St. Valentine School Web Site

St. Valentine Volunteer Program

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As a part of our mission to be a "Strong community in Christ" St. Valentine School relies on the help of school families. Volunteers offer a huge resource and support base for the St. Valentine School community while teaching our students the importance of participating in the larger community. The purpose of the St. Valentine Volunteer Program is to get all our families directly involved in the school for the benefit of all of our children.

St. Valentine families with students in grades K-8 are required to fulfill a minimum of 15 hours of volunteering for the school during the school year. While preschool families are not required to volunteer, they are encouraged to do so. A wide variety of volunteer opportunities are offered throughout the school year to meet the 15-hour requirement. As it is understood that most families have schedules that make sometimes of the day difficult for volunteering, St. Valentine will provide volunteer opportunities both during the day and at night, during the school week, and on weekends. St. Valentine will work to ensure that families will be able to find times that fit a busy schedule. Volunteer opportunities will be sent home as a part of the newsletter. In addition, electronic sign-up sheets will be sent through email for events needing larger groups of volunteers.

Volunteer opportunities are not limited to what the school offers- if a family member has a unique idea that would be of benefit to our school, please contact the school office to let us know. We are always looking for new ideas. Family members with special talents to share may meet with the principal to present their idea and discuss adding it as a volunteer opportunity.

While there are volunteer hours that do not include work with children, many volunteer opportunities do require close contact with St. Valentine students. The Protecting God's Children (PGC) workshop and a background check are required for all volunteer events that include working with children. The school faculty is responsible for checking PGC status for school hour volunteers. The event chairperson of after school hour activities will be responsible for providing a list of volunteers to the office so that administration can check the PGC status of volunteers having contact with children.

Our Mandatory Volunteer Program will consist of the following guidelines:

The program will be tracked by the school office and recorded in the FACTS Family Portal under Service Hours.
The volunteer is responsible for filling out the volunteer form after his/her event and sending it to the office within one week of the time volunteered. The office will then verify with the event chairperson and enter the hours worked into the FACTS Family Portal under Service Hours.
Each family will be required to fulfill a minimum of 15 hours during any school year.
At least 5 hours must be completed during the first semester with the balance being completed during the second semester.
Each hour credit will be equated to $10/each hour. Families will be required to pay the difference between the hours completed and the balance remaining at the end of each of the school year. This charge will be applied to the family account on May 1 and will be due by June 1st. A family may pay between $0 and $150 depending on the number of hours worked.
Parents may view their volunteer/service hours worked on the FAMILY PORTAL to know where they stand. Statements of hours completed will be distributed to families at semester end in January and then in May if payment is due for shortfall.
Any volunteer fees collected will go towards St. Valentine School's general fund.
Any families who find it difficult for any reason to maintain this requirement are to bring their concerns to the principal for consideration prior to the end of the semesters.
Chairs or Co-Chairs/Coordinators will receive extra hours credited to their account according to the size of the event.
All volunteers during a school day must sign in at the office to receive credit for any events.
As a volunteer for an event, you are either a coordinator or helper - you cannot get credit for both.
Family members (provided they've completed PGC - if required) may help earn volunteer hours.
A family cannot pay other school families to work your volunteer hours.
Families may earn up to 7 volunteer hours by attending school committee meetings. The Parent Teacher Club, School Advisory Committee, and Men's Club meetings will be counted as one hour credit per meeting attended.
Volunteer hours donated to the parish may also qualify at the school administrator's discretion.
Some volunteer work may not be eligible for volunteer hours due to other compensation. When in doubt families can check the online volunteer list or call the school office. Some examples are sports concession stand duty (this is required as a part of your sports fees), and volunteering for fundraising to support your child's class trip (class car wash/bake sales).
Attending school activities is strongly encouraged but does not count towards volunteer hours unless the event is being worked.
When chaperoning a field or class trip, parents will earn a 2-hour volunteer credit regardless of the length of the trip. Families can earn up to 6 of their required 15 hours by chaperoning.

The School Advisory Committee will monitor and evaluate the success or concerns related to this policy. Adjustments will be made to it as necessary.

Volunteer Hours Fulfillment/Billing
To avoid confusion and the need for issuing credits we will NOT use the FACTS system to bill for missed volunteer hours. Instead in the last month of school parents will receive an updated bill for the amount earned towards the 15-hour requirement. Parents have two options:

Send a check with the bill immediately to cover the hours you did not complete
Hold the bill and send the completed hours or money due by no later than the last day of school for the year.

Any account as of 3:30 on the last day of school that has not had all hours worked OR amount due paid will have a report card hold until the requirement is met.

Volunteer Reporting Form (pdf)