I am a parent and confused and trying to learn what I can about the PTA PTO and all the others at the moment there is a meeting at my son's school today at 2:45 of an organization called PTO I assume that stands for Parent Teachers Organization. My confusion comes from the fact that I am not a Parent/Teacher but merely a Parent of my child though of course all parents Teach their children I am a singer and not a professional Teacher. Therefore I am confused this is a new thing to me and I had heard of the PTA years ago. This PTO in my son's school crys of not having any parents involved and I am assuming because it is a Parent/Teacher Organization as it states and wouldn't be likely to have any parents involved. So I am here on the internet trying to find out what I can. I did not know about the PTA's dues and lobying efforts in Washington, and therefore am going to need to think about that some. My main problem here is in the name and I am sure I will hear from you out there that are involved that you are Teachers and also memebers of this PTO. Are there any parents out there who are involved in this PTO who are not also Teachers? If so would you please contact me and let me know about your experience. I plan to address this meeting and suggest they change the name to be more inclusive of Parents who are not Teachers. I would appreciate any ideas you out there may have and if you have these similar problems in your schools. My son is a First grader and I want to be involved in any fundraisers or events to improve his quality of education as it seems these days schools need alot of help and I want to be more involved to assure my son is getting a quality public education. It just seems with these schools Principals Teachers that the parents are like an outsider like the bad guys the ones who never discipline who never read to kids at home who are not responsible who are all these bad things and this energy transmitted from school to parents doesn't promote a mutual cooperation of getting the best for the children. I think the names are all wrong and perhaps something like: People For Children PFC

Araia This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

When I took over as PTO President three years ago, I had high expectations and at first everyone was so happy to have a new friendly board that we had lots of newcomers and teachers...of course that has dwindled. But we still manage to get 100% of the teachers paying dues to support our group. Now I know most of you will disagree right off the bat here, but keep an open mind... I am friends outside of school with two of the teachers, so I know what they go through in a day. The overcrowding of classes is real bad,our Kdg class has only one teacher and 30 students,the teachers are required to attend various mandatory meetings before and after school, parent conferences (usually spur of the moment), not to mention that some of the teachers have an hour drive to and from work. That makes for days that are sometimes 12+ hours long. Our meetings are held at 7:00p.m. and for the teachers to attend they have to basically hang out around the school until the meeting, because they don't have time to go home if our meeting lasts an hour that's great parents are happy they only have a five minute ride home, for some of the teachers they don't get home until 9:00 at night when their OWN kids are going to bed. I ask any of you, would you do it? and not get paid for it? We have teachers that are still going to school, that have children of their own that are active in sports and other after school things,we have some that are active in their child's PTO which happens to have meetings the same night as ours, we have teachers who are just plain tired, and YES we have some that don't give a darn about the PTO. They are there to teach our children we are there to support them. Are we all so self-centered as to think that teachers have no other life than the school...I know some of the kids think the teachers live at school and are surprised when they find out that they don't, but as adults with families of our own we should know that teachers are also wives, husbands, mothers, fathers just like the rest of us. Honestly there isn't anything that goes on at our meetings that requires that the teachers be there...if they have a concern they let us know and we discuss it. They are grateful for what we do. I am grateful for what they do for my children. As for our principal he tries to come to all of the meetings, but his daughter has basketball on the night of our meeting, should he miss her games to come...NO! Should he not be a coach of a team because it conflicts with our PTO schedule...NO! I have read that many of you feel that teachers just want money...think about that they want money to do things for OUR kids, not to take a vacation...should we give them money YES if it is being used for the kids isn't that what we are doing this for??? We have a school of 380 students and 12 teachers, we had 15 parents at our meeting...no teachers...no principal...let's do the math here. If you are looking down upon the teachers for not coming, you need to look at the parents first! Give the teachers a break and let them do what they are here to do...teach YOUR children. Leave the small details like a PTO (and yes in the scheme of things the PTO is only a small part of a school) to the parents who are ready, willing and able to help!

ctibs, I understand about the attendance to the meetings but when polled parents about meeting times and polled teachers about meeting times and called and called and called about volunteer activities from our sign up sheets I got the response I dont have time to volunteer. Ya right I dont think so . Maybe after last year I have become a pessimist however I think i had a good reason. I still call our small little group of PTM members and I also call new people and old people. It just got a little frustrating when i would go to meetings and end up being the only person there at the meeting. Even after all the phone calls and yes I will be there. I have talked to my other officers and the faithful few members and i always try to be as accomidating with the times as i can they change every month so that different people who couldnt make the last one can make the next one. And I also post all the meeting news and activities on our school website so all parents can read them and know whats coming up. Maybe i need to just step back and let it ride this year stay commited to the activities that are already in place and not try to work anything new in. Who knows.

