I enjoy reading other people's woes because not only does our school have alot, but they are all so different because of the size, locations, administration etc.

Anyways, one thing you might want to consider for your popcorn dilemma is putting out a call for volunteers. (This would all depend on your mail/correspondence system with your school) We have weekly folders that get sent home to parents. In past years, the PTO sent out a questionnaire in Sept. looking for volunteers for general things. My problem with that was I wasn't going to sign up for something that runs in January if I didn't know what I'd be doing in January! So, when my husband became President and volunteered me for secretary [img]redface.gif[/img] , it was a chance for me to change things. So, every month, we put out a VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES flyer. We list the event or fundraiser: the number of people needed, the hours involved (time of day and total number of hours working) and the person's responsibilities. For example: Fall Bookfair: Dec 1-5th. Cashiers: hours: any you can provide from 9am-2pm, list responsibilities. Then, listed set up crew, take down crew, and volunteers to help students with hours and responsibilities for each. We got more volunteers signed up than any book fair in the past. And so far, have had no problem getting volunteers for any of our functions. The reason? Each person knew when they had to be there, what they had to do and how long it would take.

Maybe you can do something like that looking for morning people and afternoon people.

Does your PTO/PTA benefit any of the teachers? (we give each teacher a certain amt for classroom enrichment) Although some don't use it or support what we do, we have alot of teachers who think what we do is wonderful, use the money to benefit their teaching of our kids so they give the others a little kick in the butt.

I think our teachers have an understanding that as part of their job, they need to hand in fundraiser forms the kids bring in etc. Our PTO has a mailbox right with the teacher's mailboxes, which happens to be in the teacher lunchroom so they usually bring the items/correspondence to the room when they eat lunch and toss them in our box. We do our best not to impose on their day. I'm sure there are teachers in our school that couldn't be bothered with us, but some just love us to death and use what we have to offer them. Can't please everyone, just kind of have to work with what you have.

Good luck!

Our school had similar challenges with popcorn, candy sales and other events. We've revised everything and do all these events during lunchtime. The students are not allowed to participate until all their lunch is eaten and so far, it's been smooth sailing and no interuptions for the teachers.

I tell you what, it sounds like it's time to invest in a voodoo doll or something. Not sure how well that would work but I do believe in karma and I think your principal will get what is coming in the end.

I can't understand why anyone would be against a fundraiser that benefits the kids!!! It's beyond me what is going through some of the school employees heads. Do they not realize that we are doing all of this work for free? Do they truly think we have nothing better to do than give countless hours to a job that is at times thankless and in your case, downright hostile???

Thanks for letting me vent. We actually just had a Thanksgiving Feast at our school and for the first time in years our parent group put together the whole volunteer roster and it went off without a hitch. The lunch lady was so terribly pleased and I have to tell you, it made it worth it just to have made her happy. Obviously we aren't doing this for the pats on the back but occasionally it is nice to have someone say Thank you!

[ 11-19-2004, 12:50 AM: Message edited by: shabrach ]

PUH-LEASE! I WISH I was a masochist--then I'd actually be getting some enjoyment out of all this angst! Unfortunately I'm completely stubborn to the bitter end, and tend to act like a dog with a bone. I HATE to lose. I probably should have thrown in the towel AGES ago, but I hate admitting defeat--especially to someone as obviously as "misguided" as the principal I'm dealing with. Besides, despite all my charming cynicism, I do have that glimmer of hope still burning that my son, and later my daughter, could have the most amazing school experiences to look back on. In retrospect I had it VERY good where I went to school, and I'd like for my kids to be able to look back on their school years with fondness rather than saying, "Gee--to be honest the years 2001 - 2009 are kind of a blur..."

As it was wisely pointed out to me by MichelleB, it may very well be the principal pitting people against each other, or if not pitting (as in my case)REALLY taking advantage of a bad situation to suit her/himself.

"Tired" doesn't even begin to describe it with me. Little things make me want to go postal--for example we're having a big fundraising event this weekend. We had to PUSH to get permission to hang promotional posters at the entrances of the school on Monday--and gee--guess what--my VP discovered yesterday that all those posters mysteriously disappeared. HMMMMMM. So now the dilemma of what to do (that we even had to discuss this made me mental--these are NOT the conversations parents should have to have in order to effectively raise money for the school)--do we ask the principal and risk a fight, or GASP--offended feelings that we could even CONSIDER such a dastardly deed was done? Do we go whining to the superintendent? Do we break out the rat poison a'la "9 to 5" with Dolly Parton and Lily Tomlin? Or do we do what we ended up doing--gritting our teeth and hanging the posters back up with nary a word said and see what happens now?

Situations like ours totally bum me out. I can't tell you how many times this month I felt that sticking a needle in my eye would have been more pleasurable than dealing with all the crap we've had to deal with. My fantasy is that I hit it big with the Powerball, and gift tons of stuff to the school, and have my name AND picture on plaques EVERYWHERE so that every turn this broad takes she's sees my mug grinning at her! [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Thank you Shelly and Kma for your replies! We have decided that we are only going to allow the children to buy one bag each (before they could buy as many as they wanted and many kids liked to take them home to share with siblings) and we have a volunteer lined up to hand them out after lunch.

It makes me very tired and sadly, I think some of the resistance we are meeting is coming from the principal. She doesn't act like it and I don't want to get into an adversarial relationship with her but the more I listen to her the more I think it is her rather than the teachers. It's hard to say.

KMA, I have read about some of your struggles and I just have to say WOW. You have hung in there so much longer than I think I would have been able to. Has anyone ever asked you if you are a masochist? LOL. Just teasing. I know you are doing it to make your kids' school a better place for them and I truly commend you. It just gets so tiring some days, doesn't it?

shabrach--Welcome to the boards!

What a bummer! I say this all the time, but WELCOME TO MY HELL! And with us it's not just the teachers, but the principal to boot! I would normally think it was me doing something wrong, but I know from past experience with our PTA that this has been an ongoing issue.

I feel your aggravation! I wouldn't even DREAM of doing your popcorn thing in our school--we can barely get them to hand out fliers for crying out loud! And what kills me is that it's not like you're doing this for your own profit--this IS done for the benefit of the children and school!

If your principal is supportive, would they consider having a sit-down with the teachers--asking them to go that extra LITTLE BIT out of their way can mean a lot of people, and actually prove that they give a sh+t. We've asked our principal for help and explained our philospohy on this, but to no avail, mainly because our principal has this attitude that fundraisers generally aren't dignified, and are akin to "garage sales." When I heard THAT came out of her mouth I felt like walking up to her and asking her where in the Hell she thought money was going to come from--that money tree in my backyard?!

It never ceases to amaze me that some people JUST DON'T GET IT. Sometimes it's doing that little extra that makes the kids so happy means all the difference--it shows that you actually care about more that a paycheck and YOURSELF. There have been so many times I wanted to shake the s out of a teacher and say, "oh for God's sake--LIGHTEN UP!" Yes, I understand contracts, and that they're there for a reason--but geez, it's not as though you're asking them to teach three extra classes and provide the books to boot! They're being asked to distribute a BAG OF POPCORN, or as in our case--a FLIER. If I saw the kids getting a STELLAR education, and were REALLY into school and getting spectacular test scores I'd be willing to cut them a little slack.

Can you tell our school has been having these issues as well? [img]tongue.gif[/img]