Parents' Association Committees

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Volunteer Opportunities & P.A. Committees

Calling all Burke’s parents, guardians, and caregiving adults  - your time and talents are needed!  We are all members of the Burke’s Parents’ Association and we depend on your participation to achieve our community goals each year. Volunteering is a great way to get to know other members of the community and have fun while making a real impact on our school. We encourage you to participate in any way suitable for your skills, interests, and availability.   
 
A description of each Committee within the Parents’ Association has been provided so that you may review the description and time commitment estimated for different roles. For each Committee, Co-Chair commitments are generally two years - the first year as a Co-Chair and the next as Chair.  This facilitates a smooth transition year-to-year, with new Co-Chairs working alongside a returning Co-Chair in a “shadow” capacity for the first year.  

Officers

List of 4 items.

  • President

    General Executive Officer. Presides at monthly board meetings. Works closely with the school administrators, room parents, and committee chairs
     

  • Vice-President

    Acts on the President's behalf in the President's absence. Assumes the role of President in the following year. Works closely with Room Parents, including coordinating correspondence between the administration and room parents, and coordinates eScrip efforts.

  • Secretary

    Sends out notices of monthly Parents' Association Board meetings. Takes attendance and writes and distributes the minutes for these meetings.
     

  • Treasurer

    Prepares the financial statements of the Parents' Association Board. Keeps track of all revenues and expenditures, and presents a monthly report at board meetings.
     

Committee Chairs

List of 20 items.

  • Burke's Benefit

    This event is our major fundraiser of the year! The Parents' Association plans the Burke’s Benefit for a spring Saturday, choosing a theme that always inspires wonderful decor and costumes.  The money raised goes toward student financial assistance and professional development for faculty and staff.  
     
    The Steering Committee will guide the overall planning effort for the Benefit including overseeing the fundraising, dinner committee, online auction, count-me-ins, marketing, entertainment, and more.

  • Burke's Community Connections (BCC)

    Burke’s Community Connections is a parent- and school-supported committee dedicated to inspiring students and families to adopt a tradition of community engagement and service learning. Our goal is to encourage our students to think beyond themselves and our campus; give them a developmentally appropriate understanding of community responsibility; and enable them to see themselves as agents of positive change in the world.
     
    BCC is dedicated to offering a range of service opportunities that are developmentally and age-appropriate for students in grades K through 8 as well as opportunities that engage members of the broader Burke's community (parents, alumnae, faculty, and staff).  Specific activities include things such as organizing class Food Pantry days, communicating with classes about service opportunities, education and outreach at the beginning of the school year, and working with Richmond Neighborhood Center staff for home deliveries.

    Committee positions work with teachers as well as other faculty and staff.

  • Burke's DASH

    This Committee organizes a 2-mile fun run each May to benefit our physical education and athletics programs. After "competing" in the race, participants enjoy delicious donuts thanks to Burke's parents.  The team secures permits for the route from SF Park & Rec (in collaboration with the school), plans the route, refreshments, swag (t-shirts), prizes, and music.

  • Burke's Items

    This Committee selects and sells Burke’s branded merchandise for the school year.  Members volunteer at events, manage inventory, and report financial results to the Parents’ Association. This can be a very social role in helping to staff sales opportunities at Burke’s events.

  • Burke's Rewards

    This Committee strives to engage the Burke’s community to participate in Rewards Programs, such as Sports Basement, Good Eggs, and others. Co-Chairs also maintain relationships with these programs and try to identify new programs with relevant reward opportunities. These programs provide critical revenue for Parents’ Association-sponsored activities. The committee provides financial reporting to the Parents’ Association.  

  • Faculty & Staff Appreciation

    This Committee organizes events to celebrate our faculty and staff. Tasks include planning celebrations, decor, creating keepsakes or recognition items, coordinating catering, and scheduling volunteers. Requires availability for Fall events (usually on the Monday before Thanksgiving and the morning of the Holiday Sing), as well as during the Spring Parent Teacher Conferences. Specific event dates can vary.

  • Family Festival

    Festival has been a strong community builder since 1931! Parent volunteers turn the Burke's campus into a fall-flavored Festival filled with games, prizes, rides, and food. More than 2,000 people, from current families and alumnae to students old and new, enjoy themselves at Festival every year.

    The Festival Co-Chairs and Sub-Committee Co-Chairs each play a different role from organizing set-up to being the creative mind behind Upper School Zone. There are many ways to get involved depending on your interests and availability, and all are welcome!

  • Fine Arts

    The committee chairs communicate and coordinate with their respective art teacher to arrange for volunteers to prepare and mount artwork for display. This is an ongoing effort throughout the year which culminates in the Art Festival in the Spring. The committee will work with Burke’s to ensure all students' work is showcased at the event.  The Arts Festival is a beloved and inspiring evening school event that celebrates the creativity, craftsmanship, and efforts of the entire student body.
     

  • Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day (GPSF)

    The Committee works to plan and staff Grandparents' & Special Friends' Day, a favorite event in the Burke's community that brings some of our students' favorite people to campus each May. Guests attend an all-school assembly in the Gym and accompany their special students to class. This Committee works with Burke’s Advancement team to schedule volunteers, arrange decorations, and create a timeline for the event including classroom visits and reception.

  • Hearts & Hands

    Should difficult times arise in our community, the Hearts and Hands Committee will volunteer support (be it physical, emotional, or otherwise) to the family. The Chair of the committee may be called upon to help arrange carpools, meal deliveries, visits, play dates, floral arrangements, family gatherings, etc.

  • Inclusivity & Community Building (ICBC)

    This Committee strives to support the Burke’s community with ways to meaningfully celebrate inclusivity and diversity within our community. It works to create opportunities to support children, families and the broader Burke’s Community in these areas.  

  • Library Coordinators

    The Library Volunteer Coordinator is the liaison between Burke's library staff and volunteers.  In the summer before the school year begins, the Coordinator creates a sign-up sheet and circulates it to a list of parents who indicated that they were interested in library work.  The Coordinator stays in regular contact with the librarians to ensure that the library's staffing needs are met, and sends occasional emails to request more assistance in the library.

  • Lunchroom Coordinators

    Lunchroom coordinators communicate with the pool of interested parent volunteers to ensure the Burke’s lunchroom is adequately staffed each school day, in order to assist the girls with serving lunch items.  The coordinators are responsible for the overall schedule early in the school year and may be called on occasionally thereafter to request additional parents to work in the lunchroom if more volunteers are required.  Most of the deliverables required can be accomplished via email, Google Docs and SignUp.

  • New Family Liaison

    This Committee works with Burke’s Admissions to provide support primarily through recruiting volunteers and liaising between Admissions, existing Burke’s “buddy” families and incoming new families.  Buddy families help newly admitted Burke’s students (and parents) navigate unfamiliar academic, social, or community processes involved in life at our school.

  • Nominating

    This Committee helps to solicit officers and volunteers for the Parents' Association for the following school year.  The Committee seeks to fill vacant positions within the Parents' Association committees with parents who are interested, available, and who have needed skill sets for each role.

  • Parent Education

    This Committee identifies relevant topics, then plans and implements adult discussion & speaking events. The group also works with the SPEAK network in coordinating high-profile events with other member schools.  Tasks include identifying potential speakers, coordinating communication and logistics, and room set-up.  Additionally, the committee works with the Parents' Association and school administration to provide resources for families to understand and know how to support differences in learning styles, health and wellness, equity and inclusion, etc. The committee is responsible for managing its annual budget.

    Committee positions work with school liaisons from advancement and inclusivity offices to align speakers with administrative commitments and set up logistics.
     

  • Room Parents

    These volunteers are a critical link between parents, the Burke’s faculty and administration, and the Parents’ Association.  They support each class with informational email updates, planning celebrations, staffing class volunteer opportunities and assisting with parent questions. Room parents manage the class budget of funds provided by the Parents’ Association.  

  • Sustainability

    This Committee identifies ways to help Burke’s parents improve sustainability at school and in the lives of Burke’s students and families. At school events, the Committee focuses on reducing waste, improving recycling and composting, and encouraging good sustainability habits.  In the future, the Committee hopes to build out the green presence at all school-sponsored events on and off campus, and to find more effective ways to encourage the community to conserve, preserve and improve the natural environment in big and small ways.  

  • Used Uniforms

    This Committee is responsible for helping transition previously used uniforms from families no longer needing them to new owners.  Also, the monthly maintenance and organization of the uniform closet is expected.  Funds generated from this Committee go to support Parents’ Association activities.  

  • Volunteer Coordinators

    This is a behind-the-scenes organizational role. It requires correspondence with other PA chairs, faculty, and the development office as well as preparation of many excel spreadsheets and schedules. The Volunteer Coordinator creates a Google Doc (or similar) to recruit parent volunteers, and then delivers sorted lists of volunteers to each committee chair.  
7070 California Street, San Francisco, CA 94121
Phone: 415.751.0177 Fax: 415.666.0535
Burke's mission is to educate, encourage and empower girls. Our school combines academic excellence with an appreciation for childhood so that students thrive as learners, develop a strong sense of self, contribute to community, and fulfill their potential, now and throughout life.
Burke's admits students of any race, color, national and ethnic origin to all the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national and ethnic origin in administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic and other school-administered programs.