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#1
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
x-no-archive: yes
There's a private school locally that I wouldn't mind supporting, and they've listed that they need volunteers, including committee members for a committee I'd be interested in. I wouldn't mind volunteering the time, but it is true that we're likely to want to apply to the school next year and the school has more applicants than it does openings. Would it be perceived as a conflict of interest (or a faux pas, even) on my part to volunteer for the committee? I wouldn't want to do it if they would see it as me as solely trying to tip the scales in favor of my daughter. (On the other hand, it wouldn't break my heart if it *did* tip the scales, I have to admit...but that wouldn't be my primary motivation.) Any thoughts? beeswing |
#2
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
"beeswing" wrote in message ... x-no-archive: yes There's a private school locally that I wouldn't mind supporting, and they've listed that they need volunteers, including committee members for a committee I'd be interested in. I wouldn't mind volunteering the time, but it is true that we're likely to want to apply to the school next year and the school has more applicants than it does openings. Would it be perceived as a conflict of interest (or a faux pas, even) on my part to volunteer for the committee? I wouldn't want to do it if they would see it as me as solely trying to tip the scales in favor of my daughter. (On the other hand, it wouldn't break my heart if it *did* tip the scales, I have to admit...but that wouldn't be my primary motivation.) Any thoughts? beeswing Actually, this is the kind of thing which is suggested to do if you're planning to apply for a job at a school-public or private. So often, these things come down to several equally qualified candidates, and the one who knows someone gets the nod. If you're truly interested-and if you expect to be able to continue volunteering once your child is in school, I'd say go for it. |
#3
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
In article , beeswing says...
x-no-archive: yes There's a private school locally that I wouldn't mind supporting, and they've listed that they need volunteers, including committee members for a committee I'd be interested in. I wouldn't mind volunteering the time, but it is true that we're likely to want to apply to the school next year and the school has more applicants than it does openings. Would it be perceived as a conflict of interest (or a faux pas, even) on my part to volunteer for the committee? I wouldn't want to do it if they would see it as me as solely trying to tip the scales in favor of my daughter. (On the other hand, it wouldn't break my heart if it *did* tip the scales, I have to admit...but that wouldn't be my primary motivation.) Any thoughts? Given the timing of your starting to volunteer there, it would certainly appear as if you wanted to increase your child's acceptance. And that sort of thing is pretty common for volunteer organizations. If I were you, I would just wait a year to start volunteering. Then there is no appearance of only wanting to curry favor with the school. There is usually no shortage of need for volunteers. Banty |
#4
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
In article , Banty wrote:
In article , beeswing says... There's a private school locally that I wouldn't mind supporting, and they've listed that they need volunteers, including committee members for a committee I'd be interested in. I wouldn't mind volunteering the time, but it is true that we're likely to want to apply to the school next year and the school has more applicants than it does openings. Would it be perceived as a conflict of interest (or a faux pas, even) on my part to volunteer for the committee? I wouldn't want to do it if they would see it as me as solely trying to tip the scales in favor of my daughter. (On the other hand, it wouldn't break my heart if it *did* tip the scales, I have to admit...but that wouldn't be my primary motivation.) Any thoughts? Given the timing of your starting to volunteer there, it would certainly appear as if you wanted to increase your child's acceptance. And that sort of thing is pretty common for volunteer organizations. If I were you, I would just wait a year to start volunteering. Then there is no appearance of only wanting to curry favor with the school. There is usually no shortage of need for volunteers. I'd say go ahead and volunteer, as long as you really do the work, they won't care if it looks like you are just trying to get your child a better chance. It probably WILL give your daughter a better chance of getting in, if you do good work as a volunteer, since private schools do want families that will help out. I have done some volunteer work for a private school near us in Santa Cruz (like judging their "Invention Convention"), even though my son does not go there. We have applied there once, and almost applied a couple of other times (every time the bilingual program my son is in at the public school is threatened with closure, we start looking for other options). Since the bilingual program only goes through 3rd grade, and there is essentially no GATE program in the public school, we'll probably end up moving to the private school for 4th-6th. -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. |
