Charter schools generally have a far higher degree of parent involvement, participation, and school governance than traditional schools; the absence of bureaucracy means we depend on parent volunteers to fill gaps and strengthen our operations.

Volunteering

Our parents & guardians are encouraged to be involved in day-to-day school activities at SHPA and are welcome in the school and in classrooms, whether visiting or volunteering. SHPA knows that parental involvement empowers parents by providing each family with a greater stake in our school’s success.

We welcome help in the office, with planning school events, chaperoning field trips, working in the classrooms, or participating in fundraising activities or other projects. As part of your contribution, parents are also asked to support their students’ academic achievements by:

• Ensuring that students do their homework and read at home daily;
• Making sure students attend school except when there is an illness;
• Ensuring that students arrive on time at school in the mornings;
• Attending parent/teacher conferences;
• Ensuring that assignments missed due to excused absences are completed in a timely manner.

Watch for volunteer opportunities as listed in our weekly communications, monthly Newsletters, teacher newsletters, or by email appeals to parents.

How to Be a Successful Volunteer:

• Complete a background check.*
• When you come to the school, sign in and sign out in the front office.
• You will receive a “Volunteer” badge to wear while you are volunteering at the school.
• Leave younger children and babies at home. Volunteering at school with little ones can be a distraction to you, the students and the teacher.
• Remember, the teacher is in charge of the classroom and staff will see to the monitoring of students in the hallways, bathrooms, etc.
• If you don’t understand something—please ask!

*All volunteers will be required to fill out and submit a Background Check form (the form is below).  Please note that a check can take up to 2 weeks to be processed.  If you prefer to complete the Background Check on line, please email Monica Wood (mwood@shpamn.org) for the Richfield Campus and Barb Mattson (bmattson@shpamn.org) for the Bloomington Campus.  You will then receive a link to complete the form on line.