PTO ~ are you involved? - Page 2

[Geofizz]

Originally Posted by Smithie 

I last heard that 40-50% of all families have at least one parent participating throughout the year. 

Wow. Very much not the case at my kids' school. The school is economically and racially integrated by design (i.e. bussing, kids being driven long distances to attend), and the PTO is a yuppie-run organization. If I were forced to guess, I'd say 10-20% participation throughout the year, with another cohort participating once or twice - and that counts people like me who would have to be dragged into a PTO meeting at gunpoint. 

That's not what I meant.  We the 40-50% quoted number reflects participation at any level.  Some parents give just 1 hour all year setting up cookies after a winter concert.  They are counted just as much as the people who single-handedly ran the $50k fund raiser. 

Getting that 1-hour a year volunteer is important for the viability of the organization.

Jaygee, you need to also beware the perception of it being an exclusive organization.  As the above quote indicates, if your PTO leaders are all blonde SAHMs in a school with a diverse population, then it doesn't matter how welcoming you all feel, it won't be perceived as welcoming to the rest of the parent population as exclusive.  Actively recruit parents to participate and take on leadership roles that look like the student population. 

[JayGee]

Originally Posted by Geofizz .

, if your PTO leaders are all blonde SAHMs in a school with a diverse population,

Hey Geo, I resemble that comment !  Seriously though, I see your point.  And yes, our board is all white, blond and 3/5 are SAHMs.  Three members are leaving after this year and we are actively recruiting a new president, VP and treasurer.  The other remaining board member and I have decided already to move our one monthly daytime meeting to either a weekend or an evening time slot to allow us to cast our nets a little bit wider.  Overall though, in terms of participation, I think the involved parents accurately reflect the population of the school.

Tigerchild ~ I'd love to see the survey!  PM me and I'll send you my e-mail address.  Thank you.

[Smithie]

I can't be certain since I've been avoiding the meetings, but my perception is certainly that well-off white folks are running the PTO at our school. And If I perceive that, then no doubt other people do as well. 

[JollyGG]

Like everyone else our PTA is the same 5-10 parents and the principle. However, we have a spreadsheet with 100s of people who have volunteered. We try and just recruit volunteers to chair or organize an event out of that meeting (usually co-chair) then give them the volunteer list and draw the rest of the volunteers from there.

So at the beginning of school open house there is a table with the volunteer forms, at the first couple of activity during the school year you can pick up a volunteer form, volunteer forms go home at the end of the first week with every student. Like PP have mentioned this lists every possible volunteer opportunity. We have one volunteer who the only thing she opts to volunteer for all year is organizing and typing those sheets into a spreadsheet when they come in. I don't think I've ever met her as she's never been to a meeting. But we sure love her.

Our principle recently made it a requirement that teachers attend at least one PTO meeting every year. So we now do have a couple of teachers at each meeting, but most only do the one meeting each year.

We also do a monthly newsletter. We found that people really like hearing whats going on at the school. People are also more likely to participate in PTO if what they are doing is visible. For example, it's a lot easier to support the book fair that happens during conferences when you read in the newsletter that that book fair put $3,000 worth of new books into libraries and classrooms in our school.

We also have a Facebook group. It turns out to be a great place for parents to just connect with each other. I've noticed the highest attended PTO meetings are the ones where someone created a Facebook event to remind people when the meeting is. We also set up a Google calendar. Some enjoy being able to easily incorporate their calendar with the public PTO one. It works with both Google, outlook and a few other calendar types. Use technology to make it as easy and convenient as possible to remember when the meetings and other events happen.

[LuckyMommaToo]

Our biggest hurdle for volunteers is the enormous packet and TB test that's required by the district for any adult volunteer on school grounds. Sigh. We'll send 2012-13's packet (yes, you have to fill one out EACH year, TB test every four years) home at the end of this school year, put it on our website, and send it home again at the beginning of next school year, but I get it. It's a huge PITA. Any other suggestions for encouraging parents to fill it out in advance so they can volunteer? Because of course it takes three weeks for your clearance.

