Don't go it alone. Gather a group of like-minded parents to meet with the principal. Discuss ways to slowly turn the group back over to the parents, with his input, so that he has more time to focus on his many other responsibilities.
Continue to encourage the teacher participation, including board positions for teacher reps, so the staff can stay very involved.
Revise bylaws to outline the group's role within the school's structure, the relationship between the principal and the group and the teacher's opportunities to be part of the process.
Meeting times are arbitrary. If that's the one hurdle then change it.
Some people come into our lives and quickly go. Some stay for awhile and leave footprints on our hearts. And we are never, ever the same."
"The ultimate aim of karate lies not in victory or defeat but in the true perfection of one's character."
my only comment is, i am shocked you have a principal that has the TIME to head the pto. that is amazing.
if i were principal and knew there was a parent willing to take on the task of pto pres , i would hand it over on a silver platter.
If you feel strongly about the decrease in parent participation, cancellation of student activities & the overall feeling of the PTO going down hill, then RUN. Run against him! Other parents may feel the same way and will come out to vote for you and bring back the PTO that once was. Sure you will have to work with him, but you may be able to actually get more done since he isn't splitting his time trying to run a school & the PTO. If you win and you have your discussion on the plans for the new year, turn it into "how can the PTO make your job & that of the teachers easier?" Make sure they are incorporated into the budget for receiving programs to compliment their curriculum. Maybe he got teacher support because they felt obligated!! Afterall, he is their boss. Comes September, you may be thinking, "I should have..., I could have..., if only I would have..."
Making a positive difference one project at a time <img src=images/smilies/smile.gif>
I want an opinion on our PTO...I have been setting on this for the entire year and have tried to sit back and not let it bother me but it does. So, I want to see what everyone else thinks about this. My oldest is in 8th grade and heading into high school next year and my youngest is in 3rd grade and will be out of PTO in 2 years so I should probably just let it go but I can't. I was active in PTO since my oldest was in Kindergarten. I served as secretary 1 term, vp 2 terms and President for 4 terms in a row. I was the organizer for many different profitable events along the way. I spear headed and worked very hard to get Market Day in our community, had to fight the school board and local grocery stores and go through alot to get it, and of course that has made the PTO significant money over the past few years. I was giving 110%. I trained my VP for a few years and she was elected into office when I stepped down. I stepped down because I thought that someone else should run the organization because I had done it for 4 years and every organization needs change. The president that took over did ok but had some major things happen in her personal life and didn't run again. In the mean time, one of the elementary school principals decided he'd take over PTO and made teachers come along with him in the venture. So, now the PTO is pretty much administration and teachers only. The new President (Principal) doesn't take parent imput, barely can get parents to meetings because they know they don't have a say so anyway. In the past, our PTO was like alot of PTO's and we had to beg borrow and steal to get MOST teachers to volunteer and come to meetings (some of them were great and came and helped out on a regular basis but some only came for money). Anyway, I implemented some incentives for teachers to participate and that worked and increased participation and we had a good mix of teachers and parents. After I left, the meeting date changed with the new president which allowed this principal to attend the meetings and he just started taking over. They have cut out half the stuff that we did because they don't have volunteers but noone wants to volunteer because they don't feel a part of it anymore, you know? I don't know if this principal is going to run again next year or not and I am sure noone would run against him, he is the principal for pete sakes. I had put my name in for president when I knew that the president wasn't returning but then when I found out this principal (my son's principal) was running I pulled my name out so I didn't cause any issues for myself or my son, that principal and I hadn't always seen eye to eye in the 4 years I was president cause I thought it was rediculous that he wouldn't help or support us in any way but would ask for money. He isn't from around here, lives 45 minutes away so he wouldn't stay for anything and help out and he had a meeting in his town on the night that PTO was on. I didn't set the PTO date or time, it was set years and years before I came into office and it was never changed till I left.
I am sorry for writing a book here, lol, any comments from anyone out there in PTO land?
