One School, One Family

Each year during online registration, we as parents have the opportunity to join the parent organizations that support the lives of our students socially, academically, artistically and athletically. From Fall for the Arts, to football and faculty grants, to the pre-K play, each event plays a vital role in our community and touches every student here at some point during the year. They are a key element in what is unique about us – the Darlington family.

However, as we met with parents from all three divisions, studied the individual membership of each group and cross referenced those memberships against one another, we realized several things:

First, supporting all of the parent organizations can be costly. Many families spent over $300 joining parent organizations last year. Secondly, many of you are choosing to join only one organization either due to financial constraints or because you feel like one of the other organizations doesn’t have a direct benefit for your family. The latter is the most troubling because each organization reaches across divisions and functions to benefit all students over the life of a Darlington family. Over the next few months, a series of blogs will highlight the value that each parent organization brings to our community and to your family.

Effective for 2012-13, each family will have a family fee of $100 per family, welcoming you as a member of each parent organization at the school. Talk about strength in numbers – next year, every organization will now be approximately 670 members strong! To truly be one school PK-12, we have to start acting like one school, and this is our first big step.

Our parent organizations will still keep their own identities, but will begin working together in a variety of ways. One of the biggest ways is a new one school fundraiser. We’ve heard your concerns about being “nickel and dimed” with too many division fundraisers. This is a great way to not only solve that problem, but to bring the community together. You’ll hear more about this in the coming months, but all of the parent organizations will join forces for a fun-filled evening where PK-12, day and resident families can work together for the greater good and split the proceeds amongst each other.

While our students have always had free admission to regular season home athletic events, our parents will now enjoy that same privilege because each and every one of you will now be members of the Athletic Booster Club. With the exception of the winter musical, the multitude of fine arts events throughout the year have and will continue to be free. You simply need to exercise your membership to the Fine Arts Booster Club and take advantage of them. I promise you will be amazed at the talent of our students if you attend one of their concerts or visit one of the art galleries.

Tiger PRIDE works continuously at all divisions to support our faculty and the many social events that our students enjoy, providing numerous opportunities for parents to make a difference. The Family Fee, combined with the proceeds from the one school fundraiser, will now provide adequate resources for the many special events and activities provided by Tiger PRIDE.

When we pool our resources, find common ground and support each other, the possibilities are endless. However, it is important to note that membership to these organizations via the family fee is just the first step. To truly get something out of your membership, you must get involved. It is like joining a gym – if you don’t actually go workout, it doesn’t do much good to belong.

Until next time…