Volunteering

Be the hub of your grade. In partnership with the classroom teachers, room parents help facilitate a productive, fun and welcoming environment for all families, with an emphasis on any families new to the school. Room parents coordinate volunteers for in-class and all-school events, and are asked to pass along communication from the administration and the Park Parent Stewardship Group to the class parents and guardians.

In grades K-2, there are weekly in-classroom opportunities including volunteering in small group math or literacy centers, or reading one on one with a student. In 3rd grade, parents help out in class during special projects. Once students graduate to grades 4 and 5, classroom volunteers become more rare, but there are plenty of opportunities to be involved on field trips and overnights.

Volunteer on tours, at Open Houses, during evening mixers, to be on call lists to answer questions, or to welcome new families. Criteria: be your warm, welcoming selves, and speak authentically and positively about your experiences at school.

The back to school picnic, Grandparents & Special Friends Day, music concerts, art night, and much more– all these events rely on volunteer power for set up, organization, and most importantly– potluck food. If you are a baker or organizer, these are the events for you. Each grade is responsible for one all-school event, so keep an eye open for room parent postings to plug in.

Work with the development committee to help cheerlead your grade towards 100% family giving participation. Annual Fund captains complete all hours of volunteer service for the family. This is primarily a communication role that can be managed from home between Sept and Dec, with some small amount of tabling and updating giving posters. Volunteers are encouraged to plan a 100% participation pizza or bagel party once the grade goal has been achieved.

Help our art specialists hang art for the art show in May, volunteer at field day in June, and drive middle school athletes to meets and games year round. We are always seeking musicians and sound technicians to help set up and play at all school events, concerts, and more.

Park Day’s Board of Trustees is responsible for the governance and stewardship of the school. Board members are fiduciaries who steer the organization towards a sustainable future by adopting sound, ethical, and legal governance and financial management policies, as well as by making sure Park Day has adequate resources to advance its mission.

Help contribute to the Park Day morning vibe. Sign up weekly (or just when you can) at the coffee cart where parents hang out and socialize during drop off and for 20-30 minutes after school begins. Essential for building community culture.

From leading one of the central school alliance groups– Diversity & Justice, Gender Justice, Green School or Learning Support, to orchestrating and coordinating the parent association Stewardship Group, or leading East Bay Mini Maker Faire efforts or an affinity group— it is volunteer leadership that is the backbone of Park Day School. This team of committed parents manages multiple aspects of school culture, community and parent education.

During August and September, it takes a cumulative 1,000 hours of parent time to create a one-day family friendly blow out to raise funds to support Park Day School, utilizing the talents of 170+ makers and 6,000+ event attendees. Coordinate logistics and marketing, run the first aid station, support makers and artists, set-up, manage break-down, sell drinks, and much, much more.

The Park Day Farm Box is a CSA subscription providing fresh, local, organic produce from Riverdog Farm to Park Day families and friends. This is a parent-run program, and proceeds provide extra support for the Learning Garden program at school. The Farm Box needs volunteers every week to help with the boxes and to help make the program run smoothly. It’s immensely satisfying work, and a great way to fulfill parent FUNDRAISING volunteer hours. Volunteer duties include receiving and packing farm boxes, and coordinating with the farm etc.

From planting acorns to repopulate the Oak forests in EBMUD areas in Kindergarten, to leading students in small groups through the Oakland Museum, to driving to the four night MOSAIC overnight in 4th, and the Rafting trip in 7th, we couldn’t bring to life our fantastic experiential learning program without parent support! Make sure you submit your driver’s license information and background check documentation to be eligible to volunteer.

Weekend work parties, special construction, painting and building projects, feeding the chickens over holiday breaks, planting new areas– our four acre garden campus thrives and blooms thanks to the support of our volunteer parents.

Do you design T-shirts? Interested in social media look and feel? Love to think about fun ways to generate visual excitement for the Read-A-Thon, the Gala, or Facebook ads? We need you.

Creating a robust schedule of speakers to populate a diverse array of parent education events and symposium. Work on behalf of, or with representatives of: the Diversity & Justice Alliance, Gender Justice Alliance, Learning Support Alliance, and Green School Alliance, along with the administration.

Ask your room parents about what is needed, and volunteer to organize the fall or spring parent grade social, and/or your class camping trip.

Create the programming and organize the speakers for our school’s fun, festive, colorful pride day and assembly.