Room Parent Committee

Thanks so much for being a Room Parent!

You are an important part of how we create community at McKinley and how we engage parents. Just being a smiling face, willing to answer questions for others, makes McKinley feel like a welcoming place and makes families feel at home. As an extra bonus, your dedication here says a lot to your kids. If school matters to you, it will matter to them. When you give of yourself to their school, it reminds them that their education matters, and that they matter. Thanks for volunteering!

Room Parent FAQs

What is a Room Parent?

At McKinley, the PTA uses room parents to disseminate information, rally volunteers, gather info and encourage community. Some teachers make further use of room parents to help with classroom parties, volunteer needs, Scholastic book orders, and other activities, depending on the needs of the teacher and the availability of the room parent.

So what am I really going to DO?

At a minimum, room parents attend the meetings so they know what’s going on, forward emails to their class’ parents, and organize teacher gifts (or ensure that someone in the class is handling that). Beyond that, if you want to, some room parents help organize the end-of-year BBQ, help the teacher with class parties, and even organize outside, inclusive gatherings like play dates in the park for the whole class. Some teachers like to make use of parent volunteers in the classroom and others don’t. Please take the lead from your teacher and if you have time to offer additional assistance to them, that’s great!

Is this a one person job?

Each classroom needs at least one room parent, but it's even more fun when you have two or more people who can share the job. Maybe one person is great at sending out the PTA emails, but another is on campus regularly to talk to parents in person. Or maybe one has a crazy job in winter, but more time for spring activities. It's a great job to share and a lovely way to be involved in your child's school. That said, it is perfectly doable by one person. Always remember, we are all volunteers, so if you are running into problems, let the coordinators know and we will work it out.

Do I have to volunteer in the class / be available during the day?

Room parents don’t necessarily volunteer in the classroom. We hope you can stick around for an hour after drop off on the first Friday of every month when we have room parent meetings. If you can’t, hopefully you have a co-room parent who can make it and keep you in the loop. If no one from your team can attend the meetings, please confer with the coordinators.

Do I have to use email?

A lot of what room parents do is send emails to update their classes. It usually works well if one person on the team is designated as the ‘email person’ who will regularly pass along the PTA emails (we will give you what you need to send so you don’t have to start from scratch). But not every person on the room parent team needs to be an email maven.

How will I reach out to the parents in my room?

By mid-September, you should receive a class roster with the email addresses of those parents who have released their information. If you have families who have not shared their info, you might ask them (possibly through a note or in person) if you could have their email for class purposes. If they don’t share their email or don’t have email, talk with the coordinators about how you might get flyers to those families. Messages we send you will include Spanish translations. We always want to strive to be inclusive and reach every family.

Never use the list for non-room parent purposes -- we are only authorized to use those emails for classroom and PTA purposes.

When are the room parent meetings?

The first Friday of most months from 8:45-10:00am via Zoom.

We hope you’ll enjoy being a room parent!

Please feel free to contact one or both room parent coordinators Brenda Paredes 
(brendiux0410@gmail.com) or Marcella Agozzino (marcella_agozzino@hotmail.com) with any questions.