Visitor & Volunteer Guidelines
We are blessed to have so many parents, guardians, and relatives that want to help in school and spend time to make our school great. With things returning to normal and many upcoming events, we wanted to remind parents of PWCS regulations and expectations regarding volunteering and visiting school. Our building houses over 1,200 students and over 100 staff, and with so many moving parts across nine grade levels, we must continue to be vigilant in our systems, including how visitors enter our building, so we can maximize this time and keep everyone safe. These guidelines are meant to structure the process, but please know that we value and appreciate our family involvement. This is one of our strengths as a school, and we would love for as many parents/guardians to volunteer in school as possible throughout the year.
Volunteer Intent - We welcome families to volunteer and visit our school by working with school staff so the time spent focuses on the needs of our teachers and students. Examples would be to do a presentation, read to the class, help with a celebration or activity, or make copies/do clerical work. Even our Tiger Task Force members have a clear and very structured schedule, so we know where they will be and what they are doing. Visits to school to volunteer must be prearranged with your child's teacher. It can be challenging for teachers to try and juggle giving something for parent volunteers to do while trying to teach, so these times will need to be preplanned.
Observations - Any parent/guardian observations of the classroom or other areas of school must be preapproved and arranged by the school administration, including a pre/post meeting with the parent and an administrator in the room during that time. In addition, volunteers/visitors may not video record other students nor share information or observations about other students.
Office Coordination - All visitors and volunteers must check in at the office with their photo ID when they enter the school. If teachers arrange a parent helper or other volunteer, they will tell the office so the office staff is prepared and knowledgeable about it when parents sign in. If the office does not have this information, they will contact the teacher for teacher approval before allowing the parent to enter the building.
Lunch - Parents/guardians may visit during lunch and have lunch with their child at their table. When parents sign in to visit lunch, they must return to the office after lunch.
Field Trips - Volunteers/chaperones must still check in at the office before attending as chaperones. We give chaperones back their ID instead of keeping them during field trips since they will be off-site during the trip. Grade-level teachers will provide clear expectations to chaperones on student confidentiality, supervision, and emergencies.
Before School Meetings - If parents/guardians come before school for a parent/teacher conference, they must check out back in the office when school starts unless they have structured volunteer time scheduled with the teacher.
Total Time Volunteering Requirement - Any volunteer, parent, guardian, or otherwise, that exceeds 15 hours in any given week must complete an online application, provide references, and receive a background check through PWCS Human Resources, much like our substitutes go through. The office staff is contacting parents that regularly volunteer because this would be an excellent option for them to streamline the check-in process.
The pertinent PWCS Policy and Regulations are included below for your review:
- Regulation 511-10 Criteria for the Selection and the Use of Non-Contract Volunteers Link
- Regulation 794-7 Access to the School, School Conferences, and School Activities Link
- Policy 951 - Parental/Family Involvement in the School Link
Thank you for working with us so that we can maximize your time and efforts in our school while continuing to keep our school safe and structured.