I wish our teachers were HALF as involved! And the parents too! I'd try to find out why parents aren't coming rather than trying to bribe them (people might wonder what's going on at these meetings if you have to give them something to be there). One reason might be the teachers! We're all adults, but a lot of people still see teachers as an "authority" figure, and it might make them uncomfortable to speak their minds if that many are there. In our situation the PTA is very cliquey, and "unwelcoming" is the understatement of the year, and since they hold the power the people are intimidated to challenge them, so no one comes to the meetings because they feel, "why bother?" Maybe try to send an anonymous questionnare/survey out or get some sort of a focus group together for the same reason.

We've streamlined our meetings to be very brief. It requires a lot of organization and pre-planning. You have to have excellent communication methods in place. We use 3 bulletin boards throughout the school, phone trees, a monthly newsletter,the school website and the PTO website, flyers through the backpack express, the local television and radio stations, newspapers, etc. Everyone has all the information all the time so the meeting consists of minutes handed out and voted, treasurer's report handed out and voted and 1 or 2 items of business followed by announcement of coming events and volunteer opportunities. It's 15 minutes tops. We adjourn to a family activity. That's been the key for us. We have game night, or math and science night or book Bingo or storytelling or any one of a number of fun family activities. When it's appealing to the children, the parents are more likely to come. We usually have a total turnout of 200-300 which actually represents about 150 families. Our school has 650 students and about 400 families. We're not at the 50% mark yet, but we're getting there. What we offer is good, quality family activity. People feel good about the PTO and they feel some ownership. Good luck!

[ 03-03-2004, 03:39 PM: Message edited by: PTO Mom & Dad ]

One suggestion I have heard is to get the students involved by having one class or grade perform a skit or song. Have a display of students' artwork. Many parents will attend an event which involves their child.

How well are your meetings advertised? Are you sure everyone is getting enough advance notice?

wow, I wish we had your problem we never get teachers! Maybe your meeting times are not good? we stagger our meetings some morning some afternoon some evening, also maybe make the meeting go before a school activity we do that often to get meore people! Good Luck!

We have recently taken two schools and formed one PTO. We used to have the problem of not haveing any teachers at meetings and only parents. This year it seems we only get Teachers and very few, if any, parents. We've tried the door prizes, child care , even refreshments. Our last meeting had three parents and nearly 35 teachers. Any ideas on how to boost the parents participation?