Last year the PTO sarted hosting a WElcome Back BBQ for the staff and the school has a Open House night.
This year we are planning a bigger event as we have a new Executive Director, he was hired late July and a really good Meet and Greet didn't get planned SO this year we need to do that! We are also looking at an election year for two school board positions with our school board. Busy fall!
We have a Newcomer's Welcome for a half hour before the Open House begins - 2 or 3 weeks after school starts.
Our VP manages this function. She sends a letter and invitation to all of the parents new to the school. It isn't a "recruitment fair" but we do share PTO brochures and have members on hand to answer questions. We serve coffee, cookies, juice and water.
Here's the basic schedule:
6:30 - Superintendent welcomes parents, introduces himself and points out the principal, asst principal, PTO President and key staff members, such as the Cafeteria Manager and the School Nurse. He then gives a 5 minute talk about the school.
6:35(ish) - Principal introduces himself, talks for a couple of minutes and then opens the floor up for Q&A.
6:40-7:00 - Parents ask questions and the appropriate person answers.
7:00 - Open House begins and families go on to see the rest of the school.
We all mill around and make ourselves available to anyone who would like to talk more.
A half hour may sound short but we sure to get a lot talked about in that amount of time.
We tried once to have a Newcomer's Coffee during the day 2 weeks after school starts. This meant many working parents and nearly all dads were unable to come.
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."
hey tim! our kick off is our ice cream social. the teachers and "veteran" parents serve and help recruit new parents. While other parents socialize with other parents and teachers. everybody looks forward to it.
We have a Back to School Picnic, sponsored by our PTA. We get donations of hotdogs, chips, etc from local grocery stores and the principal kicks in a bit from her discretionary fund. We set up a membership table and one for Cash for Trash and the Three for Me program. We sign up for our spring fundraiser early and as a bonus, they supply us with two inflatables. Students and families can tour the school, find their classroom and meet their teacher.
We've held it the past 2 years in the night before school starts, from 5 to 7. I'm going to push to have it on the Friday before because although turn out is good, more would come if it weren't the night before. There's so much to do on that night.
I would also like to have a time when all the kids are with their teachers and we can have mom and dad's undivided attention to make some announcements. My idea is for the principal to welcome them and give general info about communication with the school, stressing how important the BackPack Express is and that it is the responsibility of parents to check their child's backpack daily. Then the PTA pres could give a few minute spiel on the benefits of being involved.
We'll see how it goes this year.
Our district has Meet the Teacher night about 2 days before school starts. Nothing formal, you just go to the school, find out who your teacher is and tour the classroom. Mostly it's used to do all the paperwork that has to be on file.
This year PTO had our first ever BooHoo/Yahoo Breakfast the first day of school. We actually had a great attendance with over 50 people stopping in at one point or another. Next year we're going to try to add a program instead of just visiting.
