A propose bill would require all parents to volunteer 13 hours each school year, either in the lunchroom, chaperoning field trips, or wherever the district needs help. http://www.nbc5i.com/education/15775391/detail.html Sounds like another illustration of not enough resources. Imagine if it goes through & other states follow suit! :woot: What do ya'll think about this?
Our private schools all require 20 hours of volunteer work per family, or they can pay some extra money. We try to provide lots of choices - including projects that can be done at home for those working parents.
It's one of those fabulous "in theory this is great, but in reality it's a mess." You could either have parents bombarding the classroom under the guise that they need their 13hrs. or you would be expending unnecessary resources to force parents to do their hours.
That's first thing I thought of that it may be more costly in the long run than what they are trying to accomplish. Also, as you mentioned can cause lots of disruption in the classroom not too mention more stress for teachers to deal with. :unsure:
Well and what about those parents that are working 2 jobs to support their children and can't take off work for their hours?
Exactly STG. It's one thing in the private schools where as parents you know and agree to the requirements for your child to participate. I can't believe anyone is wasting time on such a frivolous bill. Come on...I could think of a million bills that would be better suited to promote/support education.
I think it's ridiculous. The people who came up with this idea obviously aren't considering the fact that many parents work odd hours and extra shifts in order to support their families. Can you imagine how terrible it would be to get off work at 7 AM after working a 12- or 14-hour shift, and then have to go to school with a bunch of 6-year-olds?! Awful.
Yet another reason for people to resent education. People will either loose money by calling off of work, or loose money in their tax refund. And where exactly would the $100 go if parents choose not to "volunteer"? I agree with the principal who said that volunteers are great, but only if they want to be there. I seriously doubt that this bill will be passed.
Its insulting actually. There are many reasons parents don't volunteer and parents are adults that can choose for themselves how to spend their time. I have volunteered in my kids schools, but I have limited that time for my youngest if I had gone into his elementary classes the disruption would have been huge, even if I was in the building it would have been huge. Did anyone do a cost analysis of the time and resources it would take to "punish" the parents that did not volunteer? How about this is a free country and we are free to pursue happiness and well 6 year olds in the morning isn't my idea of the pursuit of happiness!!!!!(or do some people think we need to go to a socialist state and give up on democracy and freedom so they can make us behave the way they want us to?)
I have seen this is the "specialized/magnet" (ie. school that focussed on the arts, science, technology...) elementary school in one of the counties in Georgia. The students have to apply to go to these school, get interviewed.l.., but they are public schools.
The school I work at requires volunteer hours for each family. (I think its 8 each year.) The student(s) of any family who doesn't meet their commitment will be sent back to their zoned school. We only have a few each year. I love that I can count on parents to volunteer to chaperone field trips, etc. I have even had parents come in and do my filing and such.
There's a huge difference between private/charter schools and regular public schools. There are so many problems with this bill that it would be rediculous to even try to impliment it. Some of the problems have already been stated, but consider this: In this day and age of "zero tolerance" an 18yo HS sr has sex with his 16yo hs sophmore girlfriend. She gets knocked up, her parents get mad and he's convicted of statuatory rape. He's now a "sex offender" and as such must register with the various state boards. 5 years later, he's now a 23 yo father of a kindergardener, but can't legally volunteer for her school because of how she was concieved. So now he has to pay for his daughter's education, when a free public education is supposedly garunteed to him?????
Help us all if this goes into effect somewhere... Last thing I want is an angry parent who is not good with kids in my room :unsure: Some people never even should have had kids, much less should be around mass quanities. That gets me thinking of how safe that may be as well....
With the number of kids I have in my class I could have a parent in my class every day of the school year for 2 hours. I think that they would get in the way. I'll have to come up with stuff for them to do.
We have a new rule of mandatory background checks for field trips..... not many field trips have happened this year..... We have "requirements" for volunteering since I work for one of the preschool programs not many families volunteer. Many don't have time with their work schedules or have younger kids at home or have school themselves.
We have to get background checks before parents volunteer too. I would feel sorry for the ladies in the office. We have over 1,000 kids.
