Just to clear things up....the feedback we got from opur parents was no more fundrasing. Yet, I was approached by the same mother several times to add an event. My response was great idea..why don't you put a committee together and chair it? Her reply was I don't want to chair it, we (meaning me) just need to do this. Lets just say she has hurt many feelings with this attitude and leave it at that.

I second the idea about asking teachers who they think would be good officers. Sometimes they have a different perspective than parents have. Plus, telling parents that a TEACHER nominated them seems to be a huge compliment. Flattery works really well!

I second the idea about asking teachers who they think would be good officers. Sometimes they have a different perspective than parents have. Plus, telling parents that a TEACHER nominated them seems to be a huge compliment. Flattery works really well!

I'm jumping in, because I'm curious about something.

When people have "ideas" about events and fundraisers, do (many, most, a few) PTOs have something to which they can refer where steps are outlined to bring an idea to fruition?

For example: an idea raised goes into a suggestion box. Next step: Fact-finding to scope out the effort, cost, possible proceeds, etc. Next: presentation of the idea with solid info behind it.

If the idea still doesn't fly, it remains in the suggestion box until one day maybe the right person comes along and makes it happen. Or variations of the idea are done. Whatever.

The important thing is that no idea is killed on the spot (unless it's really inappropriate). One person may pitch an idea, another may get inspired and flesh it out, another may get interested in researching it, etc. Some things may sit for years even, and a change in technology, or a new person coming in, might make the impossible possible. The only responsibility of the board is to have a place where ideas (and subsequent research) is housed, and made available to all members. Who knows? Someone might peruse the list, say "Hey, video yearbooks sounds cool and I know someone who did that in their school, I'm going to look further into this and see what it cost, what money was made, etc." And a new program is born.

Everyone has different talents and interests, it's good to see the advantage of synergy, and ideas don't get lost from year to year.

ShellyA I wish you could attend a PTO Today conference! We learned so much and had the opportunity for self-reflection. You do need to get creative and kelleyraek had some good ideas. I think perhaps when you said "constantly said NO" might be the answer to your problems. Although there are a lot of people out there with awesome ideas - those who have had the daily grind of some of the events just KNOW what will and won't work. To newbies where we are coming from isn't always that clear and just saying no to them is very offending. My one suggestion to that is if they have an idea and are willing to chair the event let them! They may sink - but their fresh ideas may let them swim!!! As a leader you must give them the freedom to fail.

What we did at our school when we re-started our parent group was this. When my children's school had a change in Principals I was the lone mom left over from the previous Principal (who drove a majority of parents away). Together the Principal and I talked with Teachers to find out who they thought would be excellent PTO'ers. We held nominations and then we called these parents and said their names were written down as good candidates. We did not say by who though!!! They (out of guilt) accepted the position. We had a blast (learning and growing) that first year. The next year we implemented co-chairs with an activities/volunteer coordinator. This is something I would say is a MUST. Two sharing the work of one is always more attractive to prospects than the entire load on them. Our group continues to grow because we implemented a team approach rather than a one person does it all approach.

Now would be the time to host and "End of Year Bash" and invite those incoming Kindergarten families! Be fun and inviting. Show them that a little bit of invested time equals a lot of fun! Also, for the fun factor we took the "You Rock in our Flock" idea from the conference and will apply it to all incoming Kindergarten families in hopes of attracting them to our Parent Group!

Last night we had our election meeting.... 13 people (5 "profesional PTO'ers" and 8 newbies)stepped up to be on our board and I couldn't be prouder! I am so excited about working with these parents next year that I could hardly sleep last night... all I could think of was the bigger and better projects we'll be able to do next year!

For us, the keys have been:

1) Personally inviting people to step up... sit down and talk to the parents you think can handle the job. Often I think folks just need reassurance that they won't be doing it on their own... And a couple of kind words and nice compliments can really do the trick!

2) Start grooming early! After our first event of the year, we started talking about who we wanted to groom as potential officers. Slowly we have sucked them in, giving them more and more responsibilities through out the year, so that becoming an officer was the logical next step!

Don't give up hope!
Best of luck with all you do...
Kelley
Madison PTO
Mount Vernon, WA