You could also try implementing a phone tree for each class at the beginning of the year that is sent home to all parents. Room parents would need to be involved.

Let's say you have 25 kids in a class. Divide the kids into 5 columns of 5 (with phone numbers). The room parent calls the top parent in each column. Then each of those parents calls the person under them, who calls the person under them, etc. The only ones who don't make any calls are those last on the list, and the most calls any one person makes is 5.

Tracy

I can understand how the teachers would feel, but is there any way that the room parents could stuff the backpackets? Or PTO volunteers? That way the teachers don't have to do it themselves?

As far as signing up at the start of the year, how do you remind parents that they signed up for it? Even as organized as I try to be, remembering what I signed up for 8 months ago would be hard to do. What about the kids who move into the school during the middle of the year?

As far as not having enough food, is it because of the participation or the parents don't make double or triple up on the dish size? For the former, I have no idea how to help. For the latter, when/if you send notices home, can you specify how many you will be feeding?

We send such flyers home in the backpacks. Like you, we word it diplomatically, encourage people to participate, but make sure they know it's voluntary and instigated by the PTO, etc.

I've also done similar things when organizing a teacher gift for a particular class when I was room mom.

Understanding how the teachers might feel about being part of distributing these flyers, sometimes I've put them in envelopes - especially if it's just one class, so the teacher doesn't see them at all.

I know that's a bit of work to fold and stuff 300+ pieces, but still it's less work and cost than actually mailing them. I'd probably print a generic label for the envelopes (or print the envelopes with a computer printer) that said something simple like "XYZ School Parents".

Thanks for your replies! I'm feeling better. It's nice to know you're not crazy and that others do things a similar way. I like the idea of signing up at the beginning of the year that way you could by-pass the whole teacher issue when the time comes. Closetwriter, we must not know each other because we never have enough food to go around.

Tell the teachers the letter is from your group and that the PTO doesn't have money to provide this service and it's impossible for you to call every parent personally, so this is the way it needs to be done. Maybe next year you could have parents sign up to do this at the beginning of the year and then just call those parents.

OK, every year we have potluck brought in by parents for our teachers and staff for each day of Staff Appreciation week. In order to get the word out the pto sent home a backpack flyer. Our teachers are very humble and do not want to feel like they are drawing attention to themselves. A few of them feel like it's not a good idea to send home, they don't want parent's to feel like they are asking for it and expect it. Which I totally understand, but how else do we accomplish this? I don't have the time to call 300 plus sets of parents. The letter is signed pto and it is stressed as a voluntary, if you want to, thing. I worry entirely too much about pleasing everyone and don't want hard feelings. I personally, as a parent, would rather cook for them then buy a useless trinket that they don't need anyway. Not sure what my point here is exactly. What would you do? Any opinions or suggestions would be appreciated.