The worst I heard was to not worry about the event and to go home to be with my two little ones! Now I'M the PTO President and she isn't! No honestly her oldest graduated (K-12 school) and the two little ones before are now first and second graders and I have two new little ones in tow!
At my oldest child's school I was a member of the PTA and was never called or asked to do anything because I worked (as a matter of fact I worked with the PTA Prez mom!) which was stupid. Anyway... I am having a great time now and I hope you are going to also!
I always want to be a part of helping in my child's school. That situation really made me feel bad. I felt really naive as well like I should I seen that coming.
I had already inquired about the PTA at the new school, I just wasn't sure how I really felt about it
And thank you for welcoming me. I will be visiting the site this summer for more ideas and encourgaement
Don't give up just because of one bad apple. In this world there are pleanty of folks who do not want to do anything that is not their idea. Their are also folks who feel threatened by someone who has great ideas and gets things accomplished.
Who knows...at your child's new school they may welcome you with open arms and be grateful for your contributions. You won't know unless you try! Good Luck!
For every group that acts like the one you were previously in there is another who is welcoming and just dying for someone with new ideas and a go-getter attitude. I say get involved with the group at your child's new school. You'll never know what they are like until you attend some meetings and get to know some people.
You know the same group's dynamics can even change from year to year based on who is "running the show". I've seen that firsthand with our PTO. It's never been anything truly awful, but there have been years where it just wasn't as fun and comfortable. A couple weeks ago I had someone tell me that when I was president it was a warmer group and meetings felt like you were visiting someone's home for the evening. That made me feel so good.
Jump in there and give it a try. If you find it unwelcoming then go the route you went at your other school and offer to help in other areas.
Oh yeah, and welcome to becoming a full-fledged participant in the forum!!!!!
I'm kinda new here, well I've been a lurker since last August. I would like a little help if you guys don't mind. I was on a board this past year as a new mom and came to this site and got some great ideas and wanted to do some new things at my child's school so I joined the board and present ideas to the current president.
Behind closed door she was really attentive and seemed to like the new ideas, however once we got into the meetings she acted like she didn't know what I was talking about and I eventually got the label of being a "troublemaker". I made sure that I informed her on everything I wanted to do so I would not "step on anyone's toes". I even have an email I sent to her back from Oct 2004 outlining things and it was obvious that she never read it. She did always say things to me like "well those parents will never participate" and we tried that before and it didn't work. However when I went ahead and did some things with other parents it did work. Alot of what we wanted to do was compromised because of this and it didn't have to be. I resigned from the board and went on to do some other stuff at the school with the full support of the prinicpal and vice prinicipal but it really soured me on getting involved on a board again. I couldn't believe that "adults" were actually carrying on this way and with me being in my 30's the PTO/PTA seemed to be very different from what I thought it would be. Lots of politics and backstabbing. Almost clique like.
Anyone else have any horror stories to tell and what they did about it? My child is going to a new school - graduating and I am not sure if I want to get involved again?
