Committees: Find your Niche

Graphic Design Committee: Are you a visual artist or graphic designer? Have an eye for design? Can you crank out a colorful poster or flyer in the blink of an eye? Can you help us print out flyers and materials for various events or fundraisers? We need your creative talents to advertise our great events! Send Stevie an email and she'll be your guide.

School Beautification Committee: Wanna transform the drab lobby into a whimsical, enchanted garden? Do you see an East Village mosaic covering the entrance to the school? If you have a creative vision and want to see our school reflect the beauty that is within more boldly, then please join our cause. Email Vanessa if you've got a creative vision ... or you're good with scissors!

Website Committee: We’ve got a small, dedicated team of three working diligently, but if you’re a web guru, we’d like to know you. We may only need you for an occasional bit of advising, but it’d be AWESOME to pool our collective talents. This is a great opportunity to have a lasting impact on Earth! Contact Vanessa if you wanna get digital.

Yearbook Committee: Are you good at graphics, taking photos, choosing/sorting/organizing memories? Then this is the committee for you. Your kids (and everyone else's kids) will thank you for years to come. These books are cherished. Big time.

School Calendar:

T-Shirt Design and Sales:Wanna be a wearable part of Earth School history? Design the next school t-shirt and watch your art come and go down the halls! They make great holiday gifts and are a nice keepsake for the kids.

School Photo Coordinator: Help coordinate Picture Day! If you're organized, have a high tolerance for forced smiles and like to send e-mail reminders, this is the job for you! Both of you. (It's better if there are at least two of you.)

Fifth Street Farm (or Rooftop Farm) Committee: Got a green thumb? This is a tri-school effort of teachers and parents to develop the rooftop garden/learning center for our children. It's one of the coolest things about our school! Contact Colin if you'd like to get your hands dirty.

Grant Writing Committee: Seek out and write grants to fund various projects at Earth School. Sounds boring, I know, but think about how much less fundraising we'd all have to do if we could find organizations to help fund our wonderful programs! We'll try to make free, unlimited chocolate and shoulder massages a perk of joining this committee. Stay tuned.

Jocelyn’s Elves: Jocelyn, our fearless Parent Coordinator, needs helpers throughout the year to help wrangle up childcare and solicit food donations for various small events throughout the year. If you like to lend a hand and have free time now and then, this is the job for you!

Food Committee: Are you a passionate home cook or professional chef? Help us further the cause of good nutrition in our cafeteria and encourage our kids (and parents) to cook and eat healthy, whole foods at home. We hope to launch a collaborative school food blog, highlighting recipes cooked by the children in Tim’s class, as well as healthy recipes for meals and snacks contributed by our diverse community. The blog will culminate in an Earth School recipe book that will be available for sale at the end of the year.

Holiday Bake Sales: Calling all bakers! We’d love to know who makes a mean brownie or pie in this community! We know you’re out there with some amazing family recipes, just waiting to wow the Earth School Community. Please sign up below if you’re ready and willing to bake for a good cause.

Thursday Popcorn Sales: The ever-popular popcorn sales after school! It’s always a relief to walk into school, having forgotten to pack a snack for your famished children, and smell freshly popped corn that will save you a trip to the deli and a meltdown. Renee is on board to lead the sales. We’re seeking one or two assistants who can help out. It’s painless, we promise, and Renee is a lovely person to boot. The commitment is: Thursdays from 2:30-3:30.

Coffee Club: By ordering your coffee through the Earth School, you get great coffee and the school gets money. Order forms are in each classroom. Also, brewed coffee is sold in the lobby of the school about once a month. Best conversation in the East Village, they say.

Parent Advocacy Committee: Are you a passionate activist ready to fight for our children’s education? This newly formed vibrant group addresses public policy issues that affect education and schools. Join Earth parents and other schools from around the neighborhood and the city to protest budget cuts, standardized testing, No Child Left Behind - if you care about these issues then P.A.C. is for you.

Environmental Committee: This group ensures that the Earth School lives up to its name and fulfills its mission to protect the planet. This group will create monthly environmental challenges (zero waste days, meatless weeks, donating to help an endangered species, weeding a garden, picking up neighborhood trash, etc) for the students, culminating in an Earth Day Celebration on April 22, 2016.

Lice Check: All are grateful for this service that helps keep those pesky little parasites from infiltrating our apartments. Karjean will be running it this year, but we need another volunteer or two to round out the team of The Parasite Police! Maybe we can even spring for a special badge?

Read-a-thon Committee: Last year we held our first Read-a-thon (in recent memory) and we collectively raised over $11,000! A two-person team spearheaded the month-long event, but we’d love to expand it this year. The loads will be light and the ideas for expansion are many. We’d love to spit-ball those ideas with a larger group and get more hands on deck this year so we can double what we raise! It’s totally possible! Also, seeking corporate matching gifts for this fundraiser to really take it to a new level! Start thinking now. We’re aiming to hold the Read-a-thon in January this year if scheduling permits. Contact Paulino if you wanna help turn books into bucks!

Spring Auction: One of the biggest events of the year! The Spring Auction is a great community and fundraising event. It is led by Goldie Gareza this year, but she will need lots of volunteers and donations. Check out the Events tab on the website to check out last year’s event and you’ll get a sneak peek. It’s a night not to be missed!

Magic Show: The Great Cardone needs a special assistant! No flashy outfit required … unless you’re into that sort of thing. This is one of the most anticipated events of the year for the kids. It’s a fun night out for the whole family. We need one or two parents to help coordinate ticket sales, food and drink sales, and to recruit parents for set-up and clean-up duties. Pretty painless and over before you can say “Abracadabra!

Movie Nights: Are you a movie lover? Wanna help coordinate one of the most painless and fun fundraisers we’ve got going on? Popcorn, pizza, water, good kid movie – BOOM. You’re in bed by 9 and the school makes a nice bundle.

Tour Preparation: Work with Jocelyn, our Parent Coordinator, to ensure that tour folders are completed and ready for every tour (tours take place twice a month). Make copies; create folders, schedule/remind other Earth School families who are involved on the tour.

Within the greater East Village/Lower East Side community:

Community Education Council (CEC) of District One: The CEC is the parent voice of our district when communicating with the Mayor and the School Chancellor. Nine elected parents, two appointees of the Borough President and one student member all volunteer their time to shape educational policy in our unique district of choice. The Council holds monthly public meetings, evaluates community superintendents and provides input on important policy issues.