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Q
How many volunteer hours are parents required to contributed to East Mountain High School?
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A
East Mountain High School asks all families who choose to enroll their child or children at EMHS to volunteer a minimum of eight hours a month, for a total of 72 hours per year. The requirement is per family, not per child.
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Q
How can I earn volunteer hours?
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A
Anything that you do in support of East Mountain High School counts towards your volunteer requirement. Parents have recorded volunteer hours for activities such as driving a carpool, chaperoning a field trip, attending an Inquiry Project or Graduate Exhibition, attending SPSO or Governing Council meetings, helping with mailings or in the Front Office, assisting with fundraisers or events or attending any school athletic events or concerts.
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Q
How do I record my volunteer hours?
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A Family Report Card will be placed in a binder in the Front Office in alphabetical order. Many families find it helpful to record their volunteer hours here in the school on this form. Other families keep their own records and email or send them to the school at the end of the school year. All families will receive a letter at the end of the school year thanking them for their donations and volunteer hours and alerting them if they did not achieve their goal of reaching 72 hours. This information is only as accurate as the information families report to the school, so please find a convenient way of tracking your volunteer hours. Volunteer hours can be carried over from year to year.
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Q
I have many commitments and a busy schedule. What if I can’t meet the volunteer requirement?
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A
East Mountain High School understands that volunteering during the school day may not be convenient for all families. There are many evening and weekend opportunities to volunteer or even ways you can volunteer from home! Also, some families choose to meet the volunteer requirement by making a cash donation or a donation of supplies, equipment or services to the school. For example, if you work for a landscaping company, you could help us get donated landscaping services. If you choose to make a cash donation in lieu of volunteer hours, the value of your donation is computed at minimum wage ($6.50 per hour). Eight (8) hours a month at $6.50 per hour would be a donation of $52.00 for one month’s contribution, or $468.00 for one year’s contribution.
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Q
What volunteering doesn’t count towards your volunteer requirement?
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Driving only your own child to school doesn’t count towards the volunteer requirement. Also, volunteering you may do for other worthy organizations (Boys Scouts, Humane Society, fire department, etc.) does not count towards your requirement to benefit East Mountain High School.
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Q
Does working Isotopes for the Booster Club count towards your parent volunteer requirement?
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Yes, all volunteering done by parents at Isotopes games does count toward the parent volunteer requirement. Isotopes games worked by students does not count towards their requirement of 20 hours of community service per year.
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Q
Do I need to have a background check completed in order to volunteer?
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A
If your volunteering will bring you into contact with students in a significant way or if you will be alone with students, you will need to have a background check done before you can volunteer. The cost of the background check is $43.00 and it can be performed at Finger Prints R Us on San Mateo. Background checks are good for three years.
Please allow two weeks for background checks to be completed. In order to have your background check done, please download the background check form and bring it with you to Finger Prints R Us. Thank you for helping us to protect the safety of our students.
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Q
Do parent volunteer hours carry over from year to year?
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Yes, any parent volunteer hours accrued in a school year over and above the 72 hour requirement will carry over to the next school year.
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Q
I am excited about volunteering and getting involved at East Mountain High School. How can I find out about volunteer opportunities and needs?
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Please complete the Parent Involvement Questionnaire. This will give you a better idea of the kinds of volunteer opportunities available at East Mountain High School and will give the school a list of individuals available for different kinds of volunteering. Also, volunteer opportunities are posted in the monthly EMHS newsletter and will be emailed to families on an as needed basis.
Please contact Lori Webster, Development Director, with questions about volunteering. She can be reached at 281-7400 x. 168 or lwebster@eastmountainhigh.net.