I ask for a e-mail with their request and they really do need to attend the meeting if they need the money. We are a K-12 school so the new forming high school clubs are limited to fundraisers so I ask that they help me out (shhhh they don't know it's volunteering but that cool word "community service project" just wish baby sitting my kids counted!! HA HA ) and it sure makes writing the check a little easier and they know they worked hard for it.
It's hard when something has always been done or giving out every year to hope or expect something back.
I GUESS WE ARE VERY LUCKY AT OUR LAST PTO MEETING WE HAD ALL OF OUR TEACHERS AND PAROPRO'S THERE. WE HAD OVER 200 PARENTS AND FAMILY MEMEBERS THERE 2 WE WHERE SHOCKED, AND THIS IS OUR VERY FIRS TIME DOING PTO ANY OF US AS PTO OFFICERS. BUT WE ALSO KEEP COMMUNICATION OPEN BETWEEN TEACHERS AND US . JUST NEXT WEEK WE ARE GOING TO DECORTAE FOR THE SCHOOL CHRISTMAS PARTY. I FEEL LIKE LITTLE THINGS LIKE THAT HELP. JUST LIKE FOR THANKSGIVING WE GAVE EACH TEACHER COLORING SHEET WITH A CRAYON AND WROTE. HAVE COLORFUL THANKSGING. THEY LOVED IT.
I guess we're very lucky. At our meetings we can have anywhere from 1 teacher to 5 teachers there. There has not been any meeting where the teachers didn't show up.
Our Principal also invites the PTA/PTO officers to his faculity meetings once a month. This gives the teachers a chance to ask questions if they couldn't make our meeting. It also gives us all the opportunity to be on the same page at all times. Our principal is very keen on keeping the lines of communication open at all times!
We usualy have one teacher rep at every meeting but it is because they want to be there. They know that if we have the funds and they need something like a field trip, classroom supplies or an enrichment program we do not like to say no.
We also give the teachers some kind of stipend small as it may be every year. Last year we gave the teachers a Staples Gift Card...$50.00 if the y were a PTA member $25.00 if they were not...we had a lot more teachers join this year.
At our school, we usually have 2 teacher reps. They rotate each month since they do spend a lot of time at school (before,during,after) If teachers want something discussed then they let the reps of that month's meeting know & they bring it up. The reps also report back to the teachers about what was discussed at the meeting.
When someone laments to me about the lack of teachers attending(although we have been pleasantly surprised by the increase this year), and they comment that maybe we shouldn't give them money unless they do, I remind them that the money isn't going into the teacher's pocket so they can go buy a new wardrobe. The money is being spent on materials and supplies that improve the educational opportunities for our children. The teachers are just the conduits through which the money funnels so that it can be used to purchase the items that are needed for each classroom.
Personally, I don't want teachers to be attending meetings so they can "earn" their education fund allotment, I want them there because they are great sources of information and ideas for how our group can best help in the school and what areas need our focus.
