Just wanted to update on what I had posted before. My child plays on an outside activity with a teacher from our school. I asked the teacher about what I had written about and what this teacher thought. The answer blew me away. Forgive me if it is long but I wanted to share with you guys and find out what you thought. Here goes:
When I asked teach why we seem to get so much resistance from them on attending meetings and getting responses from them, teach said that at staff meetings the principle tries to mandate to teachers that they have to come to our meetings. That it isn't part of the job but wants them there. Teacher said that many meetings between teachers all come out the same. That because the principle does not ask but demands that they do not want to go. Teach said that this was childish but that "there is was".
Also said that principle uses the one teach that shows up more that others against other teachers, such as, if you guys showed like this person, then you could receive items for your classes like this teacher has. I reminded teacher that we practicaly beg teachers to let us know what they need and get very few responses. That this teacher asked and received, not because of favoritism but because of just simply being one of the only ones to ask. Teach agreed but said it still rubs the wrong way.
As I read over this I am just amazed at how childish this is. I would love any comments on how this could be solved. Our kids could really benifit from teacher participation. These teachers are really a great group of people!
Just wanted to update on what I had posted before. My child plays on an outside activity with a teacher from our school. I asked the teacher about what I had written about and what this teacher thought. The answer blew me away. Forgive me if it is long but I wanted to share with you guys and find out what you thought. Here goes:
When I asked teach why we seem to get so much resistance from them on attending meetings and getting responses from them, teach said that at staff meetings the principle tries to mandate to teachers that they have to come to our meetings. That it isn't part of the job but wants them there. Teacher said that many meetings between teachers all come out the same. That because the principle does not ask but demands that they do not want to go. Teach said that this was childish but that "there is was".
Also said that principle uses the one teach that shows up more that others against other teachers, such as, if you guys showed like this person, then you could receive items for your classes like this teacher has. I reminded teacher that we practicaly beg teachers to let us know what they need and get very few responses. That this teacher asked and received, not because of favoritism but because of just simply being one of the only ones to ask. Teach agreed but said it still rubs the wrong way.
As I read over this I am just amazed at how childish this is. I would love any comments on how this could be solved. Our kids could really benifit from teacher participation. These teachers are really a great group of people!
Volunteering comes from the heart. I am surrounded by a core group of volunteers at my childrens school. It is always the same
people. While we struggle to figure out why
more people do not want to become involved we must not loose sight of the good we are doing and why we are doing it. Our children will benefit from seeing us at school, witnessing our endless devotion to them and their education. Don't give up, keep going forward in a positive way!!
Thank everyone who has replied so far. I agree strongly with the last post. The staff, teachers and parents must communicate!. We had our PTO meeting last night and decided to address this issue in a constructive manner. The PTO board is going to attend the next staff meeting an ask the teacher to help us develop a system that will allow for the exchange of information between the parents and teachers. Again, thank you all for the posts, I will certainly mention some of the ideas from this forum. Just a few clarifications about my first post. 90 % of our teachers work and live in the same district. About 15 % of the teachers currently have kids that attend this school.
Well, where to start? Our principal has become involved enough to assure that at least two teachers are present at our meetings. Most of the time we end up with 3 or 4. I think this helps in communication to the other teachers and also a teachers input as to what works well with the school day schedule. As for parents, I always try to be look on the bright side and assume that people would like to come to the PTO meetings but they know their priorities in time best, so we should not judge. Most of us who help do so for the kids but I think that we also enjoy the involvement or else we would not do it and be one of the "I'm too busy parents". We hold our meetings on the first Monday of each month and in a school of 270 students we have probably about 20 people show up (that's including us 4 officers). I'm quite interested in knowing if this is just a "busy" night. I know I then run to Girl Scouts as soon as the meeting is over. Which by the way is where I am every other Monday night as well. Because I choose to be. I was a working mother up until October 2000. I also know from that side how hectic the schedule can be. I still made the meetings. Our PTO provides babysitting services which helps some to attend.
Well to wrap it up I think the biggest key is communicate, communicate, communicate. If parents are not attending the meetings then we need to assume that they want to be and can't. Make the effort to pull them in on their own time. Ask your own friends to help out, who if like mine, are some of the ones who do not attend. Sometimes we are all too eager to criticize the people we do not really know, but look a little closer.
What a double edged sword. Our group has two teacher reps to represent the K-6 and 7-12 grades. Works great. We have even had a teacher serve as Pres. and meetings were short, scheduled in advance, and well organized. This year our President is a mess. I'm the mother of four (10,4,2,8months)NO I DON'T HAVE TIME but find, make, and say No. As far as the teachers, our Principal is our best cheerleader and encourages the staff to be involved. This does help!I have one teacher that has helped our skate parties become huge by talking about the partied with the students. I'm at the end of my second term as Secretary and ready to move on- now I hear the teaches want to nominate me for V.P. or Pres. We'll see.
