2026-2027 Chair Recruitment

The 4th Grade parent / guardian in this role has the opportunity to work with the 4th Grade students to help them raise funds for the upcoming 5th grade activities. The Ice Cream Social takes place during the End of the Year Lincoln Community picnic (usually the last Friday in May). The Chair is responsible for organizing, acquiring the necessary supplies needed, and promoting the event. 

Ensure your 5th grade student goes out with a bang! Lincoln has many 5th grade traditions that make the final year very special for our 5th graders. The parent / guardian activities chair(s) work closely with the 5th grade teacher liaison to coordinate these special activities and projects including the 1,000th day of school, a yearbook, t-shirts, and an end-of-the-year dance. Liaisons will work with other parent / guardian volunteers and school staff. This role is a yearlong commitment. 

A community favorite, our book fair does more than sell fabulous books.  By hosting a book fair, we become eligible for in-school and virtual author visits.  We also receive a portion of the fair's sales, either in cash, or in the form of credits that we use to supplement classroom libraries and to create book bags filled with summer reading books for kids in need.

Book Fair Chair(s) work closely with the Lincoln librarian to organize two book fairs per year (fall and spring). Responsibilities include coordinating with the book fair supplier, supervising set-up and tear-down of the book fair, recruiting volunteers to help, and overseeing the book fair during shopping hours. The role is seasonal, with most of the required volunteer time focused in October and May. This role is a great opportunity for someone who loves books and wants to encourage a love of reading within our Lincoln community.

The Lincoln Carnival has been a Lincoln tradition for over 70 years! It is a memorable event for kids and a big fundraiser for the PTO. The Carnival Chairs work with a committee of individuals, including the VPs of Fundraising, to ensure a successful carnival. Areas of responsibility include silent auction, ticket of choice, sponsorships, games & prizes, communications, ticket sales, decorations, volunteers and food. This is a yearlong commitment and requires availability September - February. Project management or event planning experience are very helpful. 

The Can Do Community Challenge is an in-school, district-wide effort in collaboration with Beyond Hunger. The Chairs are the main contacts for Beyond Hunger, and they organize the non-perishables and monetary collection efforts, work with Lincoln teachers to involve the student council, coordinate an in-school presentation for older students and promote the efforts in the community. The challenge takes place in the month of April and preparation begins in March.

Lincoln has a gorgeous garden, perfect for hands on student learning and available for the community to enjoy. Students love to stroll through after school, checking on plants, tasting tomatoes, and eyeing the insects. Garden Club Chair(s) work with a teacher liaison to create opportunities for students to plant, care for and harvest the vegetables in the Lincoln School garden. They also create and manage a budget to cover plants, mulch, tools, etc. 

Grownup Garden Meetups happen after school in the garden on the south side of the school, and serve to encourage connections among Lincoln families. Adults take charge of some of the bigger and less-enticing garden projects--weeding, invasive plant removal, structural improvements--so the students can have fun learning experiences during their garden club time. Students are welcome to join these Grownup Garden Meetups, but childcare is not provided. Come to learn about gardening, lend a helping hand, or just to hang out! We have snacks, drinks, books, and prizes for kids who collect trash.

Girls on the Run is a beloved after school running program for girls in grades 3-5. It uses an interactive curriculum and running to develop self-esteem and a healthy lifestyle. The core curriculum addresses many aspects of girls' development - physical, emotional, mental, and social well-being. Beginning in March, the program meets 2 days/week after school for 12 weeks. Chair(s) liaison with the regional Girls on the Run program, coordinate volunteer coaches, communicate with parents, and arrange transportation for the culminating 5k downtown.

Green Team Co-Chair(s) work in collaboration with a teacher liaison to promote green living and implement green events.  Previous activities implemented by the Green Team have included a lunchtime waste sorting program to help kids compost and recycle waste, Halloween costume exchange, a bottle top collection in collaboration with Garden Club, and a sports team equipment exchange. This role is a yearlong commitment.

