Mulberry School uses the phrase "committee position" to describe the job that each family does for the school. Each family at Mulberry must hold one committee position. Note that while some committees have several members, others involve only one person. Committee job can require 30 to 40 hours of work during the school year. The smooth running of our school depends on everyone’s successful completion of their committee job!
Committee positions filled over the summer and throughout the year
| All-School Committees | Families enrolled in either Elementary or Preschool can hold these positions. |
| Elementary Committees | Families enrolled in Elementary can hold these positions. |
| Preschool Committees | Families enrolled in Preschool can hold these positions. |
Committee positions filled by invitation, usually in the Spring
| Parent Assembly | Mulberry Parent Assembly will hold elections for these positions. |
| Teacher invitation | Families enrolled in Preschool and Elementary can hold these positions as relevant for their program. |
| Head of School invitation | Families enrolled in Preschool and Elementary can hold these positions as relevant for their program. |
| Board of Trustees invitation | The Board of Trustees has Standing Committees and Ad Hoc Committees which can include parents who do not sit on the Board. These positions are filled by the Board on an ongoing, as-needed basis. All community members are welcome to attend regular Board meetings. |
All School Committees
Book Fair Fall - Scholastic (2) – These people organize a Scholastic book fair in the Fall. The duties include working with the vendor to schedule the fair, coordinating publicity, arranging staffing for the fair, and ordering books from the company to stock the classroom libraries from the fair proceeds.
Book Fair Spring - Hicklebee’s (2) – These people organize a Hicklebee’s book fair in the Spring. The duties include coordinating publicity for the fair, arranging staffing for the fair, picking up books from Hicklebee’s Bookstore (Willow Glen) and returning unsold books, and ordering books from the companies to stock the classroom libraries from the fair proceeds.
Family Fun Nights (1) – This person organizes Family Fun Nights held at Mulberry up to 6 times a year. These casual events have included potlucks and bring your own games. Duties include advertising the event to the community, helping with set up and clean up.
Friday Coffee (2) – These people arrange to have coffee in the courtyard for Friday morning. This includes soliciting donations or preparing coffee, set up by 9 am, and clean up later in the day.
Fun Run / Spirit Week (1 Chair, 2 other members) - These people plan and implement Mulberry’s annual student walk-a-thon and the week of events leading up to it, held in the Fall. They advertise the event to parents and students (preschool and elementary), distribute sponsor sheets, coordinate parent volunteers, set up, implement, and clean up the Fun Run itself. After the event, they motivate children to collect and submit their sponsor donations
Grant Writing (2-3) – This committee works with the Head of School to research sources of grants for Mulberry, make initial contact with grantors, oversee the submission of grants, and follow up with grantors. It is important for this group to attend appropriate grant writing seminars and offer the information to other interested people.
Harvest Celebration (1 Chair, 3 other members) – This committee coordinates and implements the event in October. They publicize the event to the community. The committee plans the harvest related activities and coordinates class activities with teachers. The committee structures the schedule for the event and coordinates volunteers for set-up, clean-up, and working the event. The committee members also work the event.
Kindergarten Readiness Night – (5) This committee coordinates an event in the winter to highlight the many choices available to parents researching local kindergartens. The event includes a speaker or panel and tables for representatives from various local programs (including Mulberry!). The committee creates a flier, invites the families of local preschools, invites representatives from local schools, plus speaker or panelists, sets up the event, and sends thank you notes after the event.
Maintenance (1) – This person coordinates sign-ups for approximately 7-8 workdays spread throughout the school year, tracks families’ participation in maintenance, and, if needed, works with Mulberry’s Facilities Manager to oversee the day.
Office Support (1) – Assists in the school office by taking on the oversight of various administrative projects.
Open House – (1 Chair, 6 other members) These people help the Admissions Director organize the Open House events in the fall and winter. They coordinate the advertising, program, staff and parent volunteers, set-up and clean-up, snacks, and any written materials necessary.
Product Fundraisers Coordinator (2) – The product fundraisers involve advertising the event to families (including newsletter and/or Flash items), preparing orders, distributing products when they arrive, and keeping track of records for family tuition credits. Some of Mulberry’s favorite product sales are Gift Wrap, Bulb Sales, Deco-Plates, T-shirts, and Original Works. There are generally 4-5 product sales throughout the school year.
Restaurant Fundraisers (1) – This person arranges monthly events with local restaurants. They are responsible for contacting the vendors, arranging the bookings, and facilitating school-wide publicity for the events. After each Fundraiser, they are responsible for ensuring Mulberry collects our percentage of the proceeds, and for sending thank-you notes to the vendor.
Scrip Coordinator (1) – This person coordinates the school’s scrip program, distributes enrollment information for eScrip to families, tracks Mulberry’s earnings through eScrip and giftcards, and writes Flash entries to keep scrip use in the front of families’ minds.
