“We’d heard a lot of parent and teacher complaints about room parenting, so we sent nice invitations asking each room parent to a training meeting. Our PTO moms, representing decades of room parenting experience, put together a list of party ideas, including games and snack suggestions, a list with phone numbers for each class and one with our PTO numbers, a calendar and a separate date list of events, a ‘gift registry’ for the teacher and paraprofessional to fill out, etc. It was a casual meeting, and we walked them through the notebook. We asked attendees for their ideas, as well. The parents loved it! We also emailed copies of the notebook contents to the teachers; in case a class needed to replace a room parent, they’d have what they needed.”