Question: Carnival Participation

Anybody have difficulty getting teachers to participate at school carnivals? At my school the teachers seem to think that they need to be paid if they participate.

Asked by kczech

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
It would be great to have teachers participate in all PTO and PTA events, but unfortunately that doesn't happen. In truth, I don't blame the teachers. They have their own families and private life to worry about, and chances are at least some of them have their own children in other schools where they would like to be involved. When you meet the kind of resistance that it sounds like your group has, you're better off moving on. Focus on getting teachers to help you in the most key ways -- distributing your communications in the classroom, helping you collect fundraising money, working with you to plan field trips and other curriculum or enrichment-related events. You might try to get a teacher representative at your events, but from your description I doubt there's anything you can do to get broad attendance from teachers. Read the articles Let Teachers Teach and Get Teachers on Your Side for more on this topic.

Community Advice

nsquitieri3 writes:
The one way to get teachers to participate is have them keep the money from the proceeds from their teacher booths. This way they can have the money for their classroom. In order for the Pto to make money is to have the Pto auction gift baskets. At my school, the Pto assigned each grade level a theme. For instance, 1st grades theme was beach & movie night. A flyer went home asking for donations. Then the day of the carnival we would auction or raffle all the baskets. Between 40 teachers booths & baskets, we raised $10,000. I think if the teachers know the money goes directly back into their classrooms, they will more likely to participate.