Our charter uses parent volunteers to help facilitate learning centers, sometimes prepping materials, stuffing folders, and just organizing events etc. I did folders in K bc I have a toddler and needed to help him nap during center time. This year he's down to shorter naps, so I hope to get into the classroom to really see what goes on! At least a big chunk of the parents are teachers, too. But yes it was odd last year hearing from parents about my daughter--the cat was out of the bag pretty quickly about her reading. Some brought it up just from her reading my note at lunch though. At least our school is very small and the kids are always in the same class, so it's very much like a family. But yes a bit odd to me coming from a school where TAs couldn't do hardly anything bc of privacy.
Because we're a small charter (and really locally grown, not part of a big chain or anything) or PTO is really important. We pay for a lot of "extras" that aren't really extra, like art, PE, special classroom supplies, speakers, trips, etc. but yes the nonstop fundraising is a bit much.
No way to know if volunteering helps the kids academically, but at least it lets the teacher focus on reading groups.
