<p>Oh wow–these are great stories. In my (limited) experience, there is a subset of teachers and heavily-involved parents in every high school whose reasons for being involved with high schoolers is that they themselves are about 16 years old emotionally. Just way, way overinvested in teen stuff. </p>
<p>Privacy is a concern–I would be very irritated if the woman running our college center (an overinvolved mom by the way) was using her info to be competitive–but her kids are not rocket scientists and her agenda seems to be making sure they are homecoming queens. It’s harmless enough and I do find her machinations amusing.</p>
<p>I’m just fascinated at the idea of “volunteer parents” running the college information center! That is so…inappropriate. In our local district, parent volunteers are restricted to shelving library books, hanging artwork, running field day activities- that kind of thing. They don’t let parents NEAR the main office, guidance office or academic classrooms. Any new teachers, substitutes or paraprofessionals hired are told that any breach of confidentiality will result in instant dismissal. I thought it was law. Maybe our state laws are more strict than others?</p>
<p>I will freely admit to be very curious about how other kids did in testing and admissions when my first DD was approaching the process. If I could have known more then, I would have advised DD better, luckily for my other kids, CC grew and I could learn all that info I wanted to know…not gossip, but how certain profile kids would do in admissions for certain schools.</p>
<p>If I had inquired actively about the info I learn on CC, it would have had a real “ick” factor, so I can see a justification for wanting to know some of that info, but talking about it, letting the victims know what you know, etc are in very poor taste and seem to be the real purpose of the quest for information.</p>
<p>I can’t believe parents are allowed to volunteer in a “college information office” or to be involved in anything to do with college applications. This is really weird and should not be permitted.</p>
<p>Our school system has had a hard time funding that position in the past – so they’d rather have parent volunteers help out so that underserved kids have access rather than going without a college info office altogether. Those positions are currently funded here, but with budget cuts, non-teaching positions are on shaky ground (unless one talks about the administrators in the central office! Never can have enough of them, it seems…).</p>
<p>Biohelpmom–I wish it were so–if a volunteer did it they might find somebody who actually KNEW something about college! Our college center is staffed by a paid staff member, who has to hold a teaching certificate but does not have to actually soil him or herself in the classroom. As you can imagine it is a plum job and so it goes to the highest bidder. If there was ever a silver lining, it is that the latest incumbent lost her job to the funding cuts that were made because of the horrible state budget crisis. So we are all on our own booty hooty hoo–no more pearls of wisdom from somebody who can’t even get her own kid into the state flagship U.</p>
<p>It is certainly no weirder than all of us on CC trying to help each other in the virtual world. If our accumulated knowledge could help some kid (or some parent-we serve both kids and parents at our center) learn more about the college application process, why not permit it?</p>
<p>Because of the confidentiality issues raised in the original post? Seriously, students’ grades and test scores shouldn’t be accessible to other people.</p>
<p>I find the notion of a parent volunteer working in the college guidance center just horrifying. I would object if it went on at our high school. Or I would simply have my child bypass that particular “resource.” The defense of this sort of arrangement is always that the parent just wants to help because of budget cuts, etc. Ridiculous! Mom needs to go home and work on her resume and get a real job. She is way, way, way too involved in her kids’ world.</p>
I don’t see it this way. I think parent volunteers are quite valuable, whether they are otherwise employed or not. I’d never consider a mom to be “over-involved” merely because she isn’t employed outside of the home. My objection is to parent volunteers having access to confidential information (or information that any standard of common sense would consider confidential, whatever the actual legal standard is). Parent volunteers can and do make very significant contributions to our schools - I just think that this is an inappropriate area for their involvement.</p>
<p>One of the MODERATORS on this site posted information about a friend of one of her kids. I don’t know the moderator, but the information was sufficiently detailed that I instantly recognized the kid she was talking about. There’s no way the moderator could have known this, but it is a small world. I don’t think his parents would have been thrilled to know that I’d learned some info about their son from this site that they’d never share with me IRL. </p>
