I had those same feelings. I finally talked to my principal about it and she said; "There is always someone." She was right. That was two years ago and our PTO is still going strong. I still have people asking me to run. It is tempting because I miss it, but I couldn't give it the time I feel I need to and I am confident someone will run again.

I know how you feel. I'm already feeling pressure to run again in May even after trying to back out. Of course, there's no one stepping up yet that is interested in any of the positions up for election. I hope that changes. I have let it be known that if elected again that I would not solely take on all the responsibilities. There will have to be members willing to chair committees or they will go undone. I would hate to see that happen because I'm all for fun for the kids. But, I cannot handle the stress another year. Hopefully someone will step up for you. Surely, no one would want to lose all those great things for their kids. Like others have said, maybe the principal could step in and send home a letter stating what will happen and what you all will lose if no one steps up. When it comes down to it, someone would step up. I would have never stood out and said I wanted to run. Someone nominated me at a meeting and I wouldn't have turned it down. Maybe there's someone just waiting to be asked. Good Luck to you!

It is sad that you are in a good size school with that many kids and no one really helping out.

Ultimately you need to do what you have to do.
Don't blame yourself and feel bad. You are one parent out of 850 kids!

Have you spoken to the principal about this? Maybe he can send a flyer home urging some support. Let the folks know that otherwise the organization will be disbanded and then all the things the kids will no longer have.

Good Luck!

Last year I sent home personal notes asking moms of my son's friends if they would just give it a try. I sent 3 notes, got 2 phone calls, and 1 mom who came to a meeting. She has been our fillin Pres. since the last one quit as well as an awesome helper. And the best part, our oldest children are friends so they play well while we have impromtu brainstorm time. We are the only 2 parents in our group. I'm not saying this is the best way to recruit but it helped me when I was desperate. Good luck.

I'm the president of our parent teacher group at a large (850 student) elementary school. Like all the schools in our area, we have very few volunteers. We are in California and the cost of housing is so high I think we have a lot of dual-income families that don't volunteer. Anyway, my term is up in June. We had no president-elect this year - no one ever came forward to fill the job despite lots of pleading. Our bylaws say an officer can be in a position for two years if necessary. I'm willing to be president again but not without help. I just can't do the job and not have a president-elect to help out and train. We do a lot of fundraising and support a lot of programs at the school.

We have even offered to change the bylaws to allow for two people to share the president-elect/president's job, and still no one is interested. I have discussed it with the board and I'm thinking of sending out a message saying that either someone steps forward to take the president-elect job or we will dissolve the organization.

If we do dissolve, the kids at school will lose out on the only art program they receive, field trips, magazines, PE programs, etc. No teacher reimbursements or grade-level grants. I hate to see the students pay the price, but I'm exhausted and I can't do this alone for another year.

Has anyone else ever had to do this? I'm not a grandstanding kind of person, but I don't know what else to do. I have reached out personally to everyone I know and no one wants the job. Any other ideas? Thanks -