Get involved in the education of your children

Get Involved with your child’s education  

Envuelvete en la educacion de tus ninos  

Studies have shown that parents that get involved with their child’s school have a better relationship with their children and a better understanding of how to assist them academically. Parent involvement appears to also be related to parent’s satisfaction and student academic success.

 

Volunteering at a school is also fun! (Although it is demanding!)

 

CSS needs parent involvement. Budget cuts are now threatening CSS ambitious programs and we simply do not have the funds to support what we have supported in the past. Here are ways you can help prevent this from happening

  7 Ways you can HELP CSS enhance the education of our children:  

  1. Supervisors - Lunch recess – supervising students in the gym or in the park – our kids need freedom to interact socially and recreate themselves in unstructured ways. Outdoor recreation in particular has been shown to have marked positive effects on a child behavior and mood. Presently we do not have the adults to make this happen – in spite of having wonderful Morningside Park right next to us. We need 4 parent volunteers to man the gym and the park – 5 days a week from 12:00 to 1:00 pm

 

  1. Friday fieldtrip chaperones – we have many fieldtrips at CSS – more than any school we know. Supervising the fieldtrips on Fridays from 12 to 4 pm, is particularly important. We want to have a standby group of 2-3 parents who could go on fieldtrips on any given day.

 

  1. Office assistants – answer the phone, help with photocopies, assist the administration in communicating with parents. 2 hours per week can help us staff our office.

 

  1. Saturday clean-up and student detention supervising – 10-20 kids need to be supervised during their community service requirement, which usually involves clean-up and tidying of the schools classrooms, shared spaces and park. 9 am to noon.

 

  1. Assistant teachers – our classroom teachers need your assistance. You would be assigned to at least 6 hours per week to assist teachers in classroom duties.

 

  1. Teach an elective or creative arts class, or come along on one of the J-term trips as parent chaperon – we are currently taking proposals for courses – they can be in any skills or hobby you have, you need not be an expert – just having a passion for teaching something is plenty. The groups are small and the courses meet twice a week for electives from 2:30—4 pm or only once a week for creative arts (1-4 pm).
  2. Donate to our Foundation for Educational Excellence – CSS offers an education that few public or private schools offer. An equivalent private school education would cost over $20,000 per year. A contribution would help CSS approach the average per student funding of public schools. With parent donations, grants, and contributions from Columbia University we can support the enrichment part of our curriculum – things like J-term, philosophy, engineering, Spanish, CAP and electives.