Question: Looking for good advice

Hello everyone, I'm trying to start a PTO a my little ones school, there has not been a PTO or PTA in over 7 years. I have my 1st meeting tomorrow, I'm offering a free dinner just to get parents in the door. SO my question what are top topics i should i start with and how do i get parents to help when a lot of them see school as a babysitter ??? Any tips would be nice thank you nichelle

Asked by Nichelle163

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
Hi Nichelle163,
First of all, congrats to you for making this effort! It's huge!

It makes sense to look at this first meeting as a way to connect with parents, get lots of input on ideas for your group and and seek out a few volunteers who would be interested in working with your to officially launch the group.

Chances are, the parents who are making the effort to come to your meeting aren't the ones who view school as a babysitter and so, within this group, you are bound to find a few that are willing to team up with you.

Once you get a few key volunteers, you can get down to the nitty gritty of forming a group. Some general things to think about: Your team can brainstorm and figure out a mission statement (what's your purpose), identify some key goals for the year (perhaps a few family/community events, and a fundraiser to get things going) and start drafting the bylaws to help govern the group. Officers will need to be elected, as well.

But you don't have to do everything in a day and you certainly don't need to square it all away at this first meeting!

Here's the article on How to Start a PTO.

Good luck and, again, congrats to you for getting the ball rolling!