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Mobilizing Community Resources: Getting Good Volunteers
A few years ago, as part of the Effective Schools Process, the Columbus City School district had a vigorous outreach to the community for their support of the Columbus Schools and students. Community businesses and agencies were invited to embrace CCS and the students by pledging themselves and/or members of their workplace or agency to “Care and Share” with CCS. CCS hosted a “Caring and Sharing” reception where organizations were invited to write about what kind of resources and how many volunteers they could pledge to CCS. That process generated a portion of the 10,000 volunteers who were recruited. The schools themselves reached out to their parent community to recruit and document the remainder of the 10,000 volunteers. Many were skeptical but the combined lists of the schools, the agencies and businesses pledging anywhere from 10 to hundreds of volunteers soon added up. There was an outpouring of love and support for the Columbus school children and everyone seemed willing to do their part to make all schools effective. What can a principal and school staff do to recruit supporters for their school? Here are a few ideas:
- Don’t leave it to chance. Develop processes for recruiting, training, using the talents of, and retaining volunteers. Keep written records about your volunteers including information such as where they live, contact information, emergency contact information, any police check approvals they have received, references, and any other information you can document. It is important to know as much as possible about the volunteers you recruit.
- Manage your volunteers. If possible, hire a parent aide to assist with volunteer management. If this is not possible, appoint a responsible and willing parent to be a “lead volunteer” to help with scheduling. Also involve a willing staff member or two to help manage the process.
- Develop rules and guidelines for volunteer participation. Your district should offer legal assistance for screening and police checks. Always have approved volunteers working with children under the supervision of faculty. Make your policies known to parents through newsletters and other communications to discourage inappropriate representations of unsanctioned school activities or fundraisers.
- Train the volunteers. Once the policies and rules are established, have training for the volunteers so that they know the boundaries of their assistance. There are agencies that help organizations train volunteers.
- Maximize the talents of the volunteers. Try to match the talents of volunteers with things that need to be done at the school. Not everyone will be able to tutor in math, but perhaps they will be excellent hall or playground monitors. Teachers can have a “needs to be done” box for volunteers to pick up when they come in, which contains items such as things to be cut out, pasted, taken down, or put up; bulletin boards assistance, etc. Volunteers can help alleviate the many time-consuming activities that teachers must do that take time away from their professional planning.
- Protect the confidential information of students. Exceptional volunteers can be used in the office to help answer phones, run materials, manage the lost and found, and do other activities that drain the time from a busy secretary or principal. Be aware of the confidential nature of school records and protect them accordingly.
- Negotiate or terminate problem volunteers. If a problem arises with a volunteer, be honest and direct about the nature of the problem. If the problem cannot be addressed through training or negotiation, it will be necessary to terminate the involvement of a problem volunteer.
- Don’t waste the time of your volunteers. Have a ready list of things for volunteers to do. Nothing is worse than an enthusiastic volunteer showing up and being told that there is nothing for them to do.
With planning and good strong management and training, volunteers can be a great human resource for your school. They will feel a part of the learning community and can be ambassadors when it comes time for a tax levy. Their good will will stand as a testament to your school being a great school!
This is a recommended link to assist you with your volunteer planning:
ServiceLeader.org: Volunteers in Schools