<p>So, I don’t mean to be “holier than thou,” but be careful what you write about other people’s children on this site. Sometimes it’s completely innocent–someone posts asking what schools you’d recommend for a kid who attends a certiain kind of high school with X grades and test scores and ECs. There’s sufficent info that a classmate’s parent who reads this site now knows his test scores. </p>
<p>So, while castigating nosy mom–and I too think she’s acting inappropriately–be careful what you say about other people’s kids on this board.</p>
<p>Frazzled- agreed. Volunteers are a valuable resource, but they should never, ever have access to private information about students. They also shouldn’t be working in sensitive areas like the guidance office where other confidential things are going on- PPTs, emotional breakdowns, meetings with the youth officer etc.</p>
<p>I’ve met a young student who posts frequently on this site and instantly recognised them from the information they had posted (grade, instrument, sport position, hometown, first name- eek!) I did not tell them that I already knew a lot about them- maybe I should have but it was just too awkward- but I do find myself trying to tell kids not to post too much information on the internet.</p>
<p>Our school’s college center has lots of mom volunteers, but they don’t substitute for guidance counselors. They keep the enormous volumes of college marketing materials filed and updated for each school, get the room set up for admissions officer visits, keep the website updated for upcoming visits and forms that can be printed, and help kids use the various college & major printed and on-line guides, and schedule appointments with counselors. I don’t see this as any kind of a problem – and given the budget situations most schools face, without the mom volunteers, our guidance counselors would have a lot less time available to work directly with kids.</p>
<p>I think that all guidance offices should re-examine their confidentiality protocols, especially with respect to parent volunteers. Educate or re-educate all on confidentiality issues as required. </p>
<p>I personally am going to be more sensitive to the issues brought up by this thread. Thanks all.</p>
<p>I find the notion that my child’s very nice and well meaning GC has given us not one but two pieces bad information that would have made him far, far less competitive for the schools he wants to apply too rather horrifying. </p>
<p>Here’s the thing, I can’t blame her. Texas is a huge state and she is an expert on Texas colleges. Our district is rather poor, the majority of those that do go to college are first generation and so getting a middle class kid into an out of state college is not really something I think she should spend her time on.</p>
<p>So, instead of complaining (well, not instead of but in addition to), I’m planning on offering to volunteer this fall and hopefully continue doing that in the years to come. </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>Volunteering is a real job. When I need career advice, you’ll be the first one I’ll ask. Until then, no input needed or welcome.</p>
<p>I would very much like to volunteer in my kids’ school guidance/college counseling office, because I don’t think some of the kids are getting very good advice! I’m not concerned about my own kids, because we’ve taken the responsibility to learn what we can on our own (thanks, CC). But I saw quite a few kids who should have been applying to more schools, to more selective schools, etc. So I don’t think a parent who does this is necessarily doing anything sneaky.
On the other hand, knowing information about other kids in the school might have some impact on a kids’ college list. Joey’s parents went to Stanford, and he got a 2370. Hmm. Maybe I won’t apply SCEA to Stanford. Seems like nobody is applying to Brown this year…hmmm…maybe I’ll apply to Brown.</p>
<p>I have done volunteering in my kids’ high school college center. The school does not have paid guidance counselors, so parents are it. I can understand the worries that many of you have brought up, but please keep in mind that parents actually can be honest and ethical! </p>
<p>I have access to confidential data, but I don’t look anything up unless I have a valid reason - because I’m helping a student look for target colleges or scholarships or something like that. I would not even feel comfortable looking up my own kids; if I wanted to know something about them I would ask them to show me using their own access methods. I also don’t talk about students outside school. So yes, there can be leaks, but I don’t know if they’re any more likely to happen with gabby parents than they are with gabby teachers. At my kids’ old school, I was often surprised in parent conferences to hear the things teachers said about other students.</p>
<p>The scenario Hunt brings up is more problematic. That isn’t about revealing confidential information; it’s about personally acting on it. It hasn’t come up in our school as far as I know, but I could imagine that happening.</p>
and instantly recognised them from the information they had posted (grade, instrument, sport position, hometown, first name- eek!) I did not tell them that I already knew a lot about them- maybe I should have but it was just too awkward- but I do find myself trying to tell kids not to post too much information on the internet.</p>