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• How often does your organization meet?
  Once a month
  Do you have Board and General meetings?
  Once a month (alternates per mo)
  What time of day are your meetings?
  Morning 8am
  How long do your meetings usually last? 30 min
  Do you provide "daycare"? If so, is it a parent, or a 5th or 6th grader to "just keep an eye out"?
  No-we bring our kids
  What's the average attendence of your meetings?
  7
  How do you promote & ENCOURAGE parents to attend?
  Wednesday Packet,school marquee, word of mouth (usually mine) (next year listserver, email and website-school and PTA)</font>

[ 06-05-2005, 06:01 PM: Message edited by: Shawn ]

Alot of questions, let's see if I can answer them all!
1- We meet once a month
2-We don't have a PTO board , just general membership
3-Meetings are held from 6;30-7:30, usually on Wednesday nights. We have tried mixing up nights but this night gets the best response
4-daycare is a school aide
5-Average attendance is up this year from 18 last year to 21 this year, we are a school with about 275 families. I attended an Epstein involvement conference that said 30% of families are involved internally at schools, our volunteer list has over 100.
6-How do we promote parents to come, I would have to say that I use to worry about how many people were there but truth is that it is more important that they attend an event than a meeting.
We do advertise our meetings in the newsletter, our minute flyer, have tried posters, stuff like that. Once a person comes to a meeting and if they have e-mail i will send them an email even if they haven't come in months.
I do try to make personal contact with a parent if they suddenly stop coming, you know there may be reasons why.
The one thing I always say about our group is that it is like a business and it needs to be marketed. Put your groups name on EVERYTHING you do, if you gave money...let people know...If you ran the event...let people know. I have seen people get involved because they have attended our events.
I also have the ability of writting articles on volunteering for our school newsletter. Try to get across a hour or two is important. If you are worried about attendance look at other areas of your group and see how they look.
Like I said I have been there, three years the first meeting i ran there were 5 people, it takes time and have a positive attitude, Good luck

[ 06-05-2005, 05:58 PM: Message edited by: pals ]

Okay fellow PTO/PTA ers I'm taking a poll.... no just currious how things run elsewhere. If you could take a minute and share some info with the rest of us it would be appreciated.

How often does your organization meet?

Do you have Board and General meetings?

What time of day are your meetings?

How long do your meetings usually last?

Do you provide "daycare"? If so, is it a parent, or a 5th or 6th grader to "just keep an eye out"?

What's the average attendence of your meetings?

How do you promote & ENCOURAGE parents to attend?

Thanks in advance for sharing your information!