#5
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
"beeswing" wrote in message ... x-no-archive: yes There's a private school locally that I wouldn't mind supporting, and they've listed that they need volunteers, including committee members for a committee I'd be interested in. I wouldn't mind volunteering the time, but it is true that we're likely to want to apply to the school next year and the school has more applicants than it does openings. Would it be perceived as a conflict of interest (or a faux pas, even) on my part to volunteer for the committee? I wouldn't want to do it if they would see it as me as solely trying to tip the scales in favor of my daughter. (On the other hand, it wouldn't break my heart if it *did* tip the scales, I have to admit...but that wouldn't be my primary motivation.) Any thoughts? beeswing At DD's school (it's private), I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let someone NOT connected to the school volunteer. If you're the aunt of a current student, then go for it, but if they don't know you - it gets a bit dicey. I'm thinking of security risks of having "strangers" on school grounds or dealing with students. If you want to volunteer, why not just wait until your children are students? Trust me, they'll still need volunteers - as a matter of fact, at DD's school families have to volunteer 10 hours a school year (and that's fairly low from what I've heard). Jeanne |
#6
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
x-no-archive: yes
I carefully read everything everyone wrote, and I appreciate your comments. I did decide to send the school an email expressing interest in volunteering. Someone outside of m.k.m. pointed out to me that at this stage, it isn't altogether certain that we will be having our daughter apply to the school...we could still decide not to. When I thought about *not* following up on the opportunity due to the concern over whether it might look like I'm trying to get an edge in, I realized what I'd lose in not doing it: a great chance for me to get to know the school and the school culture better and to find out if they would be a good "fit" for my daughter and our family. I know only the school's reputation; I haven't spent any more time there than it takes to attend an open house. Realizing that pushed the decision in favor of contacting them. When writing, I felt perfectly comfortable telling the school that part of my desire to volunteer stemmed from wanting to learn more about the school because we are considering the school for our daughter for middle school. That didn't feel particularly like a conflict to me, yet it gives them the information in case they don't want to work with a potential applicant's mom. As far as whether they'd want only relatives to volunteer, they can always turn me down. The team I am interested in working with would have no direct contact with the kids, however, and requires people with certain professional skills -- skills I happen to have. Now, I wait and see if they get back to me! Thanks so much, everyone, for your help in deciding what to do. beeswing |
#7
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
Folks, when someone puts X-no-archive: Yes at the top of their posts, they
are asking you to please NOT copy their post when you respond because they do not want their posts archived on Google. Now, on to my response. I volunteer at our local elementary school library once every other week and none of my kids attended this school or will be attending it. I also volunteer with a much older friend whose kids didn't go there and whose grandkids didn't attend there. We've never had any issue from the parents or the school staff about not being part of the school family. My kids attend middle school and there aren't any opportunities for parents to volunteer there. Since I don't work on Fridays, it seems to me that I had time to give to an elementary school and I asked if I could help out. They're happy to have me (and all the other volunteers) and I don't think they'd even care if I had an ulterior motive. They need the help. Marjorie |
#8
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
In article , animzmirot wrote:
Folks, when someone puts X-no-archive: Yes at the top of their posts, they are asking you to please NOT copy their post when you respond because they do not want their posts archived on Google. Ahh, but in many newsreaders, including the one I use, most of the header fields are not shown. If someone wants not to be quoted, they should make that explicit in the message. If they *really* want not to be quoted, they should not post to a newsgroup. Now, on to my response. I volunteer at our local elementary school library once every other week and none of my kids attended this school or will be attending it. I also volunteer with a much older friend whose kids didn't go there and whose grandkids didn't attend there. We've never had any issue from the parents or the school staff about not being part of the school family. My kids attend middle school and there aren't any opportunities for parents to volunteer there. Since I