Parent Participation

As a parent of a Blooming Grove Academy student, you have the unique opportunity to be highly involved in your child’s educational experience. All too often, parents do not know how to be a part of their child’s school and sometimes even believe that teachers do not want parents to be involved. Blooming Grove Academy welcomes parental involvement!

Here are some opportunities that will make you feel like a special part of the school you have chosen.

VOLUNTEER HOURS
Beginning with the 2010-2011 school year, Blooming Grove will be launching our new program of family volunteer hours. We are responding to several major factors with this decision:

1. the current economic conditions have caused financial strain for some families, so we are significantly reducing our tuition rates in an effort to assist.
2. involvement of parents in the workings of BGA help to create a better learning environment.
3. children who see their parents placing a priority on education and assistance at their school place a similar importance on learning.

The new volunteer hours offer our families a way to become involved, help to improve our school in many ways, and reduce their tuition costs as well. Each family’s volunteer obligation will be 50 hours (an average of 5 hours per month). Should a family opt to pay the tuition difference instead, you will be invoiced for $150 each month (or $30 for every hour a family opts not to volunteer). In this way, our families who have the desire to contribute hours can reduce the financial obligation for tuition, and also gain the benefits that volunteering time at BGA can offer everyone!

It is our goal to provide many reasonable opportunities each month to satisfy the monthly hours requirement. These can include joining one of our many committees, helping with fundraising, light maintenance/repairs, or helping in the classroom plus many others. We will provide a suggested listing to everyone each year in June.

We know that our families’ time is valuable and we will make sure that your hours contributed to BGA are meaningful and beneficial to everyone involved! We look forward to working with you all.

Attend Meetings
It is not always easy to attend school meetings and orientation sessions, but the extra effort needed to make arrangements so that you can attend will pay off. You will know more about what is going on, you can ask questions, and you can become better acquainted with teachers and other parents.

Talk with teachers
Do not hesitate to call teachers to discuss your child’s school or home experience. Does your child have specific needs in terms of diet or medication? Do not wait for a problem to arise. Call us to inquire. We want to work as a team to help your child blossom and reach his/her potential.

See your child in action
Visit the school. We always need help in the library and classroom helpers are welcomed with open arms. Take part of a day and visit your child’s class. Seeing children in their school environment is a worthwhile experience for parents. Please call ahead and let us know when you can come.

Volunteer for a Board Committee
The Blooming Grove Academy Board of Directors is a working board with a varied committee structure. Often parents can participate on any number of working committees. Call the Board President or Vice President to inquire.

Share a talent or knowledge
Through the natural selection process that assembled this special group of people who are Blooming Grove parents, you present to our school community a vast array of interesting talents and an incredible knowledge base. Teach a selective, visit a class, share an aspect of your culture, conduct a field trip at your place of employment, or monitor a project.

Attend Parent Inservice
We sponsor a number of educational opportunities for parents to learn more about how children learn, and also on parenting topics. Look over the school calendar and decide which interest you.

Borrow our resources
We have a number of books and periodicals in the office that can be checked out by parents at any time.

Read all school communications
Watch for school notes and newsletters. The “What’s Blooming” school newsletter will come home with your child on the last school day of each month. Teachers send home newsletters with classroom information on the last school day of each week.

Fundraising