Well, I guess I have to say I've been blessed. Not blessed out lol, but really blessed. I have had no one yet give me any grief at meetings. We have already done more this year than last year (my first back into the PTO). Last year we had 102 members this year we have 170. All of our teachers are members, last year a handful were. We raised approx. $4500.00 last year, $700 was from an account the school had. This year we started with $41.00 and have raised over the $4500.00. We started school Sept. 3rd. This does not include the Raffle tickets for our Wal-Mart gift card or the Pumpkin Caper (town festival) we are doing this week. It has been great. We have had such a great response from parents. We ask and send out volunteer forms for each event and have had enough to sign up or send in the items that we have needed. The only problem I've had so far has been in fighting the superintendent to get our Pre-K children out of mold/mildew/roach/termite infested trailers. This he has done after I threatened to get all of the parents and the news involved. Good luck to everyone hope things get better. I am curious as to what parents are complaining about.
Donna
We had several "bad" meetings in a row this year. And it wasn't the parents but a few of the teachers (yes, the very ones that come to the PTO to ask for money for their projects).
Our school is doing this Baldridge thing (not sure about the specifics). One of the teachers agreed to help the PTO set up some guidlines using this method. She had everyone imagine what they felt was the perfect PTO meeting. Then write down on a post-it what made the perfect meeting. You could have more than one idea, but one idea per post-it. Then place your post-it note on the wall and a few teachers "organized" the notes. This was how we came by our guidelines for the meeting.
Some of the guidelines (that I can remember off the top of my head):
The meetings start at 7:00 and end at 8:00.
The president (me for now) has an agenda at every meeting (we did anyway) but has a time alotment for each topic so the discussion doesn't get carried away.
The president has the choice to end a discussion and delegate to a committee (for which I can pick a chairperson if none volunteers).
Respect everyone's ideas.
Just a note from my experience. When I first became Pres. Aug.'01 my pricipal told me these words...........no matter how great you do there will always..always be one person to complain. She said when that first person comes up to you, smile as big as you can because you know that this was the one. Now, I usually start laughing and tell the person why I am laughing and they feel pretty petty. I must mention my lastest complaint from a parent, are you ready........We do class theme basket to auction off at our fall festival. This year we really pushed to get them larger than ever, plus we were going to take pre-bids then take them to live auction. One parent came up to me 3 days before the festival and said she did not like this idea because it would cause the baskets to go for more!!!!!! Was this not the idea? I just smiled and laughed because I knew she was the one. Keep smiling you are doing it for your children!!
While I tend to agree a meeting is not the time nor place for attacks I do have to say somtimes it is the place. Our Pres. totally acted out of line, lied to the parents faces with them holding the proof in hand. She has questioned the integrity of our teachers and told only half truths to our principal. A meeting was the place for parents to see who is leading our group. If it were possible to impeach, the group probably would try. Bylaws don't cover this area so any suggestions would be welcomed!
Don't be discouraged! It takes time to build parent trust and to put together a successful organization. If a person has a complaint that can't be handled easily at the meeting, we thank them for their concern and tell them we will contact them. Then a person from our board gives them a call a few days after the meeting. It is amazing how a little personal attention can change a complainer into a volunteer.
We had some complaints when our board first started (beginning of last year), but we rarely hear of any now. We do make a big effort to represent the desires of the parents (polls, networking) as well as work closely with the school administration. I know this helps.
Good luck. Remember you can't please everyone, and you are making a difference!
We've been fortunate that doesn't happen often, but when it does, we ask them to wait until the meeting adjourns and we will discuss it then. Usually works pretty well!
