How I Got Involved
In the fall of 2020, my son started Kindergarten. It was definitely not the start to the school year we’d imagined, having to plan for online classes instead of preparing for the school bus. There was no back to school night and no meet the teacher, and we weren’t even sure when schools would reopen to let kids back into the classrooms. I’d never even been inside of my son’s school.
So when I received an e-mail from the school’s PTA saying that they needed volunteers to help pass out iPads and laptops to students, I signed up, glad to feel like I still able to get involved in the school community, while also hoping to catch a glimpse of my son’s future environment. (All I got was a peek inside the gym, as we were stationed outside to distribute the students’ devices.)
I chatted with the mom in charge, who I learned was the PTA president. Together, and in masks, we greeted parents and students and handed out school-issued tech and, in the case of many returning students, bundles of their projects and artwork that had been left behind when schools shut down in the spring. In meeting so many parents, I realized that we were all in the same boat – unsure of what the school year would look like, how we would manage, how our kids would feel.
As a former teacher at the upper elementary school (grades 3-5) in town, I was confident that the primary school staff – and all of our school district’s teachers – would do the best they could, but I was definitely glad that I had left the profession years before, when my son was born.
It was my past experience of being a teacher that made me eager to get involved with the PTA. I was excited about the idea of being able to give back to our schools and our community, not as an educator, but as an involved parent who knew what it was like to be a teacher. When the PTA asked for volunteers to be room parents, I signed up for my son’s class, ready to help out his teacher any way I could. I wrangled a few parents via e-mail and together we hosted a virtual Halloween party, reading stories, completing arts and crafts, and just chatting to small groups of kindergarteners in Zoom breakout rooms. Over the holidays, my husband and I drove gifts to the teacher’s house and left them at her door. For teacher appreciation week in the spring, I was asked to help collect prepackaged snacks, treats, and drinks for each of our three schools’ teachers’ lounges.
The following year, the new PTA president asked me to help out with the “Sunshine Committee” and coordinate a back-to-school breakfast for the teachers. I gladly said yes. We live just down the street from the school where I used to teach, so I was happy to be able to (finally) set foot in a school building and set up for the teachers’ welcome back to school. That year, I also finally got to visit my son’s school and his classroom. I was a room parent again, and this year, we got to host our class parties in person instead of online. I continued to work with the Sunshine Committee, setting up things like “Cookies and Cocoa” for the teachers in the winter and a big teacher appreciation lunch in the spring.
Towards the end of the year, I was approached by someone on the PTA nominating committee about taking on a bigger role – that of president-elect. I was told that my experience volunteering the past two years, combined with my past as a teacher, made me a stand-out candidate for the job. Right away, I was excited at the idea of being able to do more to help our teachers, but deep down, I was nervous – I had never led a group like this before, I didn’t know very many parents, I am pretty introverted, and I hated public speaking. (Put me in a room full of nine- and ten-year-olds, and I was fine, but a room full of adults? Ugh.) Still, I put my discomfort aside and accepted the nomination.
What I Did
The new president of the PTA that I was shadowing was a natural leader – enthusiastic, full of ideas, and a great, natural speaker. Together, we brought assemblies back to all three of our elementary schools for the first time post-Covid. We purchased playground equipment and repainted school playgrounds. We celebrated our teachers and gave out teacher grants, as well as implemented a recognition program where we would shout-out teachers in our newsletter and on our social media when a parent wanted to recognize them for going above and beyond. We brought back our huge end of the year fundraiser – a silly sports competition between teachers at all three of our schools preschool through fifth grade – and had a great turnout. We had a very successful year, and I was determined to keep the momentum going.
When my term as president came around, I felt excited and confident – I was organized, I’d had a pretty good plan of how the year would run, and I was thrilled that my son would now be in third grade at the school where I once taught. He would be surrounded by many of my former colleagues and I was hopeful that I would do a decent job supporting them and the rest of our teachers and community.
We started the year with a record number of participants in our annual business and organization back to school info night. In addition to our regular PTA events like the Book Fair and International Night, which were all back in full swing, I coordinated the return of our after-school enrichment program at the upper elementary school, worked with a local mom to provide wellness sessions for teachers, arranged for assemblies and guest speakers in the schools, and got our schools involved in the National PTA arts contest. Together, the PTA celebrated teachers by stocking the teacher lounges with treats, back to school breakfasts, soup and salad luncheons, cookies and cocoa, teacher appreciation week, the continuation of our teacher recognition program, and awarding teacher grants. We closed out the year with a hugely successful silly sports fundraiser, and I truly felt that I had done the best I could to support our schools. At the end of the year, I passed the torch to my president-elect. It had been a busy year, but a great year.
What I Learned
I learned right away that the PTA’s success was due to its volunteers. We live in a small community and are fortunate to have many parents who are dedicated to the quality of the schools, the support of the staff, and the well-being of our kids.
I learned that being a leader means letting other people take charge, too. I wasn’t wholly comfortable with the idea of having to tell people (in some cases, people I’d never even met before!) who joined or chaired a committee what needed to be done, but fortunately, I didn’t really have to. A lot of times, we looked at what had been done previously and just figured things out together. I had several returning volunteers who were eager to take the event and run with it. I had new volunteers who just needed a budget and were happy to get to work.
I learned how important it is to be organized. Maybe it’s from being a teacher for over a decade, (or maybe I was really just terrified that I’d drop the ball somewhere) but I forgot how good I am at planning and organizing. I had lists on top of lists on top of calendars to refer to so that while I was working on one event, I was also planning out what needed to be done to get ready for the next one. Somehow, even with everything the PTA had going on – and everything my family had going on – I had surgery at the beginning of the year, my son had soccer, swimming, and school events, my husband was traveling for work quite a bit, we celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary, we went to Italy over spring break – I never really felt overwhelmed.
I learned to suck it up and get through public speaking as best I could. My cheeks would still get red and my voice would crack at PTA meetings, but I managed to survive.
I learned that even if you don’t know everybody, everybody will eventually know you, or they’d definitely know your name, and that was weird. Sometimes people would jump in and start talking to me as if we’d been friends for years, or as if I was someone important, and it always caught me off guard, leaving me wondering if I’d forgotten meeting them. It was a bit of a relief to turn in my school badge and step back into anonymity as just another parent.
With that being said, I learned that I definitely don’t need to be known, or need recognition. Being president of the PTA was fine, but it wasn’t what I liked best about volunteering. The best part was hearing that we’d done something good – something that made the kids happy, or that made a teacher feel special. I loved being a part of so many events that went off seamlessly, thanks to all the work that went into them. I loved getting to work with people that I wouldn’t have otherwise really gotten to know – the principals, their secretaries, the school superintendent, the middle and high school PTA folks with kids way older than mine. What I really loved learning was that my son was proud of me, and that I had used my role as PTA president as an opportunity to teach him about the importance of helping others, and volunteering for something you believe in.
Finally, I learned that being a part of the PTA – no matter how big or small the role – is a rewarding experience. I started out just hoping to catch a glimpse of what my son’s life at school might be like. I ended up stepping outside of my comfort zone to take on a role I’d never pictured myself in. And I don’t regret it one bit.