An Ask…

To my fellow Dorothy Lynas parents and grandparents,

Over the past few months as I have become more and more knowledgeable about how our school community operates, one resounding truth has risen to the forefront time and time again: Our school community is supported by a dedicated, caring and passionate group of volunteers who do their utmost to ensure our school administration, faculty and most importantly our children are supported and enabled to flourish.

What has also become clear to me is that the majority of this volunteer time and effort is shouldered by a relatively small group of dedicated parents and grandparents. And while this small group is exceptional in all that they do, the level of engagement, activity and contribution is simply not sustainable and quite honestly unfair for such a small group to bear. Especially in a school with over 500 students.

And so I have an ask of each of you:

If you are not doing so already, please consider volunteering your time towards the PAC and its many activities. I know that everyone is busy in so many different ways. I am quite honestly amazed when I consider how busy my fellow PAC Executive members and core group of volunteers are, and yet when I see what they can do, it inspires me to dig a bit deeper. And this is what I am asking you to do today…please dig deeper.

For our school community to continue to thrive (quite honestly for it to continue to simply maintain its current level of activity), we need an influx of new volunteers. My ask is that you consider giving only a few hours of your time, knowledge and expertise. It will make all the difference in the world to our school, our children and to each of you I am more than certain.

To help facilitate this volunteer effort and ask, the PAC Executive has created a Volunteer Notice Board that accompanies this letter outlining some of the more immediate needs our school has. If you do not see something that is of interest on the Board, please consider signing up as a general volunteer and we will approach you with new opportunities to contribute as they arise.

It is often too easy to say, the next person will take care of it and move on. I have been guilty of that before as well. But I ask you to please not do that this time. Our school and children deserve our absolute best.

I sincerely thank you for your time and consideration.

Rahim Rajan

Chairperson – Parent Advisory Council

Dorothy Lynas Elementary