With the school year in full swing, teachers and staff are much more aware of the needs of their students. Whether you are looking for partners or volunteers to serve as tutors or mentors, wanting assistance on the athletic field or in the training room, needing support for afterschool programs/activities, or requiring another “pairs of hands” to assist with events, the division’s new Get Connected Volunteer Database will be an excellent outreach tool to help you garner volunteers.

All teachers, school staff and PTA volunteer coordinators can now request volunteer assistance by posting partner and volunteer opportunities online.

Simply visit vbschools.com/volunteers/hours/submission.asp and complete the form to upload your volunteer request. Be sure to provide specific details concerning expectations, so volunteers will have a good understanding of what you need and how they can help.

An alert will be generated to the Office of Community Engagement where your request will be reviewed for approval and posted. You may be contacted if additional information is required. Once approved, you will be notified that your volunteer opportunity request has been posted and the building principal and PTA Volunteer in Education (VIE) Coordinator will be copied.

Community members will be able to browse volunteer opportunities by school or level by visiting www.vbschools.com/getconnected. Once they have found a match for their interests and talents, they will connect with you instantly via email.

“We know this will be a very busy site and expect that parents and community members will want to see how they can help at the schools,” said Laura J. Smart, partnership coordinator for Virginia Beach City Public Schools (VBCPS). “Not only will the staff be offering an opportunity for the community to play an important role in helping to inspire and educate students, but they will be connecting students with another positive adult role model.”

Volunteers may be parents or family members of students enrolled in your school. If so, they will be submitting the name of the student to whom they are connected. If a volunteer is a community member with no relatives enrolled at the school, they are required by the school division to provide three references. Your school’s PTA VIE Coordinator can assist with calling references and providing the required training for all volunteers.

Please notify Laura Smart when the volunteer opportunity can be closed and she will remove it from the website. A bonus with the new database is the ability to better document volunteer hours. Volunteers will be directed to visit vbschools.com/getconnected from any computer or mobile device to log their volunteer hours. VBCPS will recognize the schools with the highest total volunteer hours each month on Headline News and through its social media channels.

Get more information on the database and a list of frequently asked questions here.

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