The Hungry Minds Pasta Dinner is hosted by the 5th grade students to raise funds for a hunger relief charity of their choice. Pasta is donated from local businesses, and the dinner is held in the Lincoln Cafeteria in the Spring. The Chair is responsible for creating the registration on the PTO website to manage ticket sales, creating the flyers and managing the marketing, organizing the food donations, gathering the materials needed for the dinner, and coordinating student and parent volunteers for the event.  

The parent / guardian Kindergarten Liaisons work closely with the kindergarten teacher liaison and the Community Engagement VPs to create a welcoming, informative environment for the new incoming kindergarten students and parents / guardians. The parent/ guardian liaisons will create and manage a Facebook group for the new families, plan a kindergarten playdate before the start of the school year, attend and distribute information at kindergarten supply drop off, attend the kindergarten parent/guardian meeting on the first day of school, and organize an October and year-end kindergarten playdate. This role is a yearlong commitment with the busiest period being summer and the week leading up to school starting.

Let Me Run is a running program for boys in grades 4-5 that encourages teamwork, emotional growth, goal-setting, relationship building, and living an active lifestyle. It meets for 8 weeks, 2 times/week in the Fall and culminates with a 5K run. The Chair(s) and Lead Coaches participate in a Let Me Run training, work with the PTO communications team to recruit students and assistant coaches, oversee the assistant coaches and curriculum implementation, and communicate with families. The program runs September-November.

Lions Academy is an after school enrichment program. PTO partners with Lincoln teachers & staff, Oak Park Education Foundation (OPEF) and other local providers to provide after school activities throughout the year. There are 3 sessions - Fall, Winter, and Spring. The Lions Academy Co-Chairs(s) help organize and facilitate the after school enrichment program for Lincoln students. Chairs will collaborate with provider partners on class offering & schedule for 3 sessions during the school year. They will promote the program throughout the school community and help facilitate communication with Lincoln staff and families.

Lions Read is a literacy program for students in need of reading materials or reading support. Students are invited to attend Lions Read programming during recess; participation is optional. The PTO also funds "book bags" sent home with kids who would benefit from having additional summer reading materials at home. School personnel select students for both program components and manage all communication with students and families. The chair manages the program budget (helping teachers get reimbursements as needed), provides volunteer support as needed, and oversees a book drive in September.   

Movie Night Co-Chairs will coordinate a fun-filled community movie night!  Chairs will reserve the theater, create marketing materials, work with the PTO communications team fo get relevant information and ticket sales on the PTO website, promote the event, source/purchase modest raffle prizes, and attend the event to distribute tickets and run the raffle.  Most of the commitment for this event is in the two months leading up to the event.

The Multi-cultural Celebration is a festival of our diversity at Lincoln School. Our goal is to embrace ALL of our Lincoln's families' cultures and creating a strong sense of belonging in our community. This event will feature different art forms of various cultures through performance and visual media, provide learning opportunities of multiple cultures represented in our Lincoln community, and feature samplings of cuisines from all around the world. The Chairs are responsible for planning and organizing the event and recruiting different families (from the student body) who would like to showcase their culture to the community. 

The Multi-Language Learners Chair(s) will partner with our ESL teacher to identify and act on ways to be more inclusive of our families that have a preferred primary language at the school. If you have experience as a dual-language speaker or an English language learner and who understands the needs of our community this position is perfect for you! Some ways we can offer this service is by creating an event to bring families together (such as the Multi-cultural Fest), offering some information in other languages (such as our PTO newsletter), a support group of some kind, a "Welcome to Lincoln" packet, etc. This role is a year long commitment. 

The Room Coordinator program is designed to foster a sense of belonging / community and support Lincoln's teachers.  The Room Coordinator chair is responsible for overseeing the program and supporting the efforts of each classroom’s room coordinators. Key duties include recruiting and assigning room coordinators for each classroom, conducting an initial training session for new room coordinators, maintaining the annual room coordinator guide and calendar, and sending out reminder emails as needed throughout the year to room coordinators re: key events and duties. This is a yearlong commitment. 

