At our school we invite all PTO Board Members (whether they were "active" or not) to someones house for a potluck dinner. PTO DOES NOT pay for it, the members do. You always get those parents who will complain about "use of funds"... We always have a good time and the members who dont participate as fully as the key members usually dont show up but at least they cant complain about not being included...
We did not want to leave anyone out, or to show a difference in those that were able to volunteer for PTO events (mostly at night) and those that did things during the day for the teachers/school.
I discussed it with the principal and it was decided that every parent that had done anything, from sending items in for parties, working in classrooms, helping at school and PTO events, etc. should be invited. We had felt even if some could not come the thank you/invitations (supposed to have been made made by the children) would at least let them know they were appreciated. She also said that the school would handle this event during the Volunteer Appreciation Week. They had doughnuts and drinks in the conference room.
Unfortunately the majority of the teachers only invited parents that had actually worked in their classrooms.
Even though they had been told it was for everyone that had done anything.
The principal was afraid there would not be enough food, (thinking that tons had been invited). Turns out there was a LOT left over. The faculty and staff enjoyed them.
There were high hopes for this. The PTO board now thinks that next year the PTO will handle it.
Maybe ask the art teacher to allow us some class time to help the students make the invitations. Hold it in the cafeteria decorate it nice and be there to greet those that are able to come.
Its unlikely that a parent that hasn't volunteered would even come to the volunteer luncheon anyway. So hold it for all comers that way you don't have to stand at teh door making judgement calls on the parents that come in.
CBrooks - I have to say I really don't like the idea of a minimum (especially one as aggressive as 6 hrs/month) on appreciation/recognition. I think there are a lot of people who'll really close their minds to gettiong involved if they hear/think that 6 hrs/month is the minimum expectation.
There are so many really great parents out there for whom 6 hrs/month is a huge hurdle. They might be taking care of an infirm parent of their own; they might be the president of the local soccer league; they might work two jobs to pay the bills -- who knows? But for whatever reason -- 6 hours per month is huge to them.
There are others with all the time in the world who still never volunteer at school. Getting those people from zero hours per year to 1 hour per month would be a huge accomplishment. But not if they're told -- after taking that step -- that they're not worthy of appreciation.
If the goal is to encourage involvement and get as many people connected to/engaged with your school as possible -- why not have policies that celebrate all involvement. Any kind of "I'm more involved than you" hoo-ha only exacerbates the problems.
Thank you everyone for you comments. After taking in all that was said and having my superintendent call to say that he and our two principals would like to serve at the "party". I think we have decided to go ahead with it, but instead of it being an exclusive dinner for the few key members, I think that if we just schedule a PTO meeting for that day and plan to have the food there, the key members will show up and as always no one else will.
Thanks again for the great conversation. I love you guys!
In our volunteer program sign up I stated in order to be recognized as part of the program you had put in at least 6 hrs. per month to be recognized as part of the program. Though everyone gets thanked and appreciated (at least we try) the ones who put in extensive hours do get honored. For our volunteer dinner I just sent out the invitations to the ones on the list or that was recomended by the teacher. That way if anyone has hurt feelings I could show them the reason these people were "honored". A person doesn't have to be signed up in the program to volunteer. We appreciate anyone and encourage people to volunteer as much as possible.
You could always have a potluck in honor of those people and state "these people have devoted so many hours" or "these people have went above and beyond their duties, please join us in recognizing their efforts". Or just have a special bang up meeting with a Luau or something and mention the accomplishments of these people.
Just keep in mind, everyone can not be pleased all the time.
