Volunteer – Odyssey Charter School

Volunteer Opportunities

Committee Chairs 2024-2025

Community Outreach — Cortney Schelin

After School Programs –

Appreciation –

Battle of the Books-

Birthday/Hero Tables –

Book Fair/Library – Whitney Greenhalgh

Carnival –

CET’S – Megan Carpenter

Dance Festival –

Field Day –

Halloween Parade –

House Committee –

HRP Coordinator –

Leadership Squad –

Odyssey Birthday –

Quarterly Slideshow-

Room Parent – Thu Collier

Safety –

School Photographer – Aya Powell

Science Fair –

Spelling Bee– Katie Noble

Spirit Nights –

Talent Show –

Uniform Exchange –

Veteran’s Day –

Vision Screenings –

Yearbook –

Parents As Partners

We believe that parents are the primary teachers of their children. Parents are encouraged to take an active role volunteering in many aspects of the school, and are key to the success of many of our programs and educational enrichment activities. Research shows that parental involvement in a child’s education is the number one determinant of student success. Parents find a welcoming community at Odyssey, and enjoy participating in the education of their child.

Parent Involvement

Families are encouraged to volunteer as much as they are able each year. We would hope you would consider volunteering 40 hours a year for two-parent families or 20 hours a year for one-parent families. We have no “PTA”. Instead, structure is provided by specialized parent committees. We have many parent committees such as Curriculum Enhancement Teams, Room Parents, School Events, After School Programs and Office Support. Committee structure allows parents to focus on specific interests and ensures volunteer opportunities for everyone.

How to Report Volunteer Hours

Having an accurate account of family volunteer hours is important:

(1) as an indicator of the school’s success toward fulfilling our philosophy and

(2) as a qualifying factor for certain monetary grants.

We are continuing our electronic system. This system allows you to clock in and out right at the school without trying to keep track of your own hours. This system is also our student check in and out forms. You will also be able to enter your hours worked from home on the program at school. For those of you that would rather enter your hours at home you may visit this website: www.helpcounter.net/volunteer

Every month families will receive a e-mail listing the hours that have been reported. This is the time for you to correct any mistakes or update your record. Please email volunteer@odysseycharter.net with any corrections.

Parent Involvement at Odyssey: Where We are Going

Why Volunteer? Because we all get smarter kids with a better education that costs less.

Parents who seek to enroll their children at Odyssey Charter School are encouraged to volunteer at Odyssey to aid in the success of their child’s education and school.

Odyssey Charter School highly encourages parent involvement with three goals:

1) Student Achievement: Research shows that the #1 indicator of children’s success in school is not family income or money allotted per pupil or class size. The surest way to help your child succeed is . . . for them to see you involved at their school.

2) Improvement of Educational Content: When parents donate their positive energy and unique skills at our school, every child is strengthened. Do you paint with watercolors or know a state representative or work as a helicopter pilot? From your participation, our children’s mutual educational experience can be exponentially enhanced.

3) More Efficient Use of Funds: We receive the same amount of money per child as do other public schools. However, our chosen goals and curricula demand extra resources! The only ways we have to make up this difference are through fundraising and parent volunteers performing tasks or providing services that we would otherwise have to pay for.

Our Plan to Get There

Cortney Schelin is Odyssey’s Volunteer Coordinator. If you have a question or concern related to volunteering, she is your first stop. You can contact her at volunteer@odysseycharter.net,.

Volunteer Opportunities: The Adventure Begins

Since the desire for more meaningful participation is a primary reason that many parents seek out charter schools, OCS will foster positive relationships with families and help their volunteer experiences be worthwhile and enjoyable.

Parents are encouraged to volunteer for committees according to their interests. Volunteer committees are as follows:

Curriculum Enhancement Teams (CET) — Teams present FUN academic events to celebrate the children completing major areas of study.
Room Parents — Assist the teacher in organizing the volunteer needs for parents in the classroom: class projects/parties, work with grade-level CET, etc.
Fundraising — Carnival
Community Involvement Volunteer — Help provide service opportunities in our community as well as advertising.
Library — Assist our school librarian. This includes the book fair, home reading program, class shifts, shelving and processing Library books.
School Events — This includes Uniform Exchange, Spelling Bee, Science Fair, Halloween History Assembly, Field Day, Dance Festival and more.
Safety — Assist Business Manager with safety issues at the school like monthly fire drills, evacuation, annual CPR class.
Technology — Be a resource for the Business Manager to help with IT-related issues. These may range from virus and spyware protection updates, website and data base administration and VOIP.
Appreciation — Work with a team of volunteers to help show appreciation to all at Odyssey including staff and volunteers.
After-School Programs — Organize and oversee fabulous after-school programs.