Parent Participation

While most schools bring in cold, premade lunches for their students, SPM is proud to provide a healthy nutritional program of fresh, hot food to our children. This is expensive, and we need the support of our great family volunteers so that we can continue to provide this satisfying and healthy meal program.

We only employ one cafeteria worker and need your help to prepare and serve lunch, if you are available during the day. This is a great opportunity to support your school, be part of your child’s school day, and bond with other parents to make this a strong school community. (We ask that, when you do participate in these programs, you do so with respect for our school and families by sharing only positive feelings about our community.)

Those who cannot participate during the day may meet this obligation by purchasing needed items in exchange for hours. The list of items and credited hours will be sent home in the form of a Signup Genius. (Important: the listed items are specifically chosen based on the school’s needs and our kitchen’s storage capacity, so we cannot give credit for substituted items.) Each grade is assigned a month to work or donate items to the cafeteria. Our Parent Volunteer Coordinator contacts families a few weeks before the assigned month to coordinate participation.

The second part of parent participation is through various community events during the school year. These are listed below. The Parent Participation Coordinator will take sign ups during Back to School Night and will contact those who have signed up ahead of the events.

Explanation of Hours:

• Each year, parents are expected to complete 25 hours of parent participation.

• At least 15 hours must be served in the cafeteria, and 10 hours may be served by helping at the school events listed below.

• Hours not completed will be billed at $25 an hour.

• Cafeteria hours will be billed to your FACTS account at the end of your child’s designated month. (If you have multiple children, it will be billed at the end of the last child’s month.)

• The remaining 10 hours must be completed by the end of April, 2025.

• Families who do not want to purchase items, work in the cafeteria, or otherwise volunteer may pay the fee of $625 upfront. (Just let us know and we will charge this fee to your FACTS account.)