The only meeting place our PTA has is the staff lounge.
I just make sure i get things done before 11am.
If i still have stuff to do i come back at 1pm when teachers are usually done eating. Sometime we use the library . I just ask the librarian when she will not have a kids. Maybe we should do a fundraiser to get our own space.
Good Luck with everything

Good for you for pressing for a meeting and working it out! We all have a few negative nellies in our group-- keep being positive and uplifting to your parents as a whole. Good luck in turning these 2 around--- I'm sure you'll be able to make a positive impact.

Hi Wendy-
Sounds like you have a frustrating situation but the right attitude: stay positive! DLF offers some great advice, in terms of having a frank conversation and reminding the "pot-stirrers" that you are all there for the good of your children. Unfortunately, she's also right that these people are not going to go away or change over night. Thought of two articles that will hopefully help you deal with the situation and keep your sanity : )


How To Deal With Difficult People - PTOToday.com

Dealing With Disagreements - PTOToday.com

Keep us posted and good luck,
~Lisa

follow me on twitter:
twitter.com/ptotoday

Sometimes it's okay to have one of those frank discussions that go something like:

I'm really excited about what we're going to be doing for the kids this year. I want to make sure that stays the focus of our board and I'm looking for positive energy from everyone in order to do that. I get the sense sometimes that we're spending too much time on the negatives and that just draws our energies in a way that is counterproductive to making great things happen. I really would love to have your buy in and support and of course I'm always here to discuss whatever we need to talk about, but just want us all to keep looking forward vice standing still or, worse yet, looking backwards. I'm hoping this will be the best year yet for our PTO so I'm asking for your help in staying positive for our programs and ultimately for our children.

It is good to be up front about what you're thinking in a professional way. I teach classes on communicating and providing feedback in a constructive way as managers and something like this doesn't go away because you ignore it or worse yet placate the difficult person or complainer. Sometimes there is value in what their comments bring to the table - but they own what their energies are and how it's affecting your team.

Good luck and have a plan--folks like the ones you speak of don't often just stop complaining or stirring the pot. It's their nature and unfortunately you and your team have to figure out how to maximize what they bring to the table and minimize what the negatives in their personality are.

d

Thanks for your response to my post. I appreciate all the feedback I have received concerning this issue. This was difficult for me because I do not agree with the two members of our board who had issues with this new policy. Rather than letting the issue simmer and turn into a ridiculous drama, I spoke with the principal and asked if he could clarify the policy and address the arguments the two others were voicing. He was very positive and wanted to schedule a meeting as soon as possible to address the issue. Well, I tried two times to get a meeting together which worked with the two exec. members personal schedule. Finally we had a 30 minute meeting with the principal, but one of the two didn't show up. No body else on our board had an issue but those two, yet everybody but only one of the two complainers showed up.

These two ladies (one is our treasurer and the other is our secretary) are continuing to have a negative effect on the activities of our exec. board and the limited amount of attendees at our meetings. Others on our board are asking me to address their negativity at our next executive board meeting.

During this first year as president, I am encouraging and leading our board towards a cooperative, positive and supporting relationship with the school admin. and teaching staff. These last three weeks have shown me that these two are not on board with this agenda. They seem to be letting past disagreements, power struggles, and gossip keep them from being positive and forward thinking members of our group.

My strategy so far has been to listen to their complaints and corrections but always add positivity to the conversation. When they are rude I cover it with light humor and move on. Any other suggestions?

Wendy

At our school, the staff lounge is exactly that - a staff lounge. Volunteers, PTA or not, don't go into the staff lounge. I don't think this is a "rule," however it is a common courtesy for us. Even I don't go into the staff lounge unless it's after hours...not only am I our PTA President, but also the husband of one of the teachers, and I see many of them outside of school hours, so I'm sure they wouldn't mind, but it's just common courtesy on my end!

Teachers go into the lounge to relax and to take short breaks and lunches. There are conversations that are of a personal nature that go on in there, not to mention discussions about students that should not be shared with or overheard by parents.

I think you should respect the teachers' privacy and find another area to do your own lounging...or whatever it is that is taking you into the lounge.

As far as the equipment, I agree that you everything you do is for the school, whether or not you feel PTA/PTO owns the equipment. When your group purchased the equipment, I'm sure it wasn't with the caveat that you would be able to use it...it was for the benefit of the school.

I'm sure your volunteers spend a lot of time at the school, however is it really necessary for you to use the equipment? Can it wait until you got home to eat lunch? Most teachers don't have that luxury.

With all this being said, however, have you tried working with the school administration to try to use the lounge during times when the staff isn't in there? There have got to be plenty of times when there aren't teachers in there.

I'm sorry I'm coming across a little hard, but these are exactly the things that ended up ruining a relationship between PTA/PTO and teachers, and without their support, you have almost nothing. A lot of people forget what the "T" stands for in our organizations! At our school, we are lucky that we have a lot of teachers volunteering to do things for us, like running family nights. Over the last 5 years that my wife and I have been involved, we've had several teachers on our board (including my wife who is a teacher/parent at the same school).

P.S. - When I say "you," I'm referring to the people on your board that are having a problem...it's just faster to type!