Transformation and the Parent Association

by: Antoinette DeSimini-Caruso, HTS Parent Association President

an internal organization of the school and a name change. More importantly, the new Parent Association can consider how best to support the Head of School in fulfilling school goals.

Never underestimate the power of a parent volunteer. Forty incredible years of success at HTS rest in large part with those who committed their time and effort to a vision of something bigger, something greater for our school community. The Parents’ Guild, now known as the Parent Association, was born in November 1981, when a parent approached the Head of School to ask if there was anything with which she might assist around the school; he invited her to co-ordinate a Christmas luncheon. From there, parents asked to join in and help as they could, and the group grew and was formalized as the Parents’ Guild.

The needs of the school over its 40 years have evolved and so have the undertakings of parent volunteers. What started out organizing carpools, co-ordinating hot-dog days and bake sales to raise funds, and providing refreshments at sporting events has grown, just as the school has grown. Even though duties such as bussing, the lunch program and community events have transitioned to internal duties of HTS, parent volunteers still have the same strong and passionate willingness to jump in and help where needed. This commitment is evident in the volunteer engagement in our community, which even extends beyond the Parent Association to learning teams, subcommittees of the Board of Governors and more.

The largest body of volunteers, those who spend their time brightening the days of students and staff alike, falls under the umbrella of the newly renamed HTS Parent Association. The Parent Association has transformed over the years to meet the needs of our school; however, it continues to serve a fundamental purpose within our community to enhance the social, physical and spiritual environment of the school, while fostering community spirit among students, staff and friends of HTS.

In 2018, the Community Relations and Development team worked with the Governance Committee of the Board to more clearly define a volunteer strategy at HTS. As the largest volunteer body at the school, this presented an opportunity to more closely align the work of the Parents’ Guild to the work of the school, and resulted in the formal incorporation of the Guild into

During this transformative process, the Parent Association worked to redefine volunteering opportunities at HTS; it refined its programming and updated its organizational structure and position descriptions. While the volunteer initiatives may have changed over the years, and some were paused as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Parent Association still assists with fun activities that build community at HTS, including organizing the Running and Walking Club, hosting the Supper Club and decorating the campus for holidays.

As ambassadors of the community, the Parent Association executive is supported by HTS with professional development to ensure alignment between their volunteer work and the goals of the school. In the 2020–21 school year, the executive worked with Sandra Herbst, former Chief Strategic Officer, to develop skills in effective team collaboration. What emerged was a new meeting structure that focuses on sharing external learning with the group, utilizing paraphrasing and mediative questions, and in adopting a new agenda structure to increase meeting efficiency. To support the ongoing commitment at HTS to create a more equitable learning and working environment, the executive, along with HTS staff and members of the Board of Governors, participated in a series of three “Deep Diversity” professional-development sessions with Anima Leadership in 2021. Through these sessions, the group learned about how identity and bias, power structures feed into institutional and systemic racism. The Parent Association Executive met again with Sandra Herbst, Chief Strategic Officer, in early 2022 to consider the learning of the last few years and to imagine new ways to connect and better serve the HTS parent community in the coming year.

The Parent Association continues to find meaningful and purposeful ways for volunteers to contribute to and enhance our community, while supporting the school’s mission, vision and strategic aspirations. The Association will work closely with the Head of School and the Community Relations and Development department to introduce initiatives, events and programming that align with annual school goals and contribute to their achievement, while having fun and continuing to build and support the incredible community for which HTS is so well-known.