It's time to sign-up to volunteer for the 2011 - 2012 school year.
We need your help this year! Each year the Tuscan PTA produces over 50 different events and activities to enrich the school experience for Tuscan students and their families. It takes a lot of volunteer hours to make these programs successful.
Won’t you please help by becoming a PTA volunteer?
Check the weekly PTA e-mail alerts and visit the Tuscan PTA website to learn about the latest activities and volunteer to help!
Make a commitment now to co-chair an activity, be a class parent, be a ROAR representative or help out at recess!
There are many opportunities available to chair a PTA committee for next year. The following is a brief list of the Tuscan PTA committees. Scroll down for more detailed descriptions of each committee. Time commitment varies by committee.
*Low time commitment **Moderate commitment ***Significant commitment
School Support
q After-School Enrichment (Fall & Spring)***
q Gardening Upkeep (Fall & Spring)**
q Lost & Found (year round)*
q Nutrition with the Nurse (Fall)*
q Recess/Lunch Committee (year round)***
q School Directory (Fall)***
q School Pictures (Fall)*
q School Yearbook (Winter & Spring)**
q Tour Guides (year round)***
q TV Turn-Off (Fall & Spring)*
q Fourth Grade Musical Instrument Program *
q Safety Committee (year round)***
q Tuscan Tiger Times (year round)*
q Elementors (12 weeks, 4th grade parent)**
q Kindergarten Orientation (incoming K parent, Spring)*
q Adult Programs Committee (year round)*
Community Spirit
q Welcome Back Lunch for Teachers*
q First Day Coffee for Tuscan Families*
q Field Day (Fall)*
q Food Bank (Fall)
q Tuscan School Play (Fall & Winter)***
q Memorial Day Parade (Spring)*
q Teacher Appreciation Week (Spring)*
q Spring Art Show**
q Fifth Grade Activities (Fifth grade parents, year round)**
q Fifth Grade Moving Up Ceremony (4th grade parents coordinate)
q Last Day Celebration*
q Spring Book Fair*
q Tuscan Fair (Spring)**
q Sunshine Fund (year round)*
Fundraising
q Fundraising Committee (year round)**
q Fall Book Fair**
q Cookie Dough Sales*
q Winter Dinners*
q Read-a-Thon*
q Box Tops/Affiliate Programs**
q School SpiritWear Store*
Contact Us!
Do you need more information on any of the volunteer opportunities listed? Do you want to help out but aren’t sure where or how? Do you have an idea for how the PTA could do something differently or better? Do you have ideas for an activity or event? Don’t hesitate to contact us!
Contact Information for PTA Committee Co-Chairs & Volunteer Information:
Sharon McCaffrey - mccaffrey.sh@gmail.com, 973.275.1664
Beth Brock - beth.brock@gmail.com, 973.761.0955
PTA Committees Detailed Descriptions
Adult Programs Committee (Year-round) – Assist PTA Adult Programs Chair with planning, coordinating, and executing activities and events (ex. book club, guest speakers) for Tuscan Parents and Caregivers.
After School Enrichment Committee (Fall & Spring) – need 2 co-chairs to help coordinate enrichment classes where children participate in a variety of fun and interesting after-school opportunities. Classes, such as art or Spanish, will be offered in both the fall and the spring, for a reasonable cost.
Box Tops (Year-round) - 1 person to collect box tops from school office and send them off to specific address. Send reminder flyers two or three times during year to encourage students to continue bringing in box tops to school.
Class Parents (Year-round) - Class parents contact parents about class activities, trips, snow days, schedule changes and teacher gifts and maintain classroom indoor recess bins. Need 1 or 2 chairs to assign and guide class parents of all classes. Up to 3 class parents per class.
Elementors (Year-round) - Coordinate visits from Columbia High School Student Volunteers who lead Tuscan Students in activities/programs during the school day. Examples: Extreme Frisbee, Reading Buddies, etc.
Fall Book Fair (November) - 3-day event. Need 2 co-chairs coordinate with vendor and teachers. Also 20 volunteers to help distribute flyers, set up, decorate and clean up the gymnasium, organize contests and entertainment, help children with selections, fill orders, serve as cashiers.
Field Day - (September) Need 1 or 2 chairs to coordinate with Phys. Ed. Teachers and Class Parents. Coordinate parents who volunteer to supervise, organize fun sports and games in Memorial Park.
