Room Parent Responsibilities
Room Parents provide a critical link between your child's teacher, the parents in the class and the PTA. Thank
you for volunteering for this important role!
Room Parent Responsibilities:
1) Set up a meeting with your teacher as soon as possible preferably before your grade level orientation to
gather information to share with parents. Be sure to cover the following topics:
a) Classroom readers and other volunteers – Does your teacher have regularly scheduled volunteer
positions in the classroom or other volunteer needs you can help meet?
b) Children’s birthdays – How and when does the teacher want to recognize children’s birthdays? Please
be aware of the new healthy snack and birthday guidelines being suggested by the wellness
committee.
c) Classroom Wish List – Does the teacher have items he or she would like to have donated by parents?
d) Snacks - Ask your teacher how he/she would like to handle snacks on a regular basis and “emergency
snacks.” Are water bottles allowed/encouraged?
e) Communication with the teacher – How does the teacher prefer to be contacted?
2) Email a Welcome Letter to the parents of your class
Introduce both room parents. Include details on all topics covered in your meeting with the teacher.
Include teacher gift procedures, gift suggestions and celebrations and mention their adopted specialist. A
template will be provided that you may wish to use.
3) Plan a coffee or other social gathering for the parents or families in your class - Suggestions include: a
parent coffee at a parent’s house, a swim party at the neighborhood pool, or a popsicle social at a nearby
playground. The sooner you are able to do this, the sooner the class parents can start getting to know
each other and start getting involved!
4) Classroom Volunteers
Room parents are responsible for helping to recruit volunteers for classroom events, such as International
Travelers, etc. Either your teacher or I will give you the volunteer forms that come in from your parents.
Please contact the Volunteer Coordinator, Marlonda Currie (remcurrie@aol.com), if you have any
questions.
5) Field Trips
Room parents are responsible for recruiting chaperones and collecting field trip permission forms/checks.
The forms are provided to you by the Field Trip Committee. The PTA offers scholarships when requested.
Requests for scholarships is strictly confidential. Do not send an email that discloses who has or has not
paid. If you have a question about field trips please email the appropriate coordinator by grade level:
Kindergarten/ Morgan King/morganwking@gmail.com
First Grade/Jen Vincent/jengvincent@yahoo.com
Second Grade/Dawn Dyer/dawn.k.dwyer@gmail.com
Third Grade/ Aimee Connolly/aimeesconnolly@gmail.com
Fourth Grade/Kimberly Greaves/kimberlygreaves@att.net
Fifth Grade/ Leslie Inskeep/leslieinskeep@comcast.net
6) Monthly class calendar
Each month Kara Galbraith will email you a school-wide calendar. You should add your specific classroom
information to this document and delete events that are not relevant to your class/grade, then email to
your parents in a timely manner.
7) Send reminders to volunteers for events, field trips, class parties, etc.,
8) Welcome New Parents
When a new student joins the class, please email their parents and welcome them to the class. Make sure
they receive a New Parent folder from the teacher (with field trip forms) and add them to your distribution
list.
9) Send out periodic PTA information
Most PTA information will be sent out via eblast, however, from time to time you will be asked by the PTA
to contact your parents.
10) Teacher Gifts
This year things are being done differently. PTA dues are being raised a small amount to allow for teachers
to be appreciated in an equal manner without room parent coordination. Parents within a classroom can
choose to give teachers gifts as they feel appropriate, however room parents are no longer expected to
coordinate a money collection and organize a class gift. It is appropriate for room parents to remind
parents of a teacher’s birthday and coordinate flowers or cards.
It is not a room parent’s responsibility to make a sign up genius for teacher lunches. This is a treat that a
parent in the class may wish to individually coordinate with a teacher.
For any PTA Committee specific questions, please contact the appropriate Committee Chair. Please refer to
the PTA Board Position & Committee List document that is located on the Sarah Smith website:
http://www.sarahsmithelementary.com, click on PTA at the top, then Board and Committee Chair Contacts on
the left hand side.
Please feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
Kara Galbraith, karagalbraith@gmail.com, Room Parent Coordinator