Sock Hop Committee (1 Chair, 3-4 other members) – This committee plans and runs the event, including arranging the band or DJ, coordinating publicity (including Messenger articles, Flash items, signs around Mulberry), scheduling parent volunteers, creating decorations, soliciting food, and coordinating other entertainment at the event.
Steppin’ Out Committee (1 Co-Chair, 12 other members) – This committee oversees all aspects of planning and implementing the Steppin’ Out annual auction. This includes developing a project plan, timetable and regular meetings. Each committee member provides vital support for the planning and implementation of a specific area of the event: publicity, catalog, solicitation, database, facility, event logistics and auction layout. They participate in soliciting donations in one of three ways: obtaining new items for auction, approaching businesses that have donated in the past, or obtaining donations from the Mulberry community.
The Messenger Committee (1 Editor, 2 members) – This committee is responsible for setting and publicizing publication deadlines, collecting articles and artwork from each class and from community members. They oversee the layout, printing and distribution of The Messenger. They may also conduct interviews or write articles on specific topics with children and/or staff to be used for publication. They copy and distribute The Messenger to Mulberry families via hanging files.
Elementary School Committees
Computer Support (2-3) – These people are responsible for keeping Mulberry’s computers running. They communicate with the Director of Operations to assess classroom computer needs, to make sure programs are running correctly, and to install new programs.
Elementary Thanksgiving Feast (1 Chair, 3 other members) - These people generally begin planning in October for the Feast, which is scheduled for the Friday before Thanksgiving. The committee is responsible for planning the event, including announcements, invitations, RSVP’s, ticket sales, organizing food donations, coordinating parent volunteers for set-up and clean-up of the event, working with staff and children to create decorations, and organizing program entertainment. The committee is also responsible for working at the event.
Library (3) – This committee organizes the library books onto shelves and keeps the library tidy and in good working order. The committee will work with the Head of School to create and maintain a checkout system for the books.
Purchaser (1) – This person works with the Director of Operations and Administrators to determine the supply needs for each classroom and the school shed, purchases from local stores as requested, and keeps supply shed organized.
Science Fair (1 Chair, 2 other members) – This committee plans and runs the Science Fair, held in March. Beginning in January, they solicit the children’s interest in the fair, provide fair information and ideas to all elementary students, create the master list of student and classroom participants, and send reminders to students. They draft the floor plan for the event and make arrangements for the specific needs of each project (access to water or electricity, table size, etc.) The committee coordinates parent volunteers to assist with set up, facilitating throughout the evening, and clean up.
Spring Sing/Young Authors’ Fair (1 Chair, 2 other members) – The committee supports this dual event, held in May. For the Spring Sing component, the committee works with the Music Specialists to coordinate the rehearsal, create a written program, and implement the Spring Sing event with the help of additional parent volunteers. For the Young Authors’ Fair, the committee works with the Elementary teachers to coordinate the set up, display, and clean up of the Young Authors’s Fair event, with the help of additional parent volunteers.
Preschool Committees
Art Experience - These people keep the inside art closet clean, stocked, and organized (should be straightened monthly), keep the outside art shed clean and organized (should be straightened bi-monthly), maintain a written inventory of the shed for committee and teacher use, and keep the art cart stocked and organized.
Book Orders - This person handles all Scholastic and Firefly monthly book orders for entire preschool, and works with the preschool teachers to convert earned bonus points into cash to be used for classroom needs. This committee must be filled by preschool families.
Carpentry - This person keeps the carpentry cupboard clean and organized (should be straightened monthly), ensures that all carpentry materials are in good repair, and restocks the cupboard regularly with a variety of carpentry materials (e.g. clean wood scraps, wood glue). This committee must be filled by preschool families.
Field Trip/Parties - These people consult with the teacher and plan field trips and guest visitors (approximately 4 per year). They also maintain field trip emergency forms (includes distributing forms before and collecting forms after the field trips), assist parents in coordinating carpools, and be available on the day of each field trip to organize the group.
Food Experience - These people keep the kitchen area and cabinets clean and organized (should be straightened monthly), keep basic food supplies stocked in cupboards, ensure kitchen tools and appliances are in good repair, and that appropriate tools are available for each month’s theme (e.g. graters during "grating" month). They also maintain monthly recipe cards and snack calendar.
Gardening - This person keep the gardening shed clean and organized (should be straightened bimonthly) and ensure children’s gardening tools are in good repair. They also organize the planting of seasonal plants by the children in the raised beds. They post gardening ideas for parents and children. This committee must be filled by preschool families.
Health and Safety - This person maintains the preschool first aid kits and ensures that items are properly stored and filled as needed. They hang and maintain the yellow jacket traps and oversee other safety-related tasks as needed.