Fifth Grade Activities (Spring) - Chaired by 5th Grade parents. Involves: Ceremony/Invitations/Certificates, Graduation Reception, Pool Party, T-shirts. Need one chair for each section with helpers in each area. 20 volunteers needed overall.
First Day Coffee (August – 1st day of school) - On 1st day, families are customarily served coffee, juice and donuts in the morning. Refreshments paid for by the PTA. Need Chair and volunteers to coordinate and execute.
Food Bank (November) - Provides holiday food baskets for Tuscan families in need. Chair runs a school-wide food drive. Distribution to families is done by the school administration for reason of information privacy.
Fourth Grade Instrumental Program (Year-round) - Assist PTA Ex-Officio with administering 4th grade keyboard program.
Fundraising Committee (Year-round) - Comprised of individual groups for each fundraising event throughout the year. Need 2 chairs per event. Individuals will work with PTA Board members to plan and advertise fundraising events including Cookie Dough Sales, Silent Auction, Winter Dinners, Readathon, etc.
Gardening & School Upkeep (Year-round) - Maintain and improve the school grounds, including structural changes and plant care. Ideal for those interested in landscaping and gardening. Also, will need to maintain the PTA closet by organizing it once or twice during the year. Need 1 or 2 chairs to oversee maintenance and plan clean up and improvement activities involving children and parent volunteers.
Ice Cream Fun Days (Fall, Spring) - Approximately 3 days in fall, 3 days in spring. Need 1 or 2 chairperson(s) to coordinate with vendor, distribute flyers and schedule volunteers to set up, sell ice cream and control litter on the school property after school.
Kindergarten Orientation (June) - Incoming kindergartners and their parents get to know their new school. Need 1 or 2 chairs to coordinate up to 8 volunteers in providing name tags, hospitality, and refreshments (donated by current kindergarten classes).
Last Day Celebration (June) - PTA buys a round of ice pops for all the children. Chair will order the ices and coordinate 5 volunteers to distribute and clean up after school.
Library Volunteers (Year-round) - Training provided. Choose either a half day every other week or 8:30 - 9:30 a.m. one day every week. You provide us a schedule of days and times you may be available. Help with checking books in and out, shelve books, assist teacher in finding books, and help children choose books. Need 1 chair to coordinate up to 12 volunteers.
Lost & Found (Year-round) - needs a chairperson to advertise where lost and found is located. Will also need helpers to occasionally pick up lost items on school grounds, organize the items, and coordinate donations to a local charity.
Lunch/Recess Committee (Year-round) - purchase supplies for indoor recess programs with PTA funds; coordinate Winter Indoor volunteers; hold Lunch Aide Appreciation dessert [Feb]; painting of blacktop where appropriate; publicize information on how to volunteer at regular recess; update information on lunch account process on PTA website; communicate with class parents on maintenance of classroom indoor recess bins.
Memorial Day Parade (May) - Coordinate annual march in the Maplewood Memorial Day Parade – includes designing float, hosting event for students and families to build and decorate, and coordinating day of march activities.
Nutrition with the Nurse (Year-round) - Need 1 or 2 chairs to assist Nurse Thompson in promoting healthy eating with annual farmer’s market and other educational programs about good nutrition.
Parent Representative(s) to the Board of Education (Year-round) - Attend Board of Education meetings, usually held 1st Monday of each month at 8:00 p.m. Representatives report back to the Tuscan community on items that concern via Tuscan Tidings.
Safety (Year-round) - Committee to monitor and regulate the safety of our children during the morning and afternoon as children arrive and leave school. Would work with committee chair and possible police auxiliary officer to keep traffic moving in front of the school using non-confrontational methods. Chair would set schedule for select days that individuals are needed. May have to attend organizational meeting for learning guidelines and strategies.
School Directory (September - October) - Customarily chaired by the PTA Corresponding Secretary. Volunteers are needed to help with requesting and gathering information, proofreading and distribution. All PTA members receive a copy while others may choose to purchase one.
School Photographs (September - November) - Need 2 co-chairs to coordinate with vendor, teachers and parents. Also to distribute flyers and order forms, collect and distribute orders. Keep track of absentees and arrange make-up and re-take dates. Need 8 volunteers to help set up, clean up and manage the children on the 2 picture-taking days.
