PTO Today

We have a couple that volunteers for everything. But they're idea of volunteering isn't necessarily our idea of "helping out". We have a "loop" in our parking lot that parents pick up and drop off and it is run by vlounteers. The people who run the loop day in and day out are having trouble with two parents who show up every day but don't actually help. Their children are out of control and they don't watch them, but they don't have a problem with yelling at other people's children. They also come to volunteer dressed inappropriately (ex: No Bra!) and sometimes dress as if they haven't washed their clothes in weeks. We have very few volunteers, even though we have over 600 students, so it's hard to tell them to go, but we can't take much more and school has only been in for 3 weeks! If anyone has any advice , please help!! Also, I am the PTO VP, so I don't want to "rock the boat" or give anyone the impression we are snobby.

You don't. If you believe their clothes are dirty/sloppy you will give them the impression that you are snobby, and judging people by their outward appearance is rather snobbish anyway. Accept them exactly the way they are at this moment, and thank them for their help. Then you educate them and provide them with support so they can become successful. That's how we build community.

Make your expectations clear. Create a sheet of Pick Up/Drop Off instructions and have a small meeting to explain them to all volunteers at once. Explain what kind of discipline is expected at the school - they do have a written discipline policy? Put the instructions in the newsletter, so everybody is on the same page. Do some role playing with their own kids getting in/out of the car. Explain that all students need to be treated equally well. Explain that anyone who cannot be respectful of the students, will get 3 warnings before being removed from this assignment. Help them understand how important it is to treat students gently. Finally, if they make a mistake, take them aside and explain what your recourse will be if the parents cannot improve on their technique.

We do the same at our school, and children are not allowed to dawdle in the area, they get out of the car and go directly into school. If these kids are students, make sure all students understand what they're to do in the area.

If their energetic children are not students, assign them a safe place to sit and wait for their parents to finish, or maybe find some older children to volunteer to entertain them, or maybe somebody on staff is willing to keep them busy for a bit. Helping this family to contribute will only make everyone happier.

Also, if your school or PTO puts out a monthly newsletter you could just add something in there about dressing appropriately. We had to do that at our school this year. Or maybe if the problem seems more on the end that they can't really afford to do any better than what they are doing you could talk to the Family Resource Center if your school has one. They could maybe help the family with a voucher for clothing. I know our FRC has even been known to give out laundry det. when needed. It's worth a try!