We tried a bake sale recently. A handful of parents donated. When I say handful I mean literally. We sold out of everything before all the kids had a chance to come through. We figured we would get people to do this because they wouldn't have to stay. It didn't turn out that way. We're trying to think of something else that we can handle with only two or three people working the event. Have any ideas on this one?
We have tried the very things Gwynn spoke about and we still have the same five parents. Everytime we hear of a new approach we try it. We may lose a parent and pick one up for a least one meeting. We have surveyed the parents to see if there is anything more we can do and they always say that they feel we are doing a great job. One of the officers at another school goes up to people's cars as they drop off and pick up their children and he still can't get parents in. He may have a meeting and be the only one there! I'm not saying stop trying but it can be a little daunting most of the time. I hope someone can find the magic words to get parents in.
I am the director of an afterschool program where parent participation is part of the requirements of this grant funded program. It was a real problem to have parents come out for meetings or volunteer. We put a parent room in with internet access. This did not entice the parents despite some being in school and not having access to a computer except at the community college.
I begin to meet the parents when they picked up the children and told them some positive things about the children. I could see the anxiety melt away and then I would let them know of things we hoped to accomplish with their help and asked for their advice. One parent later told me that visiting the school was far less frightening now. For meetings I implemented family dinner meetings. This meant mom did not have to dinner for that evening and the meetings would start around five with dinner for the entire family. Some local churches have offered to sponsor some of the dinners. This has certainly increased attendance to approximately 90% of the parents. Good luck. Oh by the way door prizes are given at each meeting from donations from the community.
Our school staff & teachers host a volunteer breakfast (brunch) and invite parents who help in the classrooms, school & PTO events, etc. The principal gives a speech about what the PTO does for the school, and introduces board members who are in attendance. We talk to the parents and invite them to our meetings. A few do come, but hardly ever attend more than one meeting. We also recruited board members this way.
I will just let you in on my experience. When I was president for 2 years, I had NO clue how to get people to come or how to get them involved. So, I would just go up to our school a little before dismissal time and talk and talk and talk. To parents, grandparents, to whomever was picking their children up. And I would chat it upand ,basically, advertise the PTO meetings. And it did work. We would get groups of 20-30 people at a meeting. The great thing was, was that there were different people all the time. People want to know that Pto is not a "special" group. That they are just good regular people doing what's best for their kids. Now, this year I chose not to run for pres. and we do have a new one and our attendance is down to 5-7. It just amazes me. But she likes it that way, it's easier to have the "head" nodders and no one with different opinions. But also, let people know that after the agenda is done, there will be socializing with each other, they can discuss what's going on, and just ENJOY it. you will do great!!!!!!!!!!!!
We always have a speaker come out to do a presentation before our meetings. We keep it (meeting) brief so they can find out what's happening and then go home. We keep the whinning and complaining for executive meetings.
