The room parent’s role is to support the teacher. It is important to remain in touch with your classroom teacher throughout the school year as how and when they need your help will vary.
What Do Room Parents Do?
Each classroom has a volunteer room parent (and sometimes co-room parents!). This is a great way to be involved while getting to know your child’s teachers, classmates, and other parents and caregivers.
Room parents provide valuable assistance to their child’s teacher and help facilitate communication among the families in each class (such as information about teacher appreciation week and school events).
Importantly, class parents plan the Harvest Festival (Friday, October 30th) and Valentine’s Day (Friday February 12th) parties – festive occasions the students truly love! Class parents also coordinate the purchase and creation of a class basket for the school auction each spring. Many room parents select a theme for the basket and choose items to fit the theme.
Teachers will typically ask for volunteers to be room parents at the start of the year (e.g., during Back to School Night) and the PTA’s Room Parent/Room Party Coordinator will distribute information among the room parents during the year.
- Please email Erin Swen (erin.s.swen@gmail.com) for more information and to sign up.
As a room parent and an MCPS Volunteer, there is a mandatory training you will need to complete before going into the school.
Training to Complete for MCPS Volunteers
Complete the mandatory online Recognizing Child Abuse and Neglect Training. This training is required for any volunteer who regularly supports schools, chaperones a field trip, etc. and is available in multiple languages. When the course is completed, a report is created to serve as proof of satisfying the training requirement. Please bring a copy of this with you the first time you volunteer at the school.
If you have completed the MCPS Recognizing and Reporting Child Abuse and Neglect training during the past three years, you do not have to retake the course. Any volunteer who completed the training in the 2023-2024 school year or prior, will need to renew their training certification in 2026-2027.