don't work on Fridays, it seems to me that I had time to give to an elementary school and I asked if I could help out. They're happy to have me (and all the other volunteers) and I don't think they'd even care if I had an ulterior motive. They need the help. I'm surprised that there are no parent volunteer opportunities at the middle school. I know that a lot of parents stop volunteering as their kids get older, so the schools don't expect as much volunteering, but there are nearly always opportunities for volunteers. Still, if you want to volunteer at an elementary school, there is certainly nothing wrong with doing that! And I agree that most schools have plenty of need for more adult help as they are usually underfunded for the task they are supposed to do. -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. |
#9
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
"Kevin Karplus" wrote in message ... In article , animzmirot wrote: Folks, when someone puts X-no-archive: Yes at the top of their posts, they are asking you to please NOT copy their post when you respond because they do not want their posts archived on Google. Ahh, but in many newsreaders, including the one I use, most of the header fields are not shown. If someone wants not to be quoted, they should make that explicit in the message. If they *really* want not to be quoted, they should not post to a newsgroup. Now, on to my response. I volunteer at our local elementary school library once every other week and none of my kids attended this school or will be attending it. I also volunteer with a much older friend whose kids didn't go there and whose grandkids didn't attend there. We've never had any issue from the parents or the school staff about not being part of the school family. My kids attend middle school and there aren't any opportunities for parents to volunteer there. Since I don't work on Fridays, it seems to me that I had time to give to an elementary school and I asked if I could help out. They're happy to have me (and all the other volunteers) and I don't think they'd even care if I had an ulterior motive. They need the help. I'm surprised that there are no parent volunteer opportunities at the middle school. I know that a lot of parents stop volunteering as their kids get older, so the schools don't expect as much volunteering, but there are nearly always opportunities for volunteers. Still, if you want to volunteer at an elementary school, there is certainly nothing wrong with doing that! And I agree that most schools have plenty of need for more adult help as they are usually underfunded for the task they are supposed to do. I ditto this, bigtime. In my inner city school, we average maybe 1 parent a year who can regularly volunteer, and a handful who can occasionally go on a field trip or be around for a party. However, we have a wonderful cadre of retired adults from a local church who have adopted our lower grade classes, and come in to help in the classrooms, read with the kids, and all sorts of great things. We also have some business-types (some of whom DO have children of their own at other schools) who come in on their lunch breaks or for a few hours a week (AutoZone allows 8 hours a month paid release time for volunteering for employees in their corporate offices, as do some of the other large companies) to spend time with our older kids. We literally couldn't function without these volunteers. I don't know of any school which would refuse a volunteer. Be aware that you will probably be required to be fingerprinted and get a criminal background check for any sort of regular volunteering, especially if you will be tutoring or working with children more directly. Volunteers in my district must meet the same screening requirements and be issued an ID badge, like paid employees. This is at the district's expense. -- Kevin Karplus http://www.soe.ucsc.edu/~karplus life member (LAB, Adventure Cycling, American Youth Hostels) Effective Cycling Instructor #218-ck (lapsed) Professor of Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Santa Cruz Undergraduate and Graduate Director, Bioinformatics Affiliations for identification only. |
#10
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Would volunteering be a conflict?
Kevin Karplus wrote:
Ahh, but in many newsreaders, including the one I use, most of the header fields are not shown. If someone wants not to be quoted, they should make that explicit in the message. If they *really* want not to be quoted, they should not post to a newsgroup. Just a few quick comments on this, for what it's worth: My post was marked "x-no-archive: yes" on the top line of the post, not in the headers. Given that I use AOL -- no cracks necesssary -- I don't have access to the header fields. So the tag can be seen by anyone, no matter what newsreader they use. While I retain a hope that folks might honor it, if they happen to know what it is, I have no real expectation. As far as asking people not to quote you, the only time I've ever one that, a troll stripped off the no-archive tags and reposted the post in its entirety in triplicate. I don't recommend anyone going that route. And your third point...that I agree with! Thanks, Kevin. beeswing |
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