during lunch period (12 noon to 1pm) in the course of the school year or pay $150. Of course, the volunteer option is out of the question for most working parents (unless you send your nanny or a grandparent to volunteer). I could probably swing it since I primarily work for home. It wasn’t an issue this year as DS is only in half-day nursery and doesn’t eat lunch in school yet.

We then received a letter from the Home School Association (basically the PTA) stating that parents are required to complete 20 “mandatory volunteer hours” (a phrase I find a bit contradictory, but whatever).

So in total, the school expects us to volunteer 30 hours during the school year. Is this a lot?

At least they put a “price” on the lunch volunteer hours. No such option was given for the 20 Home School Association hours. We just received a “reminder” letter about the 20 hours from the principal (with our names and her signature handwritten on the paper – am I supposed to be worried she knows I didn’t complete my volunteer hours?)

I hate to be crass (and I realize that this is not an option for everyone), but I just want them to tell me how much money they want and for them to leave me alone! DH and I work very demanding, full-time jobs. I barely have time to do my laundry!

The main problem I have is that at every “volunteer” event I have attended (as a participant, not volunteer) there were MORE than enough people helping out. For example, if you have a book sale, and at one table, there is one person organizing the books, one person taking the money, one person making change and one person putting it a bag, you have MORE than enough volunteers. (This is not an exaggeration!)

This is not rocket science. My time is valuable. Don’t put out an arbitrary number of volunteer hours when you don’t really need that many people.

Re: School requesting "mandatory volunteer hours"?

To me, the "volunteer" hours you are describing are 2 different things. The $150 for not doing the 10 hours at lunchtime is a no brainer for me. We both work full time and I would just think of that as part of the tuition at the school. Then, if there are parents who are willing to help out, they get $150 break for their time.

The additional 20 hours is sort of a different thing, IMO. I am a former Catholic school teacher and I do understand why the schools do this. I think in addition to getting the help they need for events, having parents help out also helps build community at the school. One of the reasons they have so many volunteers at the events you have attended is because of the parent requirement. I guarantee you that if service wasn't required, you wouldn't see so many there to help. I do think there should be a "buy out" for those parents who truly don't have the time or ability to do it.

The school where I worked had a big Bingo program, which raised a TON of money for the school and helped keep tuition costs down for everyone. If they didn't have parent volunteers for Bingo, they would have had a hard time staffing it. Most of the parents told me that they could work Bingo like 4 or 5 times during the school year and it took care of the hours for the year.

Re: School requesting "mandatory volunteer hours"?

The Catholic School were I live holds a 10 day carnival every June. They require all parents to work this event at least 7 out of the 10 day/nights. The buy out option is $540 This is in addition to other supply fees and volunteer requirements.

Even though the school is literally 1 block away and we like the idea of a Catholic education I just couldn't get over the festival requirement. My kids go to public school and I do volunteer for class activities and attend PTA meetings, but with 2 parents working I just cant deal with the stress of volunteer commitments like that.

Re: School requesting "mandatory volunteer hours"?

I do understand as I too teach in a Catholic school. In the last couple of years I've seen the number of parents at events volunteering gone down significantly. Our big fundraiser for the year is our Carnival in Sept. It used to be a requirement that every family HAD to work either in the afternoon or evening one day of the carnival. They've no longer made it a requirement & last fall they started paying people to man the booths & food, etc. The carnival profits also significantly went down this year & I believe it may be cut entirely next year in lieu of other fundraisers.

Without the volunteers, the school cannot operate. It does build community as well, which is greatly needed in a private school.

We too require all parents to staff the cafeteria I believe 8-10 times during the year.

If you have an issue w/ the mandatory hours, I'd call the office & ask if you can $$ instead of volunteer. I'm sure they wouldn't have a problem w/ that either.

Message edited 4/25/2011 5:39:32 PM.