Imaginative Play - These people maintain and add to the existing prop boxes (grocery store, doctor’s office), decorate the dramatic play area according to monthly themes, and ensure that dolls, props, clothes, and dress-up items are clean and in good repair.
Laundry - These people handle the washing of towels, tablecloths, comforters, parachutes, etc. (approximately twice each week, more often during rainy weather), and ensure that spare clothes for rainy days are well-stocked, in good repair and organized in appropriately labeled boxes.
Manipulatives - These people keep the manipulative and block cabinets clean and organized (should be straightened every 2 weeks), wash manipulatives once a month, or as needed, and ensure that these materials are in good repair. This committee must be filled by preschool families
Paint - These people keep the paint shed clean, stocked, and organized (should be straightened every week) and ensure that painting materials are in good repair.
Playdough - This person makes playdough every two weeks, or more often as needed, varying texture, color, and smell, checking the kitchen bulletin board to ensure that playdough is not made with any known allergens. They also keep the playdough cabinet clean and organized and wash the playdough tools at least once a month.
Preschool Thanksgiving Feast – Planning begins in September for the Feast, which is scheduled for the Thursday before Thanksgiving. The committee is responsible for planning the event, including announcements, invitations, RSVP’s, ticket sales, preparing for food, coordinating parent volunteers, working with staff and children to create decorations, and organizing program entertainment.
Round Table - This person keeps the round table cabinet, which houses puzzles and games, clean and organized (should be straightened monthly) and ensures that materials, games, and puzzles are in good repair and has all the pieces. This committee must be filled by preschool families.
Science - These people keep the science closet clean and organized (should be straightened monthly), ensure that science materials and books are in good repair and stocked for monthly theme, and rotate the science books and boxes in the bookcases monthly. They also prepare monthly science ideas and assist the teachers in preparing the Preschool portion of the Science Fair.
Parent Assembly – Titles and position duties to be determined by Mulberry Community 2007-2008
Elementary President –
Preschool President –
Community Building / Events –
Teacher invitation
Elementary Class Representative - Class reps schedule parents’ participating hours, write monthly newsletter articles describing the classroom activities, act as a communication liaison between teachers and parents, and help coordinate photo day. They create the phone tree and coordinate parents’ classroom jobs with the teacher. This job is busy during late summer and early fall, and then is slower during the rest of the school year. Because of the time-consuming nature of this job, it fulfills both the committee job and classroom job commitments.
Preschool Class Representative – These people assist the teacher in orienting new parents to the class, prepare a class phone tree in the fall and update it as necessary to accommodate new families, write newsletter articles about class activities, organize Picture Day and Parents’-Nights-Out, coordinate volunteers to set-up, clean-up, and bring refreshments to All School Speaker Series Meetings, and coordinate class gifts to the teachers. They prepare the cubbies for their class, and maintain them throughout the school year. They also help coordinate the children’s class projects for the school auction.
Preschool Committee Coordinators (2) – During the summer, these people assign the preschool committee positions. In September they distribute committee binders to each preschool committee and organize the classroom set-up day at the beginning of the school year. During the school year, they ensure that committees perform their functions. They organize the mid-year and final committee clean-up days. At the end of the school year, they collect binders and end-of-the-year reports from all preschool committees.
Preschool Participation Secretary – Before school begins in September, these people obtain the list of workdays for all participating parents and formulate a schedule for their class, readjusting it as needed throughout the school year. Each month, they distribute a work schedule to participating parents that includes monthly themes and work assignments. Throughout the year, they coordinate class adds, drops, vacations, and leaves of absence with working parents and teacher.
Preschool Teacher Aides – These people work closely with the classroom teachers and help out by doing errands, coordinating classroom celebrations, and miscellaneous tasks (photocopying, laminating, etc.). They will also assist in coordinating the preschool’s preparations for Open House.
Head of School invitation
Common Ground Speaker Series (2) –Acts as liaison between Common Ground organization and Mulberry. Beginning in June, attends monthly meetings of the organization, assista with Speaker refreshments at assigned event, and assists on the evening of your assigned speaker. Responsible for advertising Common ground Speaker events to Mulberry community.
SCVC Representative (1) – Acts as liaison between Santa Clara Valley Council of Parent Participation Nursery Schools and Mulberry. Beginning in May, attends monthly SCVC meetings and reports the information to Preschool President who presents it to the Board.
Board invitation
Development Committee – This committee of the Board recommends fundraising goals; manages major fundraising; and recommends marketing strategies.
Finance and Audit Committee – This committee of the Board reviews the budget proposed by the Head of School and his or her staff and presents it to the Board; selects and oversees auditors; recommends investment policies for approval by the Board; oversees investments according to investment policies set by the Board; oversees Buildings and Grounds operations; and recommends financial aid policies to the Board.