I am a high school teacher. I would like parents to stay active in school events.

mediaphotos/Getty Images

• As a high school teacher, I have noticed that parents of young children are more involved in the school.
• Knowing the parents personally makes it easier for me to share information about their children with them.
• It shows children that they should care about the community around them.

When I was a high school teacher, I received a surprising phone call one morning from a parent. He asked, “How can I volunteer and help the school?” I was speechless. I had never heard anyone ask to volunteer at the high school level before. It is more common for parents of younger children to volunteer, but high school teachers appreciate the help just as much. When I am friendly with parents of students, it is easier for me to reach out and support the children.

As educators, we work hard to make school a great experience for children, despite limited resources and staff. That’s why volunteers make a difference—not just the PTA members who generously donate hundreds of hours. It’s just as important for a student’s family to hang art, serve snacks during final exams, or plant a garden in a single afternoon.

Parents are more involved when children are young

When I know a child’s parents personally, I often email them with stories about their child’s growing confidence and times when they were role models for others. Parents always love to hear positive news.

I also reached out to parent volunteers when I had concerns about their children. The trust we built through doing mundane school tasks (cleaning tables and putting books away) made me feel comfortable reaching out to them directly rather than going through a guidance counselor. Teens need every adult they can get to rally around them at school, even their parents.

But I don’t see many parents at school the corridors of the middle school and high school. In preschools and elementary schools, parents come to read a story, organize birthday parties or accompany outings. Family involvement decreases every year after 5th grade, and in high school, I only see parents talking serious things like grades and college admissions.

It helps me connect with families

When that very first mother volunteer called me on the phone to ask how she could help, I asked her what skills she had. “I can plant a garden by the window,” she replied. It turned out that her daughter, Joni, was also a longtime library volunteer. Parents who volunteer generously often encourage their children to do the same.

Joni had been a library intern since the ninth grade, spending many hours helping her classmates at the circulation desk. “Joni talks about you all the time,” her mother said. “I just had to meet you and see the library she was so excited about.”

The day Joni’s mother planted the window garden, Joni barely spoke to her, but they exchanged smiles across the room. A busy 11th grader, Joni continued her usual Friday afternoon routine of helping out at the circulation desk and doing her physics homework. I could see so much love and pride on Joni’s mother’s face as she glanced across the library and saw her daughter helping her classmates so professionally.

Teens want to feel in control of their school and social lives, so it’s probably best for parents to be a little less involved. But when they volunteer, they send the message that higher education is not just a means to an end, but a caring community built around lifelong learning. Some parents who host plays or poetry readings enjoy it so much that they say they want to go back to high school.

“That’s really nice of you to volunteer, Dad,” one boy said to his father, a carpenter I called to fix a bookcase. “Don’t make a habit of it, okay?”