Get Involved And Strengthen The Brooks Community!
Naomi L. Brooks is an amazing school with a dedicated staff and caring parents who volunteer in countless ways. No matter your time availability, there’s a way for everyone to help. Some opportunities are listed below. If you’d like to volunteer or have a question, please reach out directly to the contact listed below.
If you’re open to helping at some point but aren’t sure what’s a good fit for you, please click on this form and just fill in your info. If you’d like, tell us a little bit about yourself (e.g. that you’re “handy”.) We’ll reach out to our list of volunteers when a need arises — but there’s NEVER any obligation.
Thanks in advance for volunteering. Your help will make a big difference for our kids!
Immediate Needs for Worker Bees This Fall:
Room Parents
Room parents help relay information to other classroom parents and help plan curriculum-based crafts. They also coordinate volunteers for classroom needs (as directed by the teacher, when school visitation policies permit), collect donations for teacher gifts, and help coordinate classroom baskets for the spring fundraising event. Usually there are two room parents per classroom.
VACANT Interested? Contact: Bryanne Cordeiro Reynolds via [email protected]
Book Fairs/Literacy Support
Historically, Brooks has held two book fairs per year through Hooray for Books and other retail sellers. We did not have book fairs in 2020/2021 due to COVID but are reinstituting them this year and hope to hold the first book fair in September leading up to the Fall Festival. The Literacy Committee will coordinate with teachers on wish lists for classroom libraries, and has also helped with author visits and other programs. We welcome any new ideas to promote reading and literacy.
Interested? Contact: Kara Macek at [email protected]
Fall Festival
This annual family event is free to all and usually includes games and activities for kids, face painting, music, food, a bake sale and much more! Volunteers can help plan and coordinate one of the activities, assist in promotion of the event, or assist in recruiting additional volunteers. This event is a long time Brooks tradition that was not held in 2020 or 2021 because of COVID, and will take place on September 24. We are thrilled to be able to do this again this year.
Contact: Fran Boller via [email protected]
Brooks Bash – Parent/Teacher Night Out
Do you want to meet more Brooks families? Do you enjoy planning events where people can get to know each other while also raising funds to support student field trips, in-school programs, the purchase of new equipment, books and supplies on staff wish lists that will be used to educate and support our children throughout the school year? This committee is a great way to kick off the new year by planning a fundraising event that has historically raised half of the PTA’s budget each year. As a bonus, the time commitment is just a few weeks, as the event will tentatively take place in early 2023.
Contact: Ali Loud via [email protected]
Dine Outs and Community Partners
Do you love fundraising? Each year, the PTA solicits financial support from neighborhood businesses (typically realtors, restaurants, or other small businesses) to help fund the many activities and initiatives we undertake. In exchange, we provide recognition on our website and through social media. We also work with area restaurants to donate a portion of percent of their proceeds on a particular night in exchange for encouraging families to patronize the restaurant on a particular night (or week). This is a fun way to build community and raise funds! We can always use help identifying and reaching out to potential partners and restaurants.
VACANT Interested? Contact [email protected]
Additional Volunteer Needs:
Multicultural Night
This event is another oldie but goodie we are bringing back this year. Parent volunteers work closely with Brooks staff to plan an event that showcases the diversity of our community. Families volunteer to host booths that showcase their family traditions (and often food). A must-attend event, that will tentatively take place on October 13 (rain date of October 20).
Contact: Christine Miller or Patricia Braun via [email protected]
Fun Run (October) / Field Day (June)
These are some of the best days of the school year! Parent, grandparent and caretaker volunteers work with the P.E. and SCA teachers to organize and provide outdoor games/events and to recruit other parents to help with these events.
Contact: Andy Schmidt via [email protected]
NEW! Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Committee
Introduced in 2021, this committee will work toward more diversity and inclusion in both the PTA and the Brooks community, ensuring that all students and families are considered and represented, using resources developed by the Alexandria Council of PTAs (PTAC). Come join this important group!
VACANT Interested? Contact [email protected]
Military Family Committee
This committee helps educate Brooks military families on the protections and accommodations made for them by ACPS and connects them to local resources specific to military families in the Northern Virginia area. Volunteers can assist with Veterans’ Day activities, Halloween candy collection for military members overseas, an annual Military Child Breakfast, and more.
VACANT Interested? Contact [email protected]
Special Education (SPED) Committee Chair
This committee serves as a support and advocacy group for families with children receiving special education services. It is a sounding board where parents can confidentially discuss their concerns. Volunteers also thank and support the special education staff (for example, by collecting donations for holiday or end-of-year gifts). It has also worked on projects such as helping the library collect books that reflect diverse learners and highlighting the books for Disability Awareness Month.
VACANT Interested? Contact [email protected]
Odyssey of the Mind
This is an international creative problem-solving program. Student team members work together to solve a problem and present their solution at a competition in the spring. (Last year this was all done virtually.) The primary liaison coordinates the school’s membership and serves as a liaison with team coaches to ensure key deadlines are met. Each fall, the liaison also works to recruit both student team members and parent coaches.
VACANT Interested? Contact Virginia Yates at [email protected]
Yearbook
Traditionally, one parent will serve as a liaison with Lifetouch, the company that prints the yearbooks for us, develops the yearbook layout and finalizes all pages for printing. We are pursuing having a parent volunteer help guide a group of interested students in planning layout and design and collecting and organizing photos to support the layout effort.