Chair(s) are responsible for working with teacher liaisons to plant and care for the plants in the Lincoln School pond and courtyard garden as well as identify and oversee initiatives that enhance the space for teaching and learning.

Lincoln’s annual read-a-thon is our biggest fundraiser and it's so much fun! The parent/guardian chair works closely with the front office to coordinate the event. Responsibilities include coordinating with the read-a-thon company, setting up the school website, promoting the event, purchasing prizes for daily raffles and classroom/teacher winners, and daily social media updates.  

The School Supply Kit Chair works closely with the Lincoln School front office to coordinate the sale of complete school supply kits to families.  Beginning in the spring, the Chair coordinates the sale with the school supply company and promotes the sale to Lincoln families.  Promotion continues over the summer.  Once the supply kits arrive at the school, this volunteer organizes the distribution of the kits to the different classrooms usually a week or a few days before the first day of school. The busiest time for this role is at end of summer / beginning of the school year.

This role is lead by one individual who, in coordination with the Communications team, is responsible for managing and posting information for all of the current PTO events and activities on the PTO Social Media platforms including Instagram and Facebook. Some of the events include Movie Night, Trivia Night, Carnival, dine out restaurant nights, and many others. It is a year long commitment. 

This position plays a key role in supporting the Spanish Immersion Program at Lincoln School. The main goal is to help the Spanish Immersion teachers with the planning of various community building events and activities and to provide transparent communication and encourage collaboration with the family members in the program. 

The Chairs(s) will work to increase visibility, understanding, and inclusion of diverse learners and special education within Lincoln School.  Possible initiatives include family support, programs/events, and providing recommendations for current programs/events.  Ideally chairs would attend monthly PTO meetings.

Staff Appreciation Co-Chairs are responsible for organizing school-wide efforts to celebrate teachers and staff including but not limited to: staff lounge refreshments, luncheons during parent / teacher conferences, and staff appreciation aligned with national recognition days (ex: recognition of teacher assistants, custodians, nurses, social workers, office staff, etc). They also coordinate with the Room Coordinator Chair to ensure appreciation efforts are complementary and equitable across staff members. This is a yearlong commitment. 

Lincoln's spirit wear is sold through the Lincoln School Administrative office and includes a variety of items. In addition to promoting school spirit, spiritwear sales benefit the PTO, with a portion of the proceeds donated back. The co-chair works with Mrs. Roskopf to keep our spirit wear offerings fresh, promotes the merchandise in newsletters and social media, maintains sample items, and ensures the sale of merchandise at community events such as the back-to-school picnic, carnival, curriculum night, etc. 

Trekkers is a lunchtime wellness program for grades 1-5 where interested students walk/run around the perimeter of the field. The Trekkers chair works with the Assistant Principal to plan the program. Specific responsibilities include creating student punch cards, creating an organizing system to store and distribute cards, setting up a check-in table, recruiting volunteers to help run the check-in table and punch cards, and overseeing the volunteers and students. This is a yearlong chair commitment and requires availability one day/week from 11:15-12:45 PM from October-December and March-May. 

The Trivia Night Chairs plan and coordinate our annual trivia night including location, date and food/drink offerings. They are responsible for working with the PTO communications team to get relevant information and ticket sales on the PTO website.  They also create a flyer, promote the event with families and staff, and are on-site to help coordinate teams at the event.  Trivia Night usually occurs in March or April. 

WLP is an optional language instruction program that takes place during recess. Collaborating with the teacher co-chair, parent / guardian co-chairs create a schedule, recruit instructors, create informational materials, work with the PTO communications team to get relevant information and registration forms on the PTO website, liaison with program instructors, create and manage the budget and communicate with families.