I am so thankful that I have come across this website and input from all of you. My oldest son is in first grade. Last year when my son was in kindergarten, I helped out on ONE event with the pto. So, this year, I decided to get more involved. I've been waiting since the start of the school year to get a letter regarding the first pto meeting. Well, I still hadn't heard anything, so, I emailed last years president (who has also been pres. for 7 years now) to find out if I missed the info regarding the meetings. She emails me back asking if I want to be president. She says she has had enough, but, is willing to stay as VP if I want the help and she can show me everything. I am in shock! First, I had no idea that pto positions were that casual. I would assume some kind of vote would be taken or something. Second, I am completely clueless about how to be a pto president. Third, as much as I would love the challenge, I don't do well speaking in front of groups. I did get the sense last year that our pto was pretty much a joke and in shambles. Lack of participation, officer burnout, etc. Could someone like me with basically zero exposure really have something to offer? And is there really no one else better qualified willing to do it? Thanks to all of you for taking the time to put your stories out there and offer suggestions to those of us that need serious guidance!!!!
We have the same problem...only about five people ever show up; help out; always the same parents/teachers doing EVERYTHING...
I have even considered just dissolving the group HOWEVER...I refuse to as the five or so of us, managed to do some pretty spectacular things...and I feel if we just press on and keep trying...well....
I had the same problem as someone else mentioned about having a very...frustrating group..before I came on board. So it's alot about rebuilding parent/teacher trust that the group will do what they say they will do as well.
Each year we get someone new who gets involved and is pretty excited about it..that helps re-excite the rest of us I suppose. It's hard to admit and SEE that so FEW parents really get involved...very sad! For those of us who stay involved and give our time....we are examples to lots of people; even kids whose own parents don't...some see our dedication and vow to themselves they will when they are parents...so I suppose no matter what, it's worth it as you are making a difference to someone and often A LOT!
This year, we are again trying to raise awareness and partricipation for our group. To start, we are providing refreshments (coffee, tea and cookies) at our school's Open House....and the few of us in the group are going to approach other parents about getting involved. I am the acting Pres of the group, and while I LOVE to be in the "background" working, this is forcing me to put myself "out there" and "mingle" and try to get others interested. I wish I had a clown suit; I'd wear it just so people would come up and talk to me (rather then me having to just try to talk to people!!) hahahaha
Our school has no playground, this is why I got myself involved in the group, however, we don't have enough participation in our fundraisers to raise the funds it would require to have a nice decent playground!!! So I've pretty much resigned myself to that fact, and this year we have structured our fundraiser as for "student support" and plan to do more this year. I am hoping that parents will get involved eventually because we just won't go away!!!
the biggest thing I can say, as I struggle through this with you.... JUST DONT GIVE UP!
I would recommend reaching out to the small handful of parents that you think that you might be able to get to be active. Talk with them directly. Even if it's only three or four, that's fine. Then maybe invite them all over to your place or out somewhere to share appetizers and you can lay it all out. I think if you took these individuals and said "So the PTO at the school is in a bad place and I think the people here can make things better", they would likely jump right on board. If you would be willing to take on the Presidency I think that would be great. Discuss with these individuals any and all ideas. I would even go so far as to discuss positions that are needed, but would hold off on official voting until you have a meeting.
The next step would be to send home a flyer to all parents about the PTO getting up a running again and that due to the open positions a special election will be held at the meeting.
I think by taking this type of approach you get those two or three members to buy-in to being the heart and soul or the new PTO. They'll become the Executive Board, more than likely, and will then have a stake in making the group successful. Once you are back up and running you can start to try to get more involvement.
Also, I forgot to mention that we are raffling off items at every meeting. Usually a left over piece of spirit wear or something, but it went over well the first meeting so we'll keep doinog it.
I am a new co-pres this year. We've had a strong PTO, but had some difficulties the past two years with the merging of two schools. Our biggest goal this year was to lighten things up and keep the meetings short. Also, we too have an aggressive e-mail list (in fact, we've gone paperless for the most part but will deliver hard copy to families without e-mail) and send out weekly announcements. I usually write the annoucements and having made some blunders, have stuck in a line or two about how I screwed up and tried to make people laugh and to see that I'm human. It's working! People are loving the e-mails and have told me so. At least they're reading. Also, for our first meeting, we did invite everyone to go out to a local bar and the turnout was good. Almost half were new parents. So for us, the biggest goal is to show the pto as parents who want to make school a great place for their kids, but aren't afraid to have fun and be silly in the process. It helps that we've got a great principal too.
Let the parents know how important it is for them to be a part of the school. Time and organization are really important to parents, they need to know they are making a difference and that their time, money and efforts are not being taken for granted. We have had some luck with parent participation using pleasebringit.com to get events organized along with flyers.
Best of luck and dont give up.