School Spirit Wear (Year-round) – Need 1 or 2 chairperson(s) to coordinate with vendor, create and distribute flyers. Sales are by order forms through backpacks and promoted at some PTA events.
School Yearbook (Year-round) - Work with Fifth Grade Activities committee. Yearbooks are distributed in June. The chair would coordinate volunteers to gather materials year-round, layout and publish, with the guidance of a professional yearbook company. All 5th Graders receive a copy. You would also publicize availability to rest of the school and manage orders.
Spring Art Show (May) - Need 2 co-chairs to coordinate with art teacher and organize volunteers to mount, label and display every child’s art.
Spring Book Fair (May) - Smaller event than the Fall Book Fair. Need 1 or 2 chairperson(s) and 16 volunteers to assist over this 3-day event.
Sunshine Fund (Year-round) - Assist PTA Executive Board in reaching out to Tuscan Community support staff members and families at times of bereavement, unusual circumstances and special occasions.
Teacher Appreciation Week (May) - Week-long activities to celebrate Tuscan teachers and staff, providing them with breakfast, gifts and a lovely luncheon.
Tour Guides (Year-round) - Conduct scheduled monthly school tours for incoming students and families.
TV Turn-Off (October - June) - Assist librarian in coordinating activities for TV Turn-Off Week in October and year-long TV Turn-Off challenge. Also organize an evening for families to come out and get away from TV. Need 1 chair to coordinate volunteers.
Tuscan Fair (May) - One of our 2 largest events, involves several sub-committees. Need 2 or more chairs to coordinate sub-committees. Involves dozens of parent volunteers and every aspect of setting up rides, food, games, crafts, entertainment, tickets.
Tuscan School Show (Winter) - Co-Directors or Co-Organizers needed to run the annual school play. Strong organizational and leadership skills needed to manage parents, volunteers and children. This is a school wide event so many volunteers to serve on various committees are also needed. If you are creative or just love being around children, your talents are needed to make this event successful.
Tuscan Tidings (Year-round) - Editor or co-editors publish the PTA blog. Involves writing and editing articles.
Tuscan Tiger Times (Year-round) - Work with students to produce their newspaper, issued a few times each year and distributed to each class. Involves writing and editing articles, creating layout, making and distributing copies. Need 1 or 2 chairs.
Welcome Back Lunch for Teachers (August) - Plan and coordinate welcome back lunch for Tuscan Teachers on the day before school begins. Need 1 or 2 chairs to organize and coordinate and up to 10 volunteers to host.
Additional Information on Volunteering & Fundraising
Corporations Donate To Schools Where Employees Volunteer Their Time
Many New York and New Jersey corporations recognize employees’ contribution of time and talent to non-profit organizations. Perhaps you, a family member or a friend works for a company that has such programs.
If so, you can submit your volunteer hours and get a cash grant from your employer for Tuscan School (not the PTA). The following organizations have employee incentive programs:
- PSE&G Dollars for Doers, $250
- Verizon Volunteer Incentive Program (VIP), $500
- AOL Time Warner ECHO, $500
- AT&T Cares, $250 or up to $5,000 for team projects
- Lucent Cares, amount varies
- IBM Fund for Community Service, amount varies
- Federated Department Stores
If your employer is not listed here, please make inquiries where you work and let us know if we can add your employer to our list.
Easy Year-round Fundraising Activities:
Box Tops for Education & Tyson tear strips valued at 10¢and 24¢ respectively are clipped from grocery packages, collected in classrooms and brought to the office by teachers. A Tuscan parent acts as a program champion who encourages families to collect them, coordinates with teachers and gathers and submits collections to the sponsor for payment.
Empty Printer Cartridges are collected and sent to a recycling merchant who pays Tuscan School for them. A Tuscan parent acts as a program champion who encourages families to donate their empty cartridges and manages collections and submissions for payment.
Schoolpop.com, QSP.com, Target stores. Through participation in these programs, a percentage of the purchases families make are donated to Tuscan School. A Tuscan parent acts as a program champion who issues periodic flyers to remind and encourage families to shop online via Schoolpop.com, buy magazine subscriptions online via QSP.com and use Target Guest Cards or Target Visa cards.