We have a wonderful Enrichment Coordinator in the PTO, and she arranges things that absolutely pertain to the current curriculum. This year the curriculum is centered around an African theme. Musicians, artists, authurs, etc. are what the assemblies are usually about. The evening activities are separate from this and are budgeted under Family Fun Nights. The teachers are always consulted on Enrichment assemblies. That doesn't seem to matter.
I mentioned it to my daughter's teacher today, and she's all for the assemblies and even using a little class time to work on artwork for a fundraiser project. I told her that I heard many teachers feel the assemblies are in intrusion on their classtime, and she said, rolling her eyes, "They need to just get over it!" At least there's one on my side! LOL
We simply provide the funding and let a committee of teachers select and arrange the assemblies. Our state has also changed policy on time out of class. They are getting realy particular about how much time the students spend on outside of classroom activities. You might see how your teachers would feel about taking over planning or at least try to get them more involved in the planning.
What kind of assemblies are you doing? Are they educational? Our district is losing money so the kids' field trips have been cut to only 1 a year I think. The teachers and principals are more than happy to receive any field trips for the kids. (I've scheduled 1 in-school "field trip" already). May work on another. Can you schedule some of your assemblies for the evening, making it more family-friendly?
Our problem with trying to do assemblies for the school is the teachers. They've been complaining that it takes away from their instruction time. Is anyone else facing this? It's not like we have them every week - not even every month! As long as they have enough advanced notice, can't they work it into their plans accordingly?