Really.......I think it boils down to this: No matter what you do you won't get the amount of people you want to help...without threats. Isn't that so bad but so true. I had to threaten to cancel our spring carnival because I only had 3 people to help plan. After I sent home a letter with the threat I ended up having 23 people show up to the next meeting which was AWESOME! Except for the fact about 10 of em have done the whole no show no call can't contact rountine.
AS President, I announced at the first meeting of the year that unless parents stepped forward to takeover the planning of various events, those events would be cancelled. I asked that members of the board not be expected to head committees, as they already have duties to fulfill. After the meeting I had a group of three moms volunteer to head up carnival, a new mom volunteered to head up our chili supper and another 1st grade mom took over career day.
You have to stick to your guns and really cancel events that parents won't volunteer to help with. It is not fair to your family to do it all yourself!
I have noticed that at our school, talking a lot does the job.
One excited volunteer rambles long enough, it seems to get others interested.
For example, I'm doing Jr Great Books for my son's Kindergarten class. It never occured to me that there would be a problem getting help, much less students to sign up. I talked to enough parents while waiting to pick my son up just as small talk. I resolved some concerns by accident because I was learning how to do it and took everyone's suggestions.
Now we have a great group of seven kids from one class. Plus I have a parent helper signed up for every week.
Only after we were all set did I find out that no one signed up from the other kindergarten and not a single kindergartener did it last year.
So I guess maybe ignorance was a factor too. I just didn't know it was difficult. But talking (a lot) about how much I was looking forward to it seemed to do something.
Jail and Bail! What a great idea! (although the duct tape and van could be fun and even make the evening news!!)
Have you done this before or was this a brilliant lightbulb over your head? If you have could you elaborate on it please. I'd like to know more.
Either way, I'm going to use it.
Our duct tape budget isn't that big....
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We do a volunteer sign up at the beginning of the school year and describe each job. Most jobs say just how many hours are needed and generally that's a few hours. But, communication is key, cause even when you write things down, people just don't always read it! So at our monthly PTA meetings we have committee reports on just done events and up-coming ones where we again solicit volunteers and talk about what we need. Even though our meetings aren't always well attended, the information goes into the minutes which is distributed to everyone. If there's a big event, like our end of the year festival, we put out a seperate flyer and have a tear-off section. Each job is listed and a contact name given.
I had someone call me up last week and ask to be taken off a committee because they thought it would mean meetings before the event. When I explained this was a once and done thing and that she could quite possibly bring her other younger kids, that it would only take maybe an hour of her time, and it's one of the most fun things we do, Well!, she changed her mind and decided to stay on.
However, after saying that, sometimes it takes a non-event for parents to realize that their lack of involvement has caused an event to be cancelled. It's not just school groups that have these problems - I see it in scouts, church groups, everywhere. I think most parents work outside the home and when they get home, they have to catch up with the household stuff and then they're beat. What they don't realize is that volunteers are still desperately needed and there is no "someone else" to take their place.
