OntheGoPTO;136929 wrote: Our Volunteer Coordinator has been in charge of the 7 book fairs we've held at our school. She's handled paperwork, scheduling, volunteer recruitment, etc. She's resigned her position as Volunteer Coordinator and said she will handle the paperwork, promotion and collection for the book fair (7 weeks from now) but cannot help set up, run the book fair or pack things away.

I'm uncomfortable having her handle the administrative side of the book fair as she no longer holds an Executive Board position. If we break ties with her there may be backlash as she was the driving force behind our previous fairs and tends to be volatile, and difficult to work with unless things are done "her way" and could damage the PTO reputation with behind the scenes badmouthing.


Thank you - I know I can count on my virtual helpers to get us through this!

I don't know if this person is still writing on this board, but even if the person is not on the executive, why wouldn't you let them handle the admin side of things.. and report them back to you, or the person who is now incharge of this area.

We don't have book fairs, but we do other things, and we have people who are not actually on the executive running some events. We are completely involved.. they must report to the executive and deal directly with the tresurer when it comes to money matters..

So I'm not answering to the book fair part of this, but I'm asking, why would you get rid of a willing volunteer just because they are not on the executive board???

just a question..

Hi,

I was looking for some good fundraising activity ideas and came upon this "conversation." I know that I can't advertise here, but I am an Independent Consultant for Usborne books and I was concerned that the previous reference to Usborne books shouldn't be generalized (ie. I am new and I have at least 30 sample books, games, learning tools, etc.). If you have any questions, I would be happy to help, they are great books and a great fundraiser!

Hi,

I was looking for some good fundraising activity ideas and came upon this "conversation." I know that I can't advertise here, but I am an Independent Consultant for Usborne books and I was concerned that the previous reference to Usborne books shouldn't be generalized (ie. I am new and I have at least 30 sample books, games, learning tools, etc.). If you have any questions, I would be happy to help, not just for a sale, just because they are great books and a great fundraiser!

I am the chairperson in charge of book fairs at our school in Massachusetts. I also hold a board position but in the past the Book Fair Chair has not been part of the PTO Board. If you hold your book fair around a special event you will increase profits. 70% of our book fair sales occur in one night. Another suggestion is to use classroom wishlists which enable parents to buy books for their kid's classrooms. We also do classroom preview days with student wishlists which have proved successful. We give $5 gift certificates to those kids who complete a summer reading challenge to use at the book fair. Nothing better then rewarding reading with a book! This reading challenge is sponsored by the PTO, adored by our reading specialist and teachers and has been a huge success.

We switched book compaies a year ago from Scholastic to Usborne for a host of reasons that were both parent and teacher driven. We have been thrilled with our decision. The format and profit incentives are the same as scholastic but the work involved on the parent/pto side in far less. Book fair was cash and carry and the selection was fantastic. Our Usborne reps were great -- they set up and took down the book fair but even better they staffed it for us during our parent-teacher night (which we could never find volunteers for!!!)


Hope these ideas help

Hello again, Sorry for the delay i have not been on for a few days. Our book fair is in progress presently. TPA is Teacher parent association that's what they call it at my school. The name of the company we are using is Book fairs by Book Ends. I am not sure of there area limitations so you would have to check on that. Let me just say that our parents comments have been totally positive on this book fair. I had a number of parents tell me how happy they were that we were not selling all the "junk" that scholastic sells.Many felt that they have gotten away from actually selling books to kids.The set up, book selection and prices are generally the same as scholastic and let me say they have been great to deal with as well.there web Site is www.bookfairsbybookends.com.Good Luck all!

In our PTO, the Board is comprised of all officers, chair persons, and certain other positions. So by virtue of chairing the committee, she would be a Board member.

But at our schools, bookfair is run by the librarians. The PTO helps recruit volunteers for staffing it, but we don't run it.