Every parent is encouraged to participate at the school, location or class level. The degree of involvement can range from a two-hour shift at a book fair to chairing a fundraiser, and there are events to which you can bring a young child if you don't have child care.

If you would like to volunteer, or if you have any questions or comments, please contact the PA president, a location vice president or an event chairperson.

Click Here To Download PA Volunteer Document     

Roles

President – Provides overall leadership for the Parents Association and serves as the liaison between the administration and the parent body.  The President is also a non-voting member of the Board of Trustees.

President Elect – Works with the President on all PA activities and will serve as President in the following school year.

Secretary – Takes and disseminates minutes of meetings at the General PA meeting.

Treasurer – Coordinates reports from event chairs on fundraising receipts and expenses.

Communications Chair – Organizes and disseminates event/activity announcements on a monthly and event specific basis, to ensure timely, relevant and succinct flow of information. 

Webmaster – Updates the website with important dates and announcements from the school and the PA.

Vice Presidents – Provide leadership for the PA at the location level, working with the PA President and Location Directors.  VPs attend monthly general and local PA meetings and help co-ordinate location efforts for events and ongoing activities.

Event/Committee Co-Chairs –  Lead, organize,co-ordinate, execute and follow up on each event or committee’s activities. Co-Chairs attend PA meetings to recruit volunteers and provide progress updates.  

Location Representative – Coordinate location efforts and assist event/activity co-chairs in marketing, volunteer recruitment, planning and execution.

Event Volunteer - Provide half an hour and up to a few hours before, during or after the event, generally with logistics and set-up.

Class Parents – Serve as a liason between the parents int he class and the teachers.  Responsibilities include coordinating parents’ contributions to holiday and year-end class parties and teachers’ gifts, organizing the class project for the Spring Benefit and the class ad fort he IPS yearbook. Class Parents are also usually the class PA representatives to attend local PA meetings and report back activities of the PA to the class,encourage parents’ involvement and remind the class of upcoming PA and school activities.   In some classes, different parents may take on the roles of class parents and PA representatives. 

Events

New Parents’ Reception (September) –  This year, the New Parents’ Reception will be held at the location level in conjunction with orientation meetings, to welcome new parents and for returning families to re-connect and meet new families.

Book Fair/Bake Sale (November/February) – A bookfair at Barnes & Noble is held in November in time for holiday gift shopping, to earn a percentage of sales for the school and provide new titles for our libraries.  In February, used book fair and bake sales are held at each location around Valentine’s Day – a great way for parents to swap old books for new titles, donate and/or buy bake goods while participating in a family festival and fun-filled activities.  On an on-going basis, parents can earn points and money for IPS while shopping on Amazon.com, by clicking on Amazon rewards through the IPS website (under“parents” tab). 

Faculty Enrichment (December) – Held at Landmark on the Park, this is one of our principal fundraisers for the year. We pay tribute to our teachers and raise funds for them to attend workshops and other educational programs. This event is an elegant evening of cocktails, dinner and dessert buffet.

Notecards (Sep to Nov) – Parents can order full color notecards printed from their children’s drawings, which make a good collection of personal thank you notes, birthday invites or as giftcards for parents and relatives.

Annual Fund (Feb) – The Director of Development manages the Annual Fund drive and parents’ help is needed in the Annual Fund phone-a-thon.

Tag Sale (April) – This is a good opportunity for parents/caregivers to do bargain hunting of gently used clothing, toys, household and other items for children and adults.  An online tag sale lists bigger furniture or luxury items.  Items are donated by IPS families and unsold items are donated to charity.  

Spring Benefit (May) – Our gala fundraiser of the year, it includes fabulous food, friends and fun and an amazing array of live and silent auction items, solicited or donated by our parent body.

Family Picnic (May) – This event is organized by IPS fathers and is a blast for the entire family. The picnic is held in Central Park with a vast variety of entertainment, games,sports and food. 

Ongoing

General PA Meetings (monthly) – Held generally on a Wednesday at 45th street, these meetings include reports from the IPS Director, Education Director, Director of Development and discussions on upcoming events and activities. Parents from all locations are encouraged to attend.

Local PA Meetings (monthly) – Typically held on the Friday following the General PA Meeting at each location  these meetings provide a review of the General PA Meeting and discussions around the location’s participation in specific events and activities.  All parents are encouraged to attend.

Coffee Hours / Workshops -  One hour workshops in which experts are invited to speak on parental topics of interest.  IPS Director and Education Director also hosts coffee hours at each location during the school year to meet with parents. 

Communications Committee – Working with the Communications Chair and the Webmaster, this group will help disseminate information on PA and school events.

Community Outreach Committees – Each location organizes and participates in a host of community outreach programs to give to others who are less fortunate. Past programs have included toy, clothing and food drive to organizations such as UNICEF and the Yorkville Common Pantry.

Japanese Parents’ Committee – A group of Japanese parents who meet on a regular basis  and contribute their special talents to the school such as organizing the Japanese Parents' Bazaar at book fairs and the Spring Benefit.

Mentor Program – Current parents are assigned as mentors for new parents in the next school year to welcome them and answer any questions about the school. 

Library – The library is a treasure of words, pictures and stories. Each year, new books are added, many are purchased and donated by parents.  Parents help maintain the library, and cover, repair and categorize books.

School Store – The store offers a number of IPS products which can be purchased on the IPS website and are available at some school events as well.

Yearbook – Distributed at the end of the school year, it contains photos of all the classes and delightful ads purchased by individual families and businesses. 

If you would like to volunteer, or if you have any questions or comments, please contact the PA president, a location vice president or an event chairperson.