We had our first PTA meeting of the school year last night and we had 20 parents and 12 teachers there. That is the most I have ever seen at a meeting in the 4 yrs I've been there. It was so nice to see alot of new faces and they were all willing to help out with our activities that are planned.

I think we made a big impact on the teachers and parents last year because we would make phone calls and ask for their opinion alot of the time.

Hopefully, this will keep up.

Low morale is related to lack of leadership. Leaders are not necessarily holding chair positions but are able to mobilize members into action. Increased activity or more members organizing to fulfill a role or "vision" of a leader will improve morale.

A good start can be created by smiling a lot and complement members for their efforts no matter how small their contribution may appear. More detailed explanation can be found under "behavior modification" and "shaping".

"Grass root organizing" also has other concepts important to understand in what is needed to mobilize a community into action. Some can be found in practice reviewing Project Appleseed's website. http: www.projectappleseed.org

We had a free back to school supper and gave away a scooter as a door prize. All the food was donated by a local grocery store so we just had to purchase the scooter (on sale!). We have 350 students and 250 people showed up for the supper!If we could just get them to the meetings!!!!!

We have started to have babtsitting available for the moms who have this problem i.e. late working husbands, single moms etc. We get a couple of kids through a service organization at the high school. We then make a donation to the organization ($20) Not much but it helps. We do not charge the moms.

Try having a family social. We did a sphegetti dinner for the families and staff. It was a great event.

Brooke you have come to the right place. This site is loaded with helpful suggestions. Read all the posts on every subject, you are bound to come up with something that suits what you are looking for. The magazine (hardcopy) PTOToday is an excellent source of information. I received my first issue and found it to be very informative. Good Luck