Volunteering

Bells Mill Elementary School PTA  .  8225 Bells Mill Road  ,  Potomac, MD 20854

We really appreciate your dedication and the time you are setting aside to help our school and our children!  The PTA Board is looking forward to working with you!   To help you find your way, we have prepared answers to the following questions.  Click on the question to get an answer:

What is the procedure when coming to volunteer at Bells Mill?

Always report to the main office first, sign in and get a visitor badge/sticker.

There is a notebook on top of the shelves near the visitor sign-in sheet. It is arranged in alphabetical order. Please complete a sheet with your name and use this each time to record your volunteer hours. This procedure is necessary for insurance and emergency purposes.  If you will be doing volunteer work that benefits Bells Mill outside of the school, please complete a sign-in sheet at home and turn it in at the end of the month (we'll send a Bearmail reminding you to do so).  Follow this link to get to the form.

Upon departure, make a final stop in the main office to sign out.

These procedures are necessary for everyone’s safety and school security!

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If I have questions, who should I ask?

Each committee has a PTA Board member assigned to them as a resource.  Additionally, the President, Merry Eisner, per the Bylaws, is a committee member and an additional point of contact.  If you have a question, first contact your assigned board member.  It’s possible that they can connect you to last year’s chair for a basic overview.  They might also recommend that you talk to the chair of a committee engaged in a similar activity for ideas.  If the board member does not know the answer to your question(s), they will contact the president and get back to you or they may tell you to contact the President directly.

In order to facilitate communication between committees engaged in similar activities, committees have been grouped into “types.”.  The board member responsible for your committee is also responsible for similar committees.   

Below are the assigned board members for each committee for the 2007-2008 year:

General                                                                                             Valerie Johnson, President-Elect

 School Community                                                                           Karen Schupak, 2nd Vice President

Cultural                                                                                          Azeb Aregawi, 3rd Vice President

Educational                                                                                     Azeb Aregawi, 3rd Vice President

Fundraising                                                                                       Lisa Stackman, 1st Vice President

Recreation & Family Life                                                                   Karen Schupak, 2nd Vice President

Communications                                                                                   Lisa Stackman, 1st Vice President

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How do I recruit members for my committee?

We are fortunate that many parents in the Bells Mill community are willing to help out.  At the beginning of the school year, the PTA form includes the opportunity for parents to note which committees they’d like to participate in.  Please see the board member responsible for your committee to obtain this list.  In most cases, that means you won’t need to recruit at all.

If you don’t have enough volunteers, contact your assigned PTA Board member for ideas.  We can recruit through other methods such as Bear mail or phone calls.

As soon as you have your list, or when anyone responds to your pleas for volunteers, please call or e-mail them, even if you do not know them personally!!  This is very important.  We want everyone in our PTA to feel welcome and included.  If you happen to have too many volunteers, please contact your assigned PTA Board member.  They’ll make sure that everyone who volunteered to help you can be directed to other volunteer opportunities that might also satisfy their desire to participate.

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How much money can I spend on my project?

At the October PTA meeting, the PTA approved the budget for the year.  When you are ready to begin planning your project, please contact Bing Cai, PTA Treasurer (caib15@verizon.net) and he can give you your budget as well as tell you something about last year’s expenditures for the same project.  Please try to stick to this budget as closely as possible.  If you anticipate additional costs, please contact the Treasurer as soon as you know.  Also, if at the end of your project, you feel the budget needs an adjustment for the following year, please contact the Treasurer so he can make adjustments to the next year’s budget.

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How do I get reimbursed for the necessary purchases?

The treasurer has reimbursement forms available in the PTA mailbox.  A copy is also available by clicking here.  For all purchases, save your receipt and include it with the completed reimbursement form .  Please request reimbursement as soon as possible after your purchase is made.  Because our fiscal year ends on June 30, we cannot accept receipts after June 30.  We also cannot make reimbursements without a receipt, so don’t lose them!!

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Where is the PTA Mailbox?

The PTA Mailbox is located in the main office.  If you are in a committee and expecting forms to be sent to the PTA mailbox, you are responsible for picking up these items and forwarding any checks to the Treasurer (just put them in an envelope, marked “Treasurer.”)  If you are expecting a number of forms to be returned to the mailbox, please check it regularly, since our space is very limited. 

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If my project is using a school facility, how do I sign up for the room?

All rooms that are going to be used at a Bells Mill facility need to be coordinated in advance with Mrs. DeMarino in the school office.  Some county rules have recently changed and you may need to complete a formal request and submit a fee for the use of our school space.  If you plan to use another school for your event, you need to complete an ICB request with MCPS well in advance.  Please contact your assigned PTA Board member if you need help with this.  A fee may be required, so you may need to request a check from the Treasurer before you send the request.

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How do I communicate my PTA activity with our PTA members?

All flyers must be approved by the principal and your assigned PTA board member.  You should plan at least a couple of days before the date you want your flyer distributed to allow time for the flyers to be approved.  You can e-mail a copy to your assigned board member and give a hard copy to Mrs. DeMarino in the office with instructions requesting approval. 

Copies can be made at the school on pink paper only.  The PTA pays for the pink paper and MCPS pays for all the other paper in the mailroom.  If you have not used the copy machine before, please ask someone in the office to teach you.  (Please allow extra time for this as well as our office staff is often busy.)  If you plan to use the copier, please remember that we are borrowing the MCPS copy machines and MCPS employees have “right of way” on the copy machine.  If you are using it and a teacher comes into the room to make a copy, please stop your project to let the teacher make copies.  If more teachers come in, you will be last in line. 

There is a paper taped to the copy machine with the count of children in each class to help you know how many copies to make.  Once your copies are made, you can distribute the flyers into the teacher’s mailboxes in the mailroom.  Teachers usually check them in the morning and at lunch.  We are also required to give a copy of each flyer to Mrs. DeMarino and Mrs. Scherer for their files.  

You can request to send an e-mail to all parents who have joined Bear Mail.  Keep in mind that not all parents have Bear Mail, but it is a great way to send reminders of your event or project.  First, write your proposed bear mail.  Then send it to Merry Eisner at Merry@TheEisners.net.  She will send it to the PTA President for approval and it will often go out the same day you send it.

The Bells Mill Beacon is printed five times a year.  If you would like an article printed in the newsletter, contact the editor, Denise Kloke at deniseK@tmsmove.com.  The best way is to e-mail your article or announcement to her and if space permits, she will put it in the next Beacon.  The deadlines for this year are:

Fall (Sept/Oct)                                                                                        Mon., September 20th

Early winter (Nov/Dec)                                                                             Mon., November 20th

Winter (Jan/Feb)                                                                                     Tues., January 25th

Spring (Mar/Apr)                                                                                     Mon., March 20th

Late spring (May/Jun)                                                                               Mon., May 20th

You can make announcements at PTA meetings.  Of course, you won’t reach as many people this way since not everyone attends the meetings.  If you would like to make an announcement, contact the PTA president at least several days before the meeting so we can add it to the agenda.  Remember that PTA meetings are generally on the first Tuesday of every month.

You can write something to add to our Bells Mill Website by contacting the Webmaster, Merry Eisner at Merry@TheEisners.net.

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