Volunteering At Madrona

Madrona was founded with the expectation that teachers and parent volunteers would work together to provide a terrific learning environment for our children. Many schools in the Edmonds school district try to incorporate volunteers in the classroom, but it is really on a hit-or-miss basis. Partly this is because a culture of volunteering is not at those schools. Teachers are unable to predict when parents will be in the classroom, nobody exists to schedule regular volunteer time, and the teachers are often expected to train each new volunteer who comes along. This adds up to more work for the teachers, instead of less.

Culture of Volunteering

Classroom volunteer coordinators at Madrona take the responsibility of scheduling, training, and basically supervising the many parents who are willing to donate their time. The volunteer coordinators also oversee the collection of information in the classrooms, make sure that paperwork is completed for field trips and any other special activities, and do basic bookkeeping for the classrooms. Madrona also has the benefit of having the Volunteer Program Manager, which is a paid position in charge of overseeing all the volunteer activities happening at the school. This position, currently ably filled by Kim Magaña (her phone number is 425-431-2911), has to have a finger on the pulse not only of all the classrooms, but all the other activities in the school, and is an important liaison to the school’s administration as well.

Madrona’s nongraded, multi-age model works because of the dedication of its volunteers.  Here are some of the ways in which community members can donate their time.

Classroom volunteering: many families like to be close to the action in their child’s classroom.  Volunteers can be active during the school day, helping with art and science projects; being a reading coach or a math tutor; sharing their expertise for a special project; and helping do the organizational work that would otherwise have to be done by a teacher.  Volunteers keep the classroom functioning by hanging art; sourcing materials; preparing science projects; filing; organizing the classroom library.  Outside the classroom, volunteers are encouraged to chaperone on field trips; prepare for classroom projects; arrange for parties and other social events.

Special event volunteering: Madrona hosts many events during the year, all of which require a lot of manpower.  Some of these are:

• Bear Feet Jog-a-thon
• Bear Scare
• Family Dance
• Talent Show
• Madrona Children’s Theater annual musical
• Math nights
• Middle school in-house field trips

Clubs and enrichment activity volunteering: mentors and instructors for Madrona’s many clubs and enrichment classes are vital.

Schoolwide: the Madrona Integrated Team Board of Directors needs the help of many talented individuals to help operate the business that is MIT.  Officers are elected, and Directors are appointed every year, to interface with teachers, students and the parent community.

If you are interested in volunteering at Madrona, complete the volunteer information questionnaire at http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/H5S9KCS .  You must also print, complete and sign the attached 2 documents, and return them to the Main Office or the Volunteer Program Manager’s office.