LAUSD: Volunteering at Your Child's School

LAUSD policy allows parents to volunteer at their child's school, and most "good" schools encourage parents to volunteer - especially now, when budget cuts mean schools need all the help they can get. {And there's a correlation between student achievement and parent involvement.}

In order to volunteer, you'll need to complete a School Volunteer Application, which requires some background info. I think this is less important when it comes to parents, but since anyone can volunteer at an LAUSD school, it does help to weed out anyone who might have a less than honorable purpose for volunteering. The application is not required for one-time activities, such as chaperoning a field trip.

A negative TB test is also required within the six months prior to the volunteer period. However, TB test results are good for four years, so you won't need to get one every school year.

What can you do as a volunteer?

Some teachers welcome parent assistance and will be thrilled that you've asked to help them - even if your child isn't in their class! I know many teachers who love having a parent come in to read to the class on a weekly basis, and some teachers even have parents and grandparents of former students who read to their class weekly.

The school's administrative staff may be able to suggest other ways to help. At our, the PTA has a number of on-campus activities that could use more volunteers, including cleaning the cafeteria tables, supervising the kindergarten lunch period, staffing the library, gardening, and providing playground supervision during recess.

The bottom line: If you want to volunteer, do it!

Image via FreeDigitalPhotos.net by Supertrooper.