We have monthly meetings Sept to May plus the open house. Our board meeting only consist of the 5 officers of the PTO and the general meetings are open to the entire school. We get anywhere from 8-20 parents.

We have 4 quarterly meetings. Once when school starts, december, march, may.
I think that the school in the past tried to
have one every month but no one came. We take care of business. And then we go on with the programs or whatever event is happening.

We are also similar. Before my kids ever got to the school, they gave up on monthly unit meetings (with board meeting prior). Our board (executives and committee chairs) meets monthly, and we usually have three or four non-board members attend. This year it is a little higher because we are assimilating students from a closed school, and the most active PTA parents from that school are attending the board meetings. Actually, the number of non-board parents attending is going down, because those parents are usually the first to volunteer when we have an opening to fill.

We have four unit meetings during the year. We approve the budget at the first meeting, on back-to-school night. Our November meeting (being held Dec 13) is to fill out the nominating committee; the bylaws state that the board will select two members from their ranks, the other three members will be chosen from the PTA membership at a unit meeting. We have two spring meetings, one to elect officers and one to install officers, and one of those meetings is held during the Open House night. The two other meetings are held in conjunction with a concert or other program that will be bringing parents to the school anyway.

The sixth grade musical is usually a big draw, so it is a popular choice for a PTA meeting.

One of the things we have done to try and improve attendance is we do not call the monthly meetings "Board Meetings". Back when my first kid arrived at school, they were called that, and my wife and I were not sure if we were welcome or not. Luckily, we have never had to deal with an issue controversial enough to require us to clarify that only board members have a vote at these meetings.

We're trying this this year; last year the board held meetings every month hoping to get people to attend at least one. Most people seemed to feel that joining the PTA would require them to attend every meeting, so they didn't join.
Now we have a business meeting at the school that anyone can attend-no one has-and we're only holding the 3 required general meetings during the year,each in conjunction with another activity so people don't have to make a special trip just for the meeting.
Otherwise we hold our board meetings at a member's house.
Last Thursday was our first general meeting, held after another school meeting, and attendance was pretty good. We'll have one more this year and another next year, and that's it.

I know from past discussions that we're in the minority, but I was just curious who else out there does NOT have monthly general meetings.

For years, our school has held a general PTO meeting in August to approve the budget and one in May for elections. Beyond that, the Board meets monthly for a business meeting. Our Board is large (25-35) with elected officers, 4 school reps, chairs of each committee, and a parent rep from each grade. So we have 15-25 people at each 1-2 hour meeting where all PTO business is conducted. The meeting is open if anyone wants to come and listen, but visitors rarely do.

We surveyed the parents last year to see if they wanted to change to general meetings every month. They don't. We have a monthly newsletter for parents to keep them in touch with decisions and activities. We get fairly good participation in membership and volunteer sign ups and events.

This works well for us, however I'm not trying to convert anyone else. I'd just like to hear more from others using this model or one similar.

[This message has been edited by JHB (edited 10-20-2001).]