Parent Group Contacts

Parent organizations are, by their nature, separate from the school itself. However, most parent organizations welcome participation by staff and administration.

Regardless of whether staff and/or administrators regularly participate in parent organization meetings, there needs to be an understanding that the District’s and school’s policies, guidelines, and philosophies must be followed when planning activities, events, fundraisers, and communications within the school and the broader school community.

Principals must always have the opportunity to weigh in before decisions are made regarding anything that will be done involving students or the school, or that will be done on behalf of students or the school. That doesn’t mean principals can dictate what parent organizations do, but they must always be collaborative partners.

Events and fundraisers are a great way for parent organizations to help build community spirit and rally people around opportunities to earn money for needed school items. Care and consideration must be exercised, however, when determining what and how many fundraisers will occur over the course of the year, and what the expectations will be for students and families.

Minimal school time should be used for fundraising. As much as possible, manage fundraising activities outside of school hours. Also, keep in mind that we have a very diverse student population and a wide variety of home circumstance. A fundraising activity that may seem reasonable to one family, may seem completely impossible to another.

Having goals and incentives for levels of participation is fine, but should not be exclusionary or serve to make students feel singled out or embarrassed. Incentive activities taking place during school time should be accessible to entire classrooms, the entire school, or should have opportunities for all students who participated at some level in the fundraising effort to earn a spot to attend.

The District’s liability insurance will cover events held by parent organizations as long as those events have been approved by the Board. The District’s Risk Manager can assist parent organizations in getting their activities on an upcoming Board agenda. PTAs carry their own insurance and are already covered. Another option is for parent groups to purchase event insurance.

The District does not require that parent organization funds be managed by the District; however, we do recommend it so that there is an extra layer of security for funds collected. Talk with the Business Office for more information.

After-school clubs and activities are guided by the following Board Policies, as well as the Standards of Student Conduct (pp. 16-17):

• IGD - Cocurricular/Extracurricular Activities
• IGDA - Student Organizations
• IGDA-AR - Student Organizations

Additional information is available in the Athletics and Activities section of our website. 

In the 2022-23 school year, HSD was gifted a substantial donation from the VP Legacy Foundation for the development and expansion of extracurricular activities for underserved students in grades K-8*. (*Support is also provided for Unified Sports and the Latino Youth Program, which serve students through grade 12.) This extremely generous investment will draw to a close at the end of the 2025-26 school year. 

Two of the things supported by this donation are Choice Funds and the Community Activity Scholarship.

• Choice Funds. Elementary and middle schools can apply for funds to support after-school programming for students who might not otherwise have access. Elementary schools can apply for up to $6,000, and middle schools can apply for up to $10,000. Applications will be reviewed on an ongoing basis until March 21, 2025. 
• Community Activity Scholarship. Elementary and middle school students who meet income eligibility requirements can apply to receive up to $150 toward their registration fee for a community athletic/activity program. Learn more in this document. 

In terms of starting up new after-school clubs and activities, the following considerations are made by principals:

• Fit for the school. How would this club/activity fit with others already in place? Does it serve a grade/grade levels that need additional activity options? Is there balance among the offerings by semester?
• Interest. Is there interest from students?
• Organization. Is a recognized outside organization providing this activity? If so, do they meet the definition of an organization that could be considered a District partner or affiliate (i.e. cannot be religious in nature and must serve a majority of students enrolled in HSD schools*)?
  • *Organizations that fall outside of this definition may still request to use space in district facilities, but must pay associated costs and cannot hold meetings contiguous to the school day. 
• Supervision. Is there a staff member who is willing and able to serve as the advisor/coach? Supervision and pay are managed as follows:
  • Licensed or classified staff members can supervise after-school activities and will be paid according to the terms of their contract.
  • Parent volunteers who have been approved through HSD’s system (including a fingerprint background check) can assist, but cannot be paid. 
  • Parents who sign up as contractors with the District are eligible to be paid (e.g. sports coaches) if there are funds available for the service (principal would have to check with HR/Payroll to make sure no contract terms are being violated). 
  • *The issue with having a club/activity that’s run by parent volunteers only, with no staff supervision, is one of liability. If a group of parents wants to provide a club/activity for students without a staff supervisor, they would need to go through the process for requesting facility use and would not be able to hold their activity contiguous to the school day.*

Transportation. Schools that already have an activity bus serving their school can request transportation home for participating students through the Transportation Department. As long as there is space available on the bus, the request can likely be accommodated.

Schools are generally responsible for determining their own field trip schedule for the year, based on available funds, teacher interest, and a connection to learning standards. 

Two standard field trips for elementary students are governed by contracts we have with outside agencies and are therefore more consistent: BizTown for 5th graders and Outdoor School for 6th graders.

The hope is that each grade level gets to go on at least one field trip per year. Teachers/schools are no longer able to require payment for field trips that take place during the school day, but can ask for voluntary donations.

Bus service is a big factor in determining whether or not field trips can take place. The Transportation Department needs to be notified at least 30 days in advance of a request for field trip transportation. The field trip must take place between 8:30 a.m. and 1 p.m., Monday through Friday, and cannot be accommodated on days that may be blocked off for other special events (e.g. Manufacturing Day at the high school level). Keep in mind that there are 7 grades at each elementary school and 27 elementary schools (not to mention middle and high schools, high school sports and activities, etc.)! This creates a bit of “organizational tetris” to figure out. 

Parent organizations can certainly offer to pay for/fundraise for additional field trips, just know that there are many considerations and logistics that need to be determined. 

Many of our schools have both a PTO/PTA/Booster Club and a “paquito” - or “mini PAC” - referring to a group that is specifically for Spanish-speaking families. Some schools have combined these organizations with great success, and others keep them separate. 

Historically, PTO/PTA/Booster or other organizational structures have been established as a way for parents to help support the school and its staff through fundraisers and events to promote school spirit and provide things that may not otherwise be possible through regular school funding. 

By contrast, PAC groups have been established for cultural reasons and as a mechanism for engaging families who either might not be familiar with U.S. school systems and/or norms surrounding the parent-school relationship, have language barriers, or who have been historically underserved. 

Because of this specific and targeted mission, district-level PAC groups have access to federal grant dollars for their establishment and support. And because they receive taxpayer dollars, they are not allowed to engage in fundraising. 

School-based paquitos could organize and run their own fundraisers or support the fundraising efforts of other school-based parent organizations, if they wish.  

If the groups within a school elect to remain separate, oftentimes a representative from each group will attend the other’s meetings to show support and to ensure consistent communication.