Organizing For A Successful Year

By Lyn Fiscus

Just as teachers spend time at the beginning of the school year organizing lesson plans, class rosters, and their classrooms, so too should student activity advisers organize for an efficient and successful year. A bit of time spent now on the following tasks will make the year go much more smoothly.

Set goals for what you want to accomplish with your group. The group will have its own goals, but as the adviser, what are the goals you would like to focus on? Perhaps you would like to do more leadership training or improve the group’s meeting skills? Maybe you want to involve more parents? Improve internal communications? Whatever your plans, write down the goals you have and develop a list of actions you can take to help accomplish these goals. Refer back to them periodically to make sure you stay on track.

Meet with your principal or the activities director to go over their expectations and goals for your program for the coming school year. What do they view as the purpose of your group, and what do they expect of you as the adviser? Share with them the goals you have and the goals the group has set for itself. This helps lend credibility to your efforts and helps ensure that they view your activities as a worthwhile part of the education process, not just an “extra.”

Set up a way for members to keep in touch. You can do this the old-fashioned way by finding a spot in your room to establish a system of mailboxes for your group members. Office supply catalogs feature mail sorting systems that work well for this. Give each member his or her own box and label them. This way, members can leave notes with each other about group business and you will have a place to drop announcements, notes with questions, or other comments that may occur when the students are not present.

A more up-to-date method is to use a web-based application like Stixy.com to create an electronic bulletin board, or PBWorks.com or Google sites to create a free collaborative site that all members can contribute to. A page on a social network site like Facebook or MySpace, or a network you can create just for your group with Ning.com, is another option.

Create a file with copies of all forms members will need regularly and make sure everyone knows where the forms are kept, whether it’s a file cabinet in your room or an electronic version online. When members need project planning forms, purchase orders, announcement request forms, and so forth, instead of asking you for them they can go to the file and pull them out.

Create a notebook for yourself with essential information. Gathering the following information together in one place will save time later when you are able to easily access it when needed.

• Create a directory of members complete with phone numbers (both cell and landline), e-mail addresses, screen names, and mailing addresses.
• Photocopy the class schedules of your officers and key chair people so you won’t need to go to the office to look them up every time you need to find them or deliver a note.
• Create a roster of officers and committee chairs that you can share with all members so everyone knows who is in charge of what. Add a description of all the organization’s committees and what each one is responsible for.
• Include a section with signed officer behavior agreements from all officers and committee chairs. The agreement should include a job description for each officer/chair and your expectations for their behavior.  Have them sign the form indicating that they have read and agree to live up to these expectations.  (You might also want to have the parents sign it.)  Keep these on file to refer back to, if needed.
• Have officers and other key members ask a parent or guardian to sign a general permission slip that will allow the student to leave campus for errands. Keep the signed forms in your notebook.
• Include a section with relevant school policies regarding student activities. At the very least, your district probably has regulations regarding the finances of a group and its fundraising, but are there other policies regarding meetings, elections, membership recruitment, project approval, field trips, conference attendance, and so forth? Have these policies in your notebook for quick reference when needed.
• Add a copy of your organization’s constitution and bylaws. Every group should have a written document that details what their purpose is, who can be members, how officers are elected, how often meetings are held, what committees exist, and so forth. A constitution is simply a written set of rules for a group. If your organization doesn’t have a constitution—or if the one it does have was written years ago when the group was first started—take the time to create one or update it. Advisers who operate without written guidelines for a group sometimes find themselves in difficult positions when they need to discipline members or dismiss officers and students and parents demand to see “where that rule is written.”
• Create a master calendar for the year that includes major dates from the school calendar; the guidance and testing schedule; holidays; your organization’s events and activities; events and deadlines for any state or national associations your group is affiliated with; and other major events or deadlines. Refer to this calendar before making plans for any group activities.
• Include a section for your organization’s budget for the year and copies of the accounting statements from the business office. When someone asks, “how much money do we have for…” a quick look in the notebook will yield the answer. As the year proceeds, make notes on the budget to indicate how accurate projections were; this will be of great help when it comes time to create next year’s budget.

The old phrase “a stitch in time saves nine” reminds us that a little proactive action now can save time later. Finding time amidst the busy activities of the start of the year to organize will help ensure that the rest of the year goes smoothly.

Lyn Fiscus (lyn@alliance4studentactivities.org)works as a freelance education writer, editor, and photographer for education associations. She is currently serving as vice president of the Alliance.