Good point on the background check - with the tight restrictions on "criminal background" (includes things that I don't think it should), some parents would be absolve any ways. So parents that have clean records will be forth to volunteer while the ones that don't pass the background check would be exempt. Makes alot of sense --- how preposterous!!! This serve no purpose that I can see. Like someone mentioned, I don't think they've done a cost analysis or consider various scenarios particularly legal implications.
Think of the money it would cost a school to do this. They would have to hire some type of volunteer coordinator to coordinate all the parents. Then there would be fliers and reminders sent home. That's just more man power, ink, and paper wasted. And background checks/fingerprint clearance aren't cheap and all the parents would have to have it because here in AZ I couldn't even do my practicums during college without fingerprint clearance. And as a teacher, I am not a big fan of volunteers in my classroom during the day anyways, so if they were forced on me, it would just be a hundred times worse.
OMG, Let's keep track of how many hours Mrs. Smith volunteered, hummmm... she needs 3 more hours this year to meet her quota. Gee, I guess we'd have to call her along w/7 other parents who haven't complied. Then, we have to worry about the alcoholic daddy & pistol packer coming and cussing around the kids. Hypothetically, it sound peachy, but in reality, it's another nightmare in the making.
I dont think it is right for them to mandate what, when, and how parents should operate. Many parents have busy schedules and can barely help with home and children much less to volunteer elsewhere.
And it would fall on the teacher to keep track of how many hours the parents get. That's a lot of extra work, especially when half of the parents won't work enough but will try and say they did. I don't need the headache.
I don't think I want little Billy's dad who just got arrested for possession of a controlled substance with the intent to distribute in my classroom. What about that poor kid whose dad is a registered sex offender? If I have four kids in the district, would I need to volunteer for 52 hours? That's more than a week!
I think it's a great idea... in private schools. However, I agree that the amount of manpower it would take to run would be amazing. On the other hand, though, if you had someone who could really put those volunteers to good use, then you could get a lot of work done.
Although logistically this idea is a nightmare, I must disagree with those of you saying it is bad for schools to want as many (if not all) parents to take an active role in their child's education. I suppose you are not meaning to sound like this, but in way, it sounds like a few of you are saying..."HOW DARE THEY EXPECT ME TO INVEST ANY TIME IN MY CHILD'S EDUCATION..." We SHOULD invest time in our kid's education....even if it means cutting paper strips or yarn for a primary teacher, making copies of worksheets or tracking down info on the web for a teacher strapped for time or resources or sewing costumes or painting sets for the school play. None of those activities would require a background check or time outside of the home. There ARE other ways to volunteer other than going into a classroom. A parent could go to the school on a weekend and plant flowers, rake leaves, wash windows....all things that contribute to the school's atmosphere. I know that when you talk about sheer numbers and tracking, it is an impossible task to mandate it, but the thought behind in pure and sincere. I'm sure it will never pass simply because it WOULD be a logistical nightmare, but talking about the need for parent volunteers (think outside the box on your perception of volunteerism) is a GOOD thing. I'd love it if all parents would pay a little more attention to what their child is doing in school.
I understand your point, I really do. However, this is a nation that was founded upon freedom to pursue happiness, freedom from persecution, freedom from an oppressive king, etc. FREEDOM. Telling parent, by law, they must volunteer isn't freedom. It is good intentions gone wrong, and legislating AWAY our freedom. I am sorry there are parents that do not get involved in their kids lives, but I am not willing in any way, shape, or form to give up any more of my freedom so some law maker can force it to happen. I can look around and see how my rights and my freedoms are being eroded every day, all in the name of good intentions. Well good intentions pave the road to hell.......and I don't want to live there. What is next, there really is a law against wearing crosses in school? (I was nearly expelled for reading my bible in school back in high school) Or sex offenders having to register, great idea in theory, in execution? Just ask the guy who at 17 was caught in a relationship with his 15 year old girlfriend. They are married now. He is a registered sex offender and cannot go to his kids school events. I could go on, but I think I have made my point. I do not want some legistlator deciding for me what my priorities should be. I am an adult and am perfectly capable of making my own choices. How many more of these kinds of laws will be passed before people see we are legislating away our freedom?
:2up: :2up: :2up: :2up: Side note: On the issue of registered sex offender another negative implication has been for home owners. Good luck trying to sell your house or retaining the value if your neighbor is a sex offender. More problems have been created because of this, thanks again to government intervention.
