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Would volunteering be a conflict?



 
 
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  #1  
Old May 25th 04, 12:30 PM
beeswing
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Default 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  
Old May 25th 04, 12:44 PM
Donna Metler
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Default 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  
Old May 25th 04, 01:01 PM
Banty
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Default 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  
Old May 25th 04, 02:27 PM
Kevin Karplus
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Posts: n/a
Default 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  
Old May 25th 04, 06:36 PM
Bruce Bridgman and Jeanne Yang
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Posts: n/a
Default 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  
Old May 26th 04, 02:28 AM
beeswing
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 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  
Old May 27th 04, 01:22 PM
animzmirot
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Posts: n/a
Default 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  
Old May 28th 04, 05:09 AM
Kevin Karplus
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 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  
Old May 28th 04, 01:54 PM
Donna Metler
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 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  
Old May 28th 04, 02:40 PM
beeswing
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default 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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