We give our teachers money ($50-100/year depending on how our fundraisers go) to use in the classroom BUT only if they are PTO members, so basically their money is refunded to them. Also, we had a teacher rep for the last two years that pretty much demanded her fellow teachers join.

cbsmith, I do appreciate your positive attitude and enthusiam! It sounds like your group is blessed to be working within a positive atmosphere.

Absolutely, teamwork and respect go a long way toward developing and maintaining a positive relationship. With all due respect, though, I think it's a mistake to assume that low teacher involvement is a result of lack of respect from the parent group. Sometimes there's a dynamic already at play and no amount of positive interaction with a parent group can fix that. It doesn't mean we quit trying, just that we need to recognize the situation for what it is and do our best to continue to help.

In return, I think there are many ways other than membership and meeting attendance that teachers use to show their appreciation for us:

- A great response for volunteer hours.
- Cooperation in the "Backpack Express".
- Parents are welcome in the building and the classrooms.
- A steady stream of heartfelt thank you cards from teachers and students in your mailbox.
- Members stopped in the hallways and personally thanked for their hard work.

[ 08-18-2006, 03:18 PM: Message edited by: CrewChief ]

For the first time in our organizations history, we will have 100% participation from our teachers! Couldn't be happier!

If any of you have read my previous posts, you know that we are a booster club and have no fundraisers. Our minimum donation to become a member is $75, all the way up to $1500 or more. For teachers, we offer memberships at $15 each. But we also offer something called a Magna Cum Laude Sponsorship, which is a donation of $400 or more...the teachers at each of our schools got together, divided $400 by the number of teachers in their school (came out to $20 per teacher), and each ponied up that amount so that the group could be considered a Magna sponsor collectively.

We were really happy and surprised by their initiative...but I also think they are thrilled with #1 the fact that they don't have to deal with fundraising issues any more and #2 the amount of money we now bring into the schools.

When we held traditional fundraisers we brought in between $25k and $30k...in our second year as a booster club, we brought in over $50k...a lot more money with a lot less effort...

Hi! This is my second year at Co-president. I have found that if you treat teachers and staff with respect, and form a relationship with them, that you will very quickly realize an improvement in participation and involvement.

We do inexpensive, yet thoughtful,things thoughout the year for our teachers and staff. As in any occupation, when the people who work in a facility are treated fairly, respectfully, and are truly appreciated, moral improves as does participation. We work WITH the staff and teachers in our school and find that they work WITH us in return!

If you have low particpation try having a staff appreciation breakfast. Ask parents to donate an item (potluck style) and then have a couple of Officers available to re-stock and keep the area clean and tidy.

Make sure to intermingle with the staff and teachers so that you get to know them better. Parent/Teacher Conference Days are a great time to do this, as the Teachers already have a very busy schedule, and it's also only a couple of months into the year, usually. Tablecloths and Flowers add a special touch. (We had a drawing last year, at the end of the day, for the flowers). The Teachers and Staff were very appreciative. By the end of the year, we lost count of the thank-you notes we received!

Have a GREAT year everybody!

Lots do and the rep hurts but also helps (the rep is great but also cuts down teacher membership)

I think all teachers should be members regardless (IMO) but the praticality is most PTA/PTO have principal and teachers rep(s) that attend mtgs (that seems the norm in my experience)

We don't have this problem, but we do things differently. We don't ask teachers or parents to pay for membership. We never have teachers at meetings because we have two teacher reps. If a teacher wants to communicate something to us, they either send an email or note to an officer or do it through their rep. We do ask teachers to volunteer at our big events and most of them do. We don't give money to the teachers every year, but when we do, we do it through teacher grants and reimbursements. At a specific time of the year, we let teachers know we will be disbursing funds and how much we have to give and they can apply. The money they are asking for must be used to reach some kind of educational benchmark in their classrooms. The whole of the PTO votes on the grants and when the money is gone, that's it til next time. Grants are not tied to teacher involvement, but I am going to remember which teachers really put the time in and I will do my best to see that they get their grant. It works for us.