:confused:

I am a new President of our PTO group this year. I can completely relate to your frustrations and why you're upset. One thing that has helped me so far this year (as I blindly figure things out) is to keep in mind that our PTO is about getting people involved in the SCHOOL and not about being involved in meetings. Of course, we have to have meetings to conduct business. But if people miss the meetings then they know they've given up the chance to have a voice and vote on issues. We can still make those choices with a minimum in attendence. What I'm more concerned about is communication. If someone works a second shift job or doesn't want to bring 3 kids with them or doesn't feel well or who's husband is working or someone who is intimidated by crowds then I want to offer a way for them to stay informed. I think that when they stay informed and start to realize that every time they come in contact with us we won't be asking them for something then they will feel more comfortable doing what they can. What we've done so far is to send out a volunteer survey. I broke down most things into small, manageable tasks that most people would feel comfortable helping with one or two things. I got about 120 returned out of 320 students (probably fewer than 320 families in the school though because of siblings) but each one had checked SOMETHING they would be willing to do! Not committed, but they knew they'd probably hear from us when they checked they were willing to help. I put all that information into a simple database and two months into school, I've used it quite a few times. I can filter it for those that work nights and could help us with a spaghetti dinner, those that can come to the school and help with Spirit Week, etc. It hasn't taken many phone calls so far to meet our volunteer needs for each event. We've also started an email group at yahoogroups for reminders, announcements and feedback. We also started a newsletter with lots of information about events, teacher highlights, volunteer thank you's and a trivia question that they can bring with them to the meeting to get entered in a drawing. We have had so much positive feedback on all of these things. I really think that there are so many people out there who will help out if called but who aren't much on speaking out and coming forward themselves. Almost everyone I've called is willing to help but those that said "no" told me to call them back for the next thing we need.

That being said, I don't think we'll have more than 15 people at my next meeting. But I am comfortable knowing that we have a lot going behind the scenes and that I have resources to draw on when I need extra help.

Don't let a low turnout get you down. Try and think of other ways to reach the people you need. Think positively, ask around, send a feedback form home to parents asking for ideas, etc. I agree that there are lots of people out there that don't want a thing to do with the school (and I hate to think of how their kids will grow to think of school) but I really think most are willing to do what they can if we can find the right approach that meets their needs as well.

Okay, I might be eating my words at the end of the year but I DO think positive!

Good luck,
Carrie

The other PTM Officers (2) and I have decided we would just have fun this year. Despite the Superitendant and Teachers basically saying its your problem not mine but we still want money. and as for the Prinicpal she came to a meeting last year 1 time. She is a part time principal. And when she came in she took the Volunteer program and made it manditory by telling the volunteers they couldnt come in when they could they had to be there when she said and that lost a ton of volunteers. We also got the flouride program thrown in our laps a government funded program and we got saddled with it last year. I was roped into doing it and I say roped for a good reason. The person who showed me how to do it didnt bother going into detail on how difficult it really is especially with a 2 year old child in tote. It takes 2 hours to do the flouride and thats if the teachers bother to bring the delivery trays back so you can set the flouride cups into. Maybe I sound like a total pessimist but i have a good reason. I figure if they are going to not become part of the PTM then maybe we shouldnt have the T in PTM as Chicmom but we dont have the Principals support either. Well if by changing the place we have the PTM meetings at to be at our houses with lunch so the people with children can come maybe we will have a better response. But whoever wants to volunteer for the Flouride program will certainly know exactly what it entails. Not just its really easy you just have to do this....

Now I am irked and Discouraged

Maybe a solution would be that the student that come early would have to go to the library (of course the librarian would have to agree to this arrangement) and then they would have to behave there.

I recall seeing a story on the discovery channel where the school came up with such a solution for the student that were dropped off early because the majority of the parents were heading off to work and they felt that their children would be better off at the school than at home where there was no adult supervision and no one to see that they left in time to get to school or catch a bus.

The librarian arranged with a couple of other teacher to teach many of the student how to knit or crochet, and the student made small block for the Red Cross Project 'Warm Up America" www.warmupamerica.com/kids.html.

With this project ongoing, and the librarian reading to the students that wished to listen to a story, lots of good came out of the problem that needed a solution. Student were better listeners, students participated in a community project and learned a new craft.