Dear Judy:

I am wondering how we parents can help offset the impact of  budget cuts. Any suggestions as to what parents can do to keep school programs going despite the loss of staff and funding?

A parent

Dear Parent,

With schools set to open in a few weeks, now is a good time to plan your supportive activities: not just fund raising, but hands-on contributions as well.  Fund raising may have reached its saturation point in some schools, considering the lagging economy and ongoing unemployment rate, while other school communities have never been able to raise funds on a large scale.   But parents who are working less -- or not at all -- now may be able to take time to volunteer to help schools which may be strapped for resources.

A good place to start is the lunchroom: there are never too many hands in the cafeteria to help kids during the sometimes chaotic mealtime and to button up their coats for outdoor recess. Some parents are cut out for playground supervision (good at sports, love games) others may enjoy conducting a board game club, teaching knitting, or reading with kids on those forbidding winter days.  Other ways to help out:  volunteer in the school library, collect lunch money, of course accompany classes on field trips. <!--more-->

As an individual, you can speak with your child’s teacher to work out a helpful ongoing role in the classroom. As a group,  class parents can organize to contribute to the classroom library, visit local merchants for donations of school supplies, develop a schedule of parent led mini-lessons on, say, cooking, science, chess, sewing, knitting, sing-alongs --  whatever parents can do that the school budget no longer supports.  After school programs will also need the same kind of help.

Note: Some principals do not yet welcome parents to the classroom. Your Parent Association should place this issue front and center.  Principals should recognize the benefits that parent involvement brings to the kids.

Parents can make a big difference in the arts. Kids learn from the arts so parents may consider sponsoring a school wide “let's put on a play” project.  That means kids, parents, teachers,  and school staff,  take part.  This project is guaranteed to raise money – everyone wants to see their children and neighbors on stage, and it helps keep the arts alive in school. With a part for everyone from stagehand, to costume-maker to actor, it's loads of fun, according to some schools that already do it.

Don’t fail to weigh in on budget and policy issues with city and state legislators. Check out the Panel on Education Policy agendas, attend meetings of your district's Community Education Council, as well as the district presidents' council and your own school's  Parents Association.

Now is the time to start planning with your fellow parents about how you can help alleviate your schools’ money woes.

Good luck!

Judy