I was just voted in as president of the PTSO. Now I am new to all this PTSO stuff but my wife is a teacher so i hear a lot from her. There is a lot of stuff I would like to change, but we'll se how it goes. The school has a "fall festival" every year and as far back as i can remember it has always been the same and it needs to be changed. So that is what I am setting out to do. And not really to make more money but so that families can have fun. The school is K-5 but most of the game are for the little kids. There needs to be more for the older kids to bring them in. I can be here all day with some of the stuff that has been said. One where the gentleman brought up parent spending more just make their kids happy. Well thats the parents fault. If you have the money to spend, dont come or set a limit. At our fall festival they sell tickets for .25 each and all the game take one ticket. Armbands are $5 and are good for unlimited bouncys. I do agree about the cheap prizes, which I want to do away with and get better prizes because most of the that cheap stuff goes right in the trash so its a waste of money to buy. Id like to make it more like a county fair. I have even thought about seeing what it would cost to get 2-3 fair rides. I want to get kids and parents from other schools to look at our fall festival and to come as well, not just our students.
I found out a few weeks ago that the schools biggest fundraiser was "worlds finest chocolate". I dont know how much was raised because I dont officially take over until July 1 but I was surprised it was the bestest. But the more I thought about it I understand why, its $1 for a candy bar, and most people can afford a $1. I think the community should be kept informed about what the PTSO is doing. I didnt have a clue what I did with the money cause there was never a news letter sent home. The one of the first things we plan on doing. We are going to send a letter to parents, students and teachers and ask them what they like, dont like, want to see changed, want they want dropped, what they want added, any new ideas we can get. You have to look at new ways to makes money. You need to let the community know what you are doing with the money you raise. I found out our account has over $8000 in the right now and I was like, why? That money should have been used somewhere for something. One reason why there is that much at the end of the school year is because they old PTSO has the candy sell the last month of school, which made no since to me because now that money is just setting there but it will be put to use real soon.
As far as fundraiser you have to start looking outside the box and utilizing people talents. I read today about applying for grants to help pay for some of the projects around the school. Our playground needs to be fixed up and needs some new equipment also, so I am going to see if there are any kind for grants that can help with that. One of the things I thought about today, since I am a photographer, is to take pictures of the schools basketball league and give the profits to the PTSO. People dont have to always donate money, they can donate their time and skills. If we cant get a grant to help with the playground maybe someone with a backhoe or tractor and dirty, they can "donate" time to help fix up the playground. Even though we are not getting any money, we wouldnt be spending any money which is just as good as money donations.
Well I could keep going but its 4:30am and I have be up in 3 1/2 hours. So please forgive any typos, misspelling, and not using proper grammer.