Hi-- sorry, have been so busy with Teacher Appreciation, a movie night and muffins with mom hadn't had time to log on and do checking--
We have our meetings on the second Tuesday of every month-- just change the time to try and help out everyone... we have our 1st meeting in Sept. in the AM, Oct, was in the afternoon- right after school to try and get teachers involved and then we did the Nov. meeting at night-- and then it rotates back to AM.

It wasn't bad-- mornings we found have not been that good-- after school, have about 8-10 staff from the 30 we have and nights were pretty good-- but our May meeting, which was a night one brought a first for us... not 1 parent showed up and this was our voting meeting for new officers, so now we have to have a special meeting to have a vote, because it states in our by-laws that we have to have a vote in May for new officers.
Next year, we'll have to look into doing something different.. I think we are going to put a survey out to see what would bring parents in... I'll let everyone know what happens.

When my boys went to Head Start we had a small, informal "Parent Group". We were not very organized, but those of us that showed up had fun & raised money for stuff the kids/school needed (that's the point, right?). We tried everything with our meetings! We had them right after school (hoping to hook the parents that picked their kids up), at dinnertime (with a potluck) and anywhere in-between. We also used almost everday of the week!

Keeping in mind that there were only 20 kids and between them 17 families, we really did well if we had 4 people show up. That's 20% involvement!! Imagine how many parents you would have at meetings if you had 20% attendance at meetings!!

My thought is take what you can get, but always search for little ways to get more involvement. My current PTO has about 10 active memebrs, but we had about 60 volunteers for our Carnival!! When you need them, they will come.

<I guess the people who want to be there, will be>

A sad fact..., but I think NotCrazy hit the nail on the head.

After 8 years of PTO Involvement, in Elem., 5th Grade (Upper Elem.) & now Middle School, I have to say that I agree. You can adjust your times, days, change officers, etc and the cold hard truth is as NotCrazy stated.

Our group does all the aforementioned stuff; post in district calendar at the beginning of the year which everybody receives at registration, post in the weekly newsletters under the calendar of events section which is sent by e-mail, hard copies are left in the office, advertised on the school marque, played with the date and time changes, etc...guess what? The same individuals show up!

Here are some suggestions on how we are going to approach the upcoming year: 1. "Just 2 Hour" Pledge and 2. Change from PTO to PTSO.

We are going to try the "Just 2 Hour" pledge for the coming year and add the "S" to "PTO" = PTSO (Possibly utilize the Student Council) and hopefully we will get a snowball affect. Afterall, at this age they are promoting responsibility. We hope this will give them a greater sense of school pride, which will hopefully relay to parents resulting in greater involvement.
(I know if my children ask me to help at a function...If at all possible, I'll be there!)

We have found that people are willing to do anything for the students/school, if personally asked. Whatever the school enrollment, it's real difficult for the same few to call on everyboby for every function. Our hope is that the students can help with "The Volunteer Stigma". (BTW, establishing a phone chain does help considerably!)

Would love to hear other possible ways to make a difference.

Thank you all for responding I do print up business cards at the beginning of the year with all of our contact information on the front and meeting dates/times listed on the back which are distributed to all the families and then kept in the office in case we get new families or someone loses theirs. Our rotating dates worked well for us, I was just wondering if offering morning meetings would benefit as well. We do tend to hold committee meetings at different times throughout the day, but all of our "main" meetings are held in the evening.

We do also send reminders out in our Newsletter and on our school calendars. I guess the people who want to be there, will be

Thanks again!
NotCrazy

Hi,
our PTO rotated morning and evening every other month. If it was night it would be the first Thursday of the month. If morning thfirst Friday of the month. We sent out a schedule at the start of the year. We were fortunate that all officers were able to attend in the mornings as well as evenings.

If you were going to alternate, I'd suggest a very definite pattern. For instance, I belong to a professional organization that does that. We meeting on the first Tuesday. On even number months it's for lunch; odd is evening.

They do try to serve both types of people - those who prefer daytime and those who don't. But at least it's an easily remembered pattern.

But I agree with CrewChief - you'll need to send reminders no matter what.