[VocalMinority]

Originally Posted by JayGee 

Thanks so much for all the comments and insight.  It seems that I'm expecting too much, and that our PTO needs to do a much better job of marketing itself and making the opportunities better known.  I'm thankful that the board and the membership is not clique-y or snobbish. That sounds just miserable!  

PTO members don't have to be clique-y, to be perceived that way.  It's a Catch-22.  People who don't go to the meetings see that those who do all know each other well and may feel left out.  For people who already don't have time for or interest in attending the meetings, feeling left out becomes one more reason not to go.  There's no way to combat that, for everyone.  But any incentives you can come up with will help those on the fence, to cross the threshold (and at least sign up for things, even if they don't keep going to meetings).  I  like the coffee shop idea a PP had!  I agree with another PP, that sign-up forms sent home at the start of the year can be ineffective, because people forget what they've signed up for.  On the volunteer things I chair and participate in, I find email is very effective.  Send out a bullet email about a specific volunteer need; then follow up immediately, to confirm with those who respond; and send a reminder email the week before the actual event.

I've taken notes on all the great posts here and will suggest some new ways of getting the word out.  I think my expectation that more than one parent actually show up for a boring meeting is probably too high.  I love the idea of having events and speakers for parents though!  Unfortunately, we have no art teacher so all the lessons are taught and supervised by parents through the PTO.  We also have only a district librarian (she runs the libraries of the 6 elementary and 2 junior high schools in the district).  All the hands on library work is done by parents through the PTO as well. 

The pre-K-through-8 school our 12-year-old attends has no librarian at all, just a crew of volunteer parents.  We call the library chairperson the "librarian", but she's not, really.  However, it's separate from the PTO, which I think is nice.  It's one less thing that the core group of people in the PTO are responsible for, and brings out the talents of some people who don't tend to go to PTO meetings - even a couple grandmothers of students, who are great running story time for the little kids!

Thanks again for the comments and suggestions! Glad you feel energized! 

I'm glad you feel energized!

[bestjob]

I used to be the Chair of the parents' organization at my older son's school. We had a $35K+ fundraising ability and 200+r of volunteers who worked in a number of different areas. 

My second son enrolled in a different school and it has been really difficult to become involved.

I have made frequent offers to help at the second school, and my offers have actually been snubbed.  Through the grapevine I have heard that the person who is the Chair at that school is a control freak.  She doesn't trust other parents to shop for the Breakfast Club,  to develop new lunchtime elective programs, or to work with the teachers for a fun event like family math night.

Guess what... she's burnt out and I've stopped calling because I'm tired of being rejected.

I really encourage you to work with the group of volunteers you have and check to make sure no one is alienating other parents.

[MariaMadly]

Originally Posted by bestjob 

I used to be the Chair of the parents' organization at my older son's school. We had a $35K+ fundraising ability and 200+r of volunteers who worked in a number of different areas. 

My second son enrolled in a different school and it has been really difficult to become involved.

I have made frequent offers to help at the second school, and my offers have actually been snubbed.  Through the grapevine I have heard that the person who is the Chair at that school is a control freak.  She doesn't trust other parents to shop for the Breakfast Club,  to develop new lunchtime elective programs, or to work with the teachers for a fun event like family math night.

Guess what... she's burnt out and I've stopped calling because I'm tired of being rejected.

I really encourage you to work with the group of volunteers you have and check to make sure no one is alienating other parents.

One of the nicest things I saw happen in our K-12 system was the volunteer roster for our middle school book swap.  The PTO kept a list of who volunteered for what events and passed it along to the person coordinating whatever-it-was at the time.  When I got the list for the book swap, someone from the PTO board had made a note next to one of the moms names:  "The only event this parent signed up for."  That gave me a heads up that if we wanted to engage her, this was our shot.  She got a call ahead of other parents who have already been in and out of the building throughout the year.