Congratulations Raising Stars!! Your group must be doing great things to have so many new parents step up into leadership roles. Way to go!

this year we currently have, President, 4 vice presidents- Bylaws, membership, funderaising,programs... and secretary , treasurer.and carnvial chair. this coming school year we a will have a lot more. in addition to the above listed we will have, a second secretary, volunteer coordinator, publicity, teacher apprection, t-shirt, carnival, and we are adding grade parents.
the new parents that we have for all these extra spots were people that signed up to help with our carnival and after coming to carnival meetings and seeing what the PTA is and does they were interested in joining in and helping. so for the first time we will have a full board, and committee chairs. we are very excited to see how much better next year will be.

I wanted to laugh when I read this but knew that was rude...I have to agree with capedad. We have the BEST volunteers, will do anything you can ask but when you get that responsibility word in there it means time commitments and that scares some people. They get the work done, do a great job so i will accept that getting chairs is a hard thing to do!

In our group you have to be an appointed chairman of a standing committee to have a vote on the board. Many parents are willing to take (or keep) the position in order to have the vote. Before taking the position it is explained to them what their committee work entails along with the board meeting requirement.

We currently have a "Committee Manager" because this particular person was more than willing to lead the committee but would not be able to attend the meetings. She gladly relinquished her vote to avoid the commitment. I should mention that no one else wanted the job so she wasn't blocking anyone from the voting position.

With four officers, two teacher reps and currently 13 committee chairmen, that's a board of 19. Quorum requirements are 50% so we always have at least 10 people at each meeting. More often than not, we have 12 - 15.

I think if you're going to appoint chairmen then they should be ensured a vote on the board. Otherwise, what's the incentive? (other than a fancy title, that is )

Since you asked for examples, our committees are:
Arts Day, Boxtops, Concessions, Fundraiser, Lunchtime Treats, Newcomer's Welcome, Room Coordinators, School Carnival, Spirit Wear, Student Directory, Teacher Appreciation, Yearbook

We are actually going to eliminate the Pres. and V.P titles. We are going with a "Team PTO" title and while we will have a Treas. and Sec. and a Team Manager we are stressing that we are all a team, working together and everyone is equal and has a vote.

A few Teachers and the Principal LOVED the idea and are very excited for next year.

We are hoping it will help with Parents involment at meetings. [img]smile.gif[/img]

We actually see the opposite happen.

At our school, lots of people see a title as responsibility that they are not willing to take on, even if they are people who will volunteer any time we ask, and even if they are around school a lot.