State Of California Rules That Public Schools Can’t Require Parents To Volunteer

I’ve previously posted about the ridiculous rules many charter schools in California have requiring parents to volunteer if they want their children to attend (see L.A. Times Editorial Headline: “Charter schools’ volunteer demands may discourage needy students”). The State of California has now officially declared that schools can’t have those kinds of requirements. You can […]

L.A. Times Editorial Headline: “Charter schools’ volunteer demands may discourage needy students”

I’ve previously posted about a report on California charter schools which found that many require parents to volunteer their time as a condition of their child attending the school (see “Concern over charter schools’ requirement for volunteer time”). Now — a little late — the Los Angeles Times has published an editorial commenting on the […]

Connecticut District Not Happy With Proposal To Check Parent Volunteers

I’ve written quite a few posts about the problems with security policies some school districts are instituting. Here’s the latest from Bridgeport, Connecticut: A proposal to keep sex offenders and other criminals out of city schools by doing instant background checks and issuing photo IDs to all visitors could well be jettisoned before it is […]

Updates On Two Parent Volunteer Stories

I’ve written a number of posts about parent volunteers, including school district rules for them. Sometime soon I’ll create a “Best” list of them. For now, though, here are links to two stories that I’ve previously posted about: Pinellas might ease school policy blocking felons from volunteering is from The Tampa Bay Times. N.C. District […]

“volunteer forms scaring away parents with less-than-perfect pasts”

School Districts need to enter the real world and understand that being undocumented or having made mistakes in their lives doesn’t mean that they cannot help schools. I’ve recently shared about how two school districts are mishandling this situation: Charlotte Schools Say Undocumented Parents Can’t Volunteer In Schools — For Now, At Least “Fla. School […]

Charlotte Schools Say Undocumented Parents Can’t Volunteer In Schools — For Now, At Least

Here’s how the article, Solutions elude CMS on undocumented volunteers, in the Charlotte Observer begins: A Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools team assigned to find a way undocumented immigrant parents can volunteer in schools is running short on time and even shorter on potential solutions to the hot-button issue. The team’s final meeting is Tuesday, and it has […]

“Houston Dad Learns Valuable Lessons Volunteering at School”

Houston Dad Learns Valuable Lessons Volunteering at School is a good post over at Education Week about a group emphasizing getting fathers involved in schools. Here’s an excerpt: Watch D.O.G.S. is a K-12 father-engagement initiative run by the National Center for Fathering in Kansas City, Mo. Two fathers in Springdale, Ark., founded the program following […]

“Jefferson County Public Schools Considers Easing Restrictions for Ex-Felon Parent Volunteers”

Jefferson County Public Schools Considers Easing Restrictions for Ex-Felon Parent Volunteers is a pretty interesting article. Here’s an excerpt: In 2010-11, JCPS got about 22,000 volunteer applications. A majority of the 1,013 reject applications that school year were related to drug offenses, according to JCPS research. The average number of years between the conviction and […]