These three articles found here at PTOToday.com were helpful to our group that struggled with 3 people at each meeting last year and the same 3 volunteering constantly. We now are up to 50 members and at least 12 at every meeting. Great suggestions and encouragement can be found in these articles.
8b8, don't feel bad. We only have 3 active members in our PTO as well. We send home letters, reminders, a monthly newsletter, etc. We always inform our parents about what is going on in our PTO, but no one wants to step up to help. The 3 of us are totally burned out. We talk to parents all the time after school, but everyone seems to be too busy.
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Seriously, right now your group may be suffering from a perception problem. If your small team manages to keep things up and running, everyone may assume that you like it just fine that way. Actually, many parents may be surprised to find out that your school even has a PTO. The more you can educate the community about your group and all it does, the better your involvement numbers. Programs like the ones PTO Today offers can really help get the word out in a big way. There's also 2 Hour Power to help parents ease their way in without signing their life away.
jurijeka is right. Spend the rest of this year slowly getting the word out, talking to parents, using year end activities to publicize your group more. But then use the summer months to develop some great back to school events to get the ball rolling early next school year.
Registration, Back to School Night and Open House are three great events at the beginning of the year that PTOs use to promote the group. Talk to your prinicipal about ways your group can have a prominent presence at these events to really get out there and meet parents.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
Talk to everybody!! Not asking for things, just conversation about what's going on and what you'd like to do. Get the information out there. Talking works better sometimes than flyers and definitely better than meetings. I get most of our help from parking lot chats. If someone shows interest, then ask if they'd be available to serve coffee at such and such or make posters for field day. Start with a parent in your classroom - ask her to bring a friend. Slow but steady.
