MOMS HELP SCHOOL; DADS, GRADPARENTS BIG HELP TOO

Shane Matthews made it under the limbo pole held by Alma Schrader School room mothers Jean Hampton, left, and Pam Brucker at the Caribbean booth.

Nick Harter took a swing at the pinata that Greg Smith, one of the room parents at Alma Schrader School, controlled with a rope at the booth on Mexico.

Sporting a straw hat and floor-length flowered dress, Pam Brucker waited patiently for the next group of 22 students to flood into her corner of the Alma Schrader Elementary School gym.

"I'm in charge of the Caribbean," Brucker said, holding a limbo pole and flashing a smile nearly as bright as her dress.

In another corner of the gym, modified to become a Valentine's Day version of around-the-world-in-two-hours, Joyce McCullough served nachos.

Sixth-graders seated along tables decorated with more than 20 potted cacti munched heartily. They were hungry; bursting a pinata takes a lot of energy.

Brucker and McCullough were among more than two dozen parents hosting a "world cruise" for sixth-graders last week. During the program, provided by Alma Schrader parents, the school's three sixth-grade classes took 28-minute tours of the Caribbean, Mexico, Japan and Italy.

"We decided for one last elementary party we wanted to do something where they could mix and mingle," Elissa Smith said. A parent in the school district, Smith spearheaded the volunteer project. Planning began last September and went into high gear after the new year.

The sight of grownups lugging cupcakes, punch and homemade favors and into local schools is common almost every major holiday. While most parties may not be on the scale of the Alma Schrader cruise, they're appreciated and enjoyed by teachers and students alike.

"It helps the teachers, and its nice for the children to see their parents are actively involved," Suzanne Smith said of parental-hosted events. Smith, administrative assistant at St. Vincent de Paul Grade School, explained that parents know at the beginning of the school year which event they will help with. "Every mother in the classroom is involved in the course of the year," she said.

Parental participation within the schools is as highly valued as ever, school leaders agree. In many schools, the age-old title of room mother has been replaced by room parent. That's because "a lot of the dads are involved and occasionally we have grandparents involved too," explained Lisa Burns, coordinator of the Alma Schrader room-parent program.

Though the number of parents able to attend school functions during daytime working hours may have diminished through the years, parental cooperation as a whole remains strong, say many involved in recruiting volunteer help.

"Most parents, if you call them and they can't coordinate, they'll say, `I can send cupcakes,'" or will volunteer to help in some other way, Burns said.

Parents do like to be asked personally, Jefferson School Principal Gary Kralemann has observed. "People really do want to be involved in the school, but they want to be asked," he said. It's been his experience that parents respond much more readily to personal requests than to written requests for volunteers.

At Jefferson Elementary, one PTA position is designated for the sole purpose of recruiting room parents, Kralemann noted.

In Bonnie LeGrand's classroom at Alma Schrader last week, several moms helped rambunctious kindergartners read hurriedly opened valentines. Besides giving the teachers an appreciated break, the parent-organized parties "bridge the gap between home and school," LeGrand said.

Cathy Schroeder, who coordinated the valentine party in LeGrand's class, agreed. "Just being present in your child's life away from home is important," she said. "The more things we do with our children in school shows them how important school is and that we care about them and want them to have fun, too, as well as work."

As children get older, the importance of parental participation in school does not diminish, stressed Brenda Dohogne, chairman of the PTA Volunteers Committee at Louis J. Schultz Seventh Grade Center.

While there may no longer be designated room parents, there are plenty of ways for parents to become involved, she noted. "Parent volunteers at Schultz are the seventh-grade version of room mothers," Dohogne said. Though the young people may not as readily show it, "they still enjoy having the moms around," she said.

Preparing to sip roasted barley tea at the Japanese portion of the world cruise, Robin Deal, Lindsey Bixler and Sarah Brown agreed the party had been great. "It was a lot more fun than I expected," Deal said enthusiastically. "I thought it would be boring because they said it was educational."

Waiting in line at the gondola races, Kevin Lossing said Japan had been his favorite country thus far because of oragami paper-folding instruction. "We made a frog, a ball and a helicopter," he said.

Shane Tobin, preparing to do the limbo in the Caribbean booth, said, "This is probably the best party we've ever had.

"It makes me feel good that they would to do this stuff for us."