Ideas for Connecting with Your Local School

     I have been thinking lately about ideas for local churches and church leaders to make friends with schools and school districts. In this blog post I would like to share some very practical things you might do to connect with and serve your local school:

• Volunteer for PTO/PTA events. Offer to give the parents who normally volunteer at various events a break. What if people from your church staffed the next event so that the PTA parents could actually enjoy the event with their child(ten)?
• Provide a meal for the teachers. When is the next teacher in-service day? Why not offer to bring in lunch for the school's staff?
• Volunteer in a classroom. You can listen to kids read, tutor them in math, or help in any way the teacher may ask. Personally, I teach six weeks of Junior Achievement to a class of 6th graders each year. It is only one hour per week for six weeks, but it is a way that I can serve a school in my community. 
• Work on the physical plant. Offer to organize a work day on a day off from school (like a Saturday), and paint what needs painting, plant what needs planting, and prune what needs pruning. There are lots of other things you can do, but I ran out of "P" alliterations. 
• If your school or district has a community advisory team or a clergy advisory team, join this group and contribute. 
• Offer a mini grant of $250 or so to the teachers in the school. They can submit a one-page proposal, and then select one of the proposals to fund. 
• Have people in the church write notes of encouragement to the teachers in the school as the school year is beginning. Simple notes expressing appreciation can be very well received. 

These are just a few of the many ways in which you can serve your local elementary school. There are all kinds of possibilities though, and I would love to hear from others about what they are doing. Please comment to share your ideas.