I wanted to add that we build packets for our homeroom parents. We include the staff birthday calendar and a National calendar of events ie staff week, volunteer week, red ribbon week etc. We also include the surveys from parents at enrollment along with a class roster from the office.

By just handing this info out to homeroom parents it saves on copies and essentially makes sure the teacher is taken care of for her birthday. We do surveys and utilize them during teacher appreciation week. If you have the funds I would show appreciation to all the staff as they all have a part to play!

The homeroom parent can then call volunteers to handle events based on the survey.

To start off your year right, take time to have a meeting with your officers. Hash out your goals and then visit with your principal to involve her/him with what you want to achieve.

If you can plan to have a PTO table at enrollment, it can help you promote "an open door" and allow you to get to know your parents. This will create a comfort zone when you call on them.

A must during your enrollment is to have a form for parents to select what they are willing to help with. Let them choose what committees they want to serve on, what class events they want to help with, etc. Also list the goals for the year. You will get more involvement from parents when they know what the goals instead of just raising money.
Make sure you list/display what your PTO uses your funds for.

Also in your welcome packet, you might list websites such as www.schoolfamily.com" that can be a tool for parents looking for answers. You might include the normal set in stone fundraisers and the date of your first meeting. If you let parents know there are door prizes at your meeting that can create turnout.

Getting email addresses at time of enrollment will also give a resource for constant communication so parents can always feel like they are in the loop.

At your meetings set an agenda, stay on task and keep your meeting brief and no longer than an hour. Follow Roberts Rules of Order. You can find that on PTO Today!

Use committees to delegate for events and fundraisers, your success will depend on how many people you get involved and how willing you are to include them.

We don't hand out welcome packets per say. During our enrollment, we will hand out candy to the kids, collect surveys, and give a brief couple of pages of info. A great handout would be a listing of your officers with contact numbers & email addresses. Then go to the pto today website and pull off several articles on how parents involvement makes a difference to their children. There are several brief stories that you can use and it will hit home that you want them involved.

When I took over as President, our meetings would have 10-15 people and half of them would be teachers. I took that approach and our kickoff meeting we had almost 90 parents and about 20 kids in the gym playing with our local colleges Basketball team. We had them agree to "baby sit" inadvance. We had a awesome year and raised $38,000. to redo our playground.
You can turn it around in a year. Create 3 ring binders for your officers with copies of the bylaws, the events held in the past, and what info you have. This can be handed off each year to knew officers.

I really could go on but I am going to stop and let you digest. The PTO Today website will have a lot of stuff you can give your parents for motivation. Start at enrollment!!

I have never been a PTA/PTO president, but I have been involved for many years at several different schools. I think the most important thing to do is to be welcoming to everyone in your school. Do not stick with just a few people that do everything. You can reach out to teachers to ask about parents that have expressed an interest in being active in your school, then have someone from the PTA call them. I have been a volunteer coordinator at 2 different schools, for the past 3 years. Some of the information I have enclosed in each homeroom reps packet are:

A class count sheet for the entire school.
A calendar of events that relates to our school, as well as the districts. I include any special music program date, P.E. activities, fundraising dates, etc.
A list of the birthdays of all the staff members, so each class can celebrate how they see fit.
A sample letter about class parties.
A list of ideas, and crafts for class parties.
A class phone and email list that is filled out by the class parents at parent orientation.
Also, I have each staff member fill out a favorites page, and I pass this along to the homeroom parents, as well as I keep a notebook of these pages in the teachers workroom, so anyone can access this tool. This list has items like favorite drink, candy, store, hobby, flower, etc. So, the teacher is not only getting stuff with apples on them.

One advantage to starting from scratch is nothing is "tradition" so start your own! Remember to have fun and enjoy it. It is about the children and every parent wants to do what is best for their kids.

Have some family fun nights, like movie night, game night, bingo night, etc. That will get people into your school and friendships will form and help will be there. Everyone will have fun, don't make every event a fundraiser, make it a "fun"raiser!

:confused::confused:Okay I am sure that this question has been asked numberous times but I am feeling very lost. I will be taking over as the PTO president for the upcoming year and our previous board hasn't given us a whole lot, actually any information to go on, so we are going to be starting from scratch. I am looking for help with the following things:
1. committee packets: what you put in them and examples
2. welcome packets: how you make them, and what you put in them
3. Organization of meetings and procedure information
4. Fundraisers: how is the best way to get people involved without making them feel like all we are doing is trying to get money from them
5. Involement: we are a military school so there are always new families coming and going, what is the best way to encourage new families to participate in the PTO
6. and honestly any other information you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I am feeling very lost, but I want our year to be a success and am willing to anything I can to ensure the children get the most they can from the PTO.

Thanks in Advance: