You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink. To avoid hurt feelings, I would suggest that you could do a couple things. One, ask last year's teacher to talk to the new gal. Have her explain how important it is to your group, to the other teachers, to the school and to the children that she do her 'job' well. She may not be trying to thwart you, she just may not realize how troubling this has become. This could also be accomplished by you or the principal, if you think it can be done without emotion, more on a business level if you know what I mean. Two, you could send a letter to all the teachers and explain what you want and what you expect from them. Kind of take her place and do it on paper? Explain that your group has money to spend on them, money they can't get anywhere else, but that in exchange for the money, they have to attend and participate. You could put your letter on the back of a copy of the upcoming agenda, or on the back of the previous meeting Minutes. Three, bring it up at your next meeting. Ask the members for their ideas on how to solve this problem. Be careful not to let it get ugly.
As for the teachers who held their own 'mini meeting' during your first meeting,
<blockquote>quote:</font><hr> We did have several come to the first meeting who gripped about almost everything we were doing and held their own private conversation when (I guess) what we were discussing didn't interest them.
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what would they do if that had been children in their classes while they were talking? They would have interupted and asked them if they wanted to share with the whole group. I have done this. It sounds worse than it is. It is a bit embarrassing for them, but no matter how they explain it later, they can't get away from that what they were doing was wrong. In the letter you send around to the teachers (from above suggestion #2), you might make mention, nicely of course - get your best wordsmith to do it, of proper etiquette during an organized meeting. You might tell them that they expect money and you expect participation and that they go hand in hand.
Teachers who 'pop in' long enough to ask for money should be given the same courtesies they give you. None. One of the things I explained at our meetings was that teachers who attend, teachers who make the effort, teachers everyone is familiar with, get the dough. Guess what? I usually had more teachers than parents! It will also help if you can get the principal to give them credit for attending. Our teachers got big brownie points for their efforts in attending meetings. Not college points, but similar.
Lastly, you could ask that each grade provide one teacher each meeting. This is what I did. To expect them all to attend wasn't realistic, so I asked that each grade provide one teacher a meeting, to represent their grade. Each month, we had a different teacher because they rotated their turns, and then reported back to their respective grades what had occurred during the meetings. This worked out great! This year, the new prez is giving out a $10 gift certificate from her own teaching supply store for the teacher who attends witht the most parents. You might offer something like that as an incentive. I offered a $10 grocery gift certificate (donated, of course!) to the class with the most parents and teacher in attendance. $10 will just about pay for cupcakes and punch for a class of 25. I always felt that the best pressure was from children who want a party...lol...
Good Luck!
[ 11-11-2002: Message edited by: TheMetzyMom ]</p>