Cape dad --

You don't have to be a stay at home parent to successfully be the PTO President.

You do have to be enthusiastic, organized, communicate well, organized, have good leadership skills, and did I mention organized? have an understanding boss and other great parents in well defined positions on the PTO.

I work full time in a job where I manage a wide variety of tasks. Have 5 full-time and 30 part-time employees who work for me. It's not a 40 hour a week job -much more like 50 - 60. I do have some control of my schedule and a boss that is ok with me working till 8 since I went to a PACT meeting in the afternoon.

As I told my mother who said -- you don't have time for this type of thing when I signed up for a similar position a couple of years ago -- If I don't have time to be involved in my son's education --my priorities are a little bit messed up. You have to have the skills to juggle a lot, desire to do it and the right attitude to not let it drive you nuts, but full time parents can juggle it with the right support around them.

I have had a great year as PTO President but, I couldn't do it if the other parents on our PTO were not awesome, hard working parents who do an unbelievable job.

Cape, I think that it says a lot about this person, that she is already worried about the amount of time that is involved. That is a good thing. You know this person, so is she organized? Has she been involved in past events? Is she good with communication? I think the work thing depends on your school. If your school is one that is struggling with volunteers, and building the PTO, then her working may be a worry. If your PTO is established and runs pretty smoothly, then I don't think it would be a problem. I think it depends more on the situation you are in and the communication skills, than the overall question of a president working.

I'm in school fulltime while also doing PTO. I am in class 14 hours of the week, during the day time, and then do student teaching one full contract day. Right now, I am available from 7:45-11 on Mondays and then on most Fridays (if I don't have a seminar or a conference). My schedule was a little more flexible in the fall, which was a blessing because of so much going on. Right now, things are slow for our PTO. Our pres is stay at home, and available to the school anytime. Our VP is also stay at home, and available. We communicate thru email, and notes in our mailboxes. We try to get as many details worked out in our monthly meetings as possible. I tend to feel guilty that I am not there so much, but I do a lot of the letters that get sent home and fliers for the walls and that kind of thing. It is hard, but it seems to work for our group. We all talked about it before being elected, and I was upfront about what my availability would be. For us, it was more important that we all worked well together and got along and had the same goals in mind and none of us are the type to say, "i do more than you do".

Good luck!

I would second writermom. If you have someone that is well oganized it could easily be done. Working with your fellow officers would be key too.
Another suggestion that works at our school is copresidents. Two heads are better than one and it come in handy to have two at the events and such. You can split duties as to who likes doing what.

Either way I think it can be done.

cindy

One of our officers is a single mom of two kids, works full time, is a scout leader, and participates in other activities as well...and does far more than any of our other officers, two of whom are home at least part time. I am confident she would make a great president. Her secret? Being well-organized, prioritizing tasks, and asking for help when she needs it. If you are dedicated, it CAN be done! It might help get more parents involved--if a working mom is capable of being president, there's no reason why other parents can't give an hour or two.

Hi CapeDad. My first two years with my last team our president had a full time job. He counted on a strong network to keep things going. Chairmen kept great folders and passed them on each year. Everyone helped each other. The other three officers kept the lines of communication open and kept their eyes on the committees.

I think it worked for us because we had a strong, well balanced team: Working and stay at home parents, new and seasoned members, those willing to learn from those willing to teach and ultimately a bunch of really hard workers committed to being the best. If you have a strong team and you're all willing to rally around the new president then your team will succeed.

I don't know if you need stay at home parent, I just find in our history that having at least one person who can be available when needed helps. I use to work part time and it was tough trying to make sure I handled what had to be handled, with you running for vp I think that would work because you could step up when she needed you to. I dont have anything against working moms/dads being officers sometimes you just need that connection. ask your parents who have been in charge of things, do they feel the stress? Can it be done?