VACANT Interested? Contact: Marty Zager, [email protected]
BIG BEES
Are you a Brooks parent who wants to get involved in your student’s school life? Come join the BIG BEES! Your commitment of one day will keep your student buzzing for months. Traditionally, this group has been heavily made up of Dads, granddads, uncles, and other male father figures who are engaged with their students and want to demonstrate that by volunteering at school one day during the school year. But we are inclusive! All caretakers and guardians (even if not Dads) are welcome.
Contact: Jeff Batt or Tommy Comeau via [email protected]
Blessings in a Backpack (BIB)
This is a national program designed to assist schools across the country in providing food to grade school children each weekend of the school year. Items are distributed in a discreet backpack on Fridays. Volunteers can assist with food purchasing and fundraising.
Contact: Nora Johnston via [email protected].
Community Support Committee
This committee coordinates opportunities to help those in need in the Brooks community. Working with the school social worker, nurse, and other staff, the committee built and maintains an Amazon Wish List containing a number of items needed by Brooks families. Volunteers can also organize school-wide service projects or charitable giving events such as canned food drives.
Contact: Aimee Desrosiers via [email protected]
Garden / Outdoor Learning
This team plants and maintains a garden on the playground, which provides a wonderful outdoor environment for all students as they get hands-on learning in areas such as planting, harvesting, life cycle, apothecary, and sketching. No garden experience needed for volunteers!
Contact: Samantha (Sam) Strauss via [email protected]
Membership
Do you love to meet new people, have an interest in marketing and communications, and a knack for technology? We are looking for someone who can take the lead in marketing membership to the Brooks community and help manage member data. This position is most active in the Fall when we are asking members to renew or recruit new members.
Contact: [email protected]
Nominations Committee
This committee recruits members to run for the elected officer positions (President Elect, Treasurer, Secretary, VP of Programs, VP of Fundraising, and VP of Communications). It consists of three members who are elected by the general membership at least two months prior to the election of officers and is mostly active in last Winter/early Spring.
VACANT Interested? Contact [email protected]
Playground & Schoolyard Committee
This committee seeks to build a culture of caring for the Brooks schoolyard through community events such as campus clean-ups. The committee will also work with ACPS and the city’s Department of Recreation, Parks & Cultural Activities (RPCA) to ensure proper maintenance of the schoolyard and consider future playground enhancements.
Contact: Paul Sass via [email protected]
Reflections
This is a National PTA-sponsored nationwide arts contest for students, with categories for art, music, photography, literature, video, and dance/choreography. Volunteers can help publicize the program, help organize an Art Night in October (when allowed in the building), help arrange judging and delivery to the District coordinator in November, or help to organize an awards ceremony in January.
Contact: Kathryn Howell Dalton via [email protected]
School Supplies
Each summer, the PTA obtains school supply lists from the teachers and contracts with a vendor to allow families to purchase their back-to-school supplies in a one-stop shop. The school typically receives credit toward additional supplies for the school.
Contact: Jodi Zand via [email protected]
Spring Carnival
Held in the Spring, this is fun family event that takes a lot of volunteers to pull off. It includes booths with games, prizes, a DJ, cotton candy, and much much more.
Contact: Maya Mahoney at [email protected]
Spring2Action
This is a city-wide, 24-hour online fundraising event that provides a simple way to connect donors to the charitable causes they care about most. In addition to raising money through individual pledges, Brooks also can win bonus prizes based on different categories (e.g. getting the most donors in a specific hour.) On the day of the event, regular/frequent electronic communication by a volunteer is needed, to inform parents of details to maximize prizes.
Contact Sarah Ahn at [email protected].
Teacher / Staff Appreciation
Volunteers help organize snacks, small gifts, and other ways to recognize the great work our teachers and staff do on behalf of the students. This is a wonderful way to say thank you and build community among Brooks staff and parents.
Contact: Fran Boller via [email protected]
Green Team
This group encourages students to care for the environment through various activities. Volunteers can: help organize Bike and Walk to School rallies; coordinate environmental activities; help plan and get sponsors for contests; and help plan/coordinate Earth Day celebrations.
VACANT Interested? Contact Virginia Yates at [email protected].
Photos / Flyer Design
We love getting your photos of Brooks events and special moments, for possible use on our Facebook page, the yearbook, the PTA website, etc. Please feel free to email your best pics any time of the year! Are you creative? We could also use your help to design flyers to help promote PTA events.
Contact: Marty Zager, [email protected]
Welcome Committee and Parent Tours
Parent volunteers are listed as contacts for new families and are willing to provide school tours for prospective parents as needed throughout the school year. Tours normally last 30-45 minutes.
Contact: Armita Cohen, [email protected]
ACPS VOLUNTEERS:
Any parent who wishes to volunteer as a chaperone, room parent, or in any position where they may be alone with a child must apply to volunteer through Alexandria City Public Schools (ACPS). To do so, visit https://www.acps.k12.va.us/volunteer and follow the instructions carefully. NOTE: There is an updated application process for the 2022-23 school year as part of a new Visitor Management System.
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