Momma4-
Ooh- that's a tough situation. On one hand, it's great that the teachers are involved... on the other hand you don't want them scaring off parents. Have you tried having a conversation with the principal about this? Think there is a way to do it with out sounding accusatory. Lead with how much you value the teachers then follow it up with an observation... "We've noticed that parents are reluctant to get involved because they feel they have no say..." That said, I am curious how your group is set up? Do you have a board? Do you have bylaws about voting?
Here are some articles that have some good info that relates to your situation:
we have a small school of about 200 kids in a poor community. I am new to the PTO this year and there has been very little parent involvement in our organization for several years. We are working very hard to reach out to parents and it seems to be working well so far except for the teachers. They are great educators and most of them parents themselves. They have done alot to help the PTO but unfortunately they seem to think they run it. They don't want to do anything new or different and they are very negative about new ideas(this will never work, noone will go for that, well we've always done it this way, etc...). They will agree with you to your face or ask you to head a committee or come up with ideas for a project, but when it comes time to vote they have already gotten together and decided on their own ideas. I am starting to figure out from parents' comments that this is one of the main reasons parents don't participate. They are saying, "The teachers are just going to do it their way so what's the point?" It is very frustrating because the teachers think the parents won't help and the parents think the teachers don't want their help. We are so grateful for our teachers' help, but we need them to be more receptive to new people and ideas. We have great groups of both parents and teachers and we would like to bring them together in a positive way. Any ideas?
