Sounds like we're on the same page.

#1 - Our group has purchased stickers that go on anything that is purchased with PTO funds. It states something like "this is the property of the school, the funds raised to buy it were raised through PTO." Bought a roll of 1000 self-sticking return address lables for about $8.00 - got the ad from the Sunday newspaper fliers with check orders.

#2 - When a teacher asks for money, we require that they attach a letter from the department head, the principal, or the district stating that the funds being requested are not available elsewhere in the school or district budget.

#3 - We have people sign in at meetings by grade level - parents and teachers. At the end of each trimester the grade level that has had the highest attendance receives rewards. This semester it is a basket for each class in that grade level that contains educational games. The teacher can use these during class or they can be used during rainy day recesses. (Of course each game and the basket will be marked with the labels from # 1 above.)

#4 - We have begun this past month to give away a gift certificate at each meeting. While we are purchasing these right now, we are doing it with "found" money - a local store gave us a cash donation that was not solicited, so that's what we opted to spend that cash on. The day of the meeting we put a note in each teacher's box to remind them of #3 contest as well as # 4.

Hope some of this helps - at least you know you aren't alone in marking items purchased with PTO funds!

You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. To avoid hurt feelings, I would suggest that you could do a couple things. One, ask last year's teacher to talk to the new gal. Have her explain how important it is to your group, to the other teachers, to the school and to the children that she do her 'job' well. She may not be trying to thwart you, she just may not realize how troubling this has become. This could also be accomplished by you or the principal, if you think it can be done without emotion, more on a business level if you know what I mean. Two, you could send a letter to all the teachers and explain what you want and what you expect from them. Kind of take her place and do it on paper? Explain that your group has money to spend on them, money they can't get anywhere else, but that in exchange for the money, they have to attend and participate. You could put your letter on the back of a copy of the upcoming agenda, or on the back of the previous meeting Minutes. Three, bring it up at your next meeting. Ask the members for their ideas on how to solve this problem. Be careful not to let it get ugly.
As for the teachers who held their own 'mini meeting' during your first meeting,

<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> We did have several come to the first meeting who gripped about almost everything we were doing and held their own private conversation when (I guess) what we were discussing didn't interest them.
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what would they do if that had been children in their classes while they were talking? They would have interupted and asked them if they wanted to share with the whole group. I have done this. It sounds worse than it is. It is a bit embarrassing for them, but no matter how they explain it later, they can't get away from that what they were doing was wrong. In the letter you send around to the teachers (from above suggestion #2), you might make mention, nicely of course - get your best wordsmith to do it, of proper etiquette during an organized meeting. You might tell them that they expect money and you expect participation and that they go hand in hand.
Teachers who 'pop in' long enough to ask for money should be given the same courtesies they give you. None. One of the things I explained at our meetings was that teachers who attend, teachers who make the effort, teachers everyone is familiar with, get the dough. Guess what? I usually had more teachers than parents! It will also help if you can get the principal to give them credit for attending. Our teachers got big brownie points for their efforts in attending meetings. Not college points, but similar.
Lastly, you could ask that each grade provide one teacher each meeting. This is what I did. To expect them all to attend wasn't realistic, so I asked that each grade provide one teacher a meeting, to represent their grade. Each month, we had a different teacher because they rotated their turns, and then reported back to their respective grades what had occurred during the meetings. This worked out great! This year, the new prez is giving out a $10 gift certificate from her own teaching supply store for the teacher who attends witht the most parents. You might offer something like that as an incentive. I offered a $10 grocery gift certificate (donated, of course!) to the class with the most parents and teacher in attendance. $10 will just about pay for cupcakes and punch for a class of 25. I always felt that the best pressure was from children who want a party...lol...

Good Luck!

[ 11-11-2002: Message edited by: TheMetzyMom ]</p>

We have a teacher who is on the board (faculty coordinator). Last year's teacher was a dream! She scheduled teachers to attend each of the meetings, was always a huge help, and you could tell she really wanted to make a difference. This year last year's teacher wanted to be the faculty coordinator as well, but since another one of the teachers wanted the position, she stepped down (although she still makes it to MOST of our meetings).

This year's teacher is a COMPLETELY different story. The only time teachers come to the meetings are because they want something. We did have several come to the first meeting who gripped about almost everything we were doing and held their own private conversation when (I guess) what we were discussing didn't interest them.

That's when we set up our meeting guidelines. Last year's teacher helped us through this Baldridge method of setting up our guidelines a few meetings ago and so far it has seemed to really work, however the only teacher showing up lately is the fac coord.


Our last meeting consisted of the fac coord and the music teacher who just 'popped' in to ask us to buy risers ($3100!!) and then left again.

We've just voted in a new set of bylaws where it states that any and all allocation forms (this is a form teachers and staff have to complete before asking the PTO for money) must be turned into the office 1 week previous to a meeting so I can review and allocate the needed time to review them during the meeting. I overheard her telling the principal that there wouldn't be very many allocation forms this year.

After I asked the principal about it he said he thinks the teachers feel like we don't trust them. This is because the PTO asked, and the princpal agreed, to have the books and supplies that the PTO buys marked as such so if a teacher leaves the school/district, they'll leave the books and supplies we purchased for the school.

We also, sigh, hurt one of the teachers feelings when we decided to get the ball rolling on the schools website when a parent stepped forward at one of our meetings with the skills. This was all agreed with the principal but apparently one of the teachers was trying to work on it but didn't have the time. We thought we were helping and asked for her input with the project but apparently we offended her.

By the way the principal is also on our board and does attend all meetings. He's the second vp and advises the board on school issues. We haven't had a problem with him at all.

Can anyone give me some advise on how to handle this? Should I ignore it and hope it blows over or should I address it? How should I address it?