Hi, it has been nice reading your note and feeling like WOW someone else is in the same position I am in! I have to be honest and say that I am not near as prepared as you seem to be, but I am working on it. I am currently the VP for our PTO this year and it has been a very CRAZY one to say the least! Our current President did not truly fullfill her position and with the previous year being someone similar and several volunteers holding way back this year it has been crazy to say the least. I have been stuck doing the VP, P and so on jobs and I feel very burned out right at the current time, but I am also excited about the coming fall because I do have a good team of board members for the upcoming year and I do believe that everyone is willing to fullfill their positions and stay in the game. I liked your idea about bringing in just a few things a year to try and really focus on making positive changes too. We also have a real need in the communication department and most of all the other things you talked about! Good luck with your year and let us know how the kick off meeting goes! I only have a board meeting and it is actually tomorrow, our PTO kick off is in September so it will be interesting for me to hear how yours turns out! Best of luck to you!

Jim-

Thank you for all your imput! I am concerned about this topic as well. I know I want to shake up some things and improve our PTO.

Change is hard, even more so when there is a group who has always done it a certain way. People don't like change. I don't what to be the bad guy, so I am looking at being the new PTO President this way... at our school the elected terms are one year with a maximum of 3 years in a single position on the executive board. Rather than jump in and make all the changes I would like to do, I am going to pick a few of the most important ones.

1. Communication - phone and email contact list for members, website, as well as newsletter (currently the newsletter is all we have
2. Organization - notebooks, expectations, and precedures for each committee chair (currently we have none of this, for any position. As incoming president I was handed a few vender fliers and one hen scratched note and that was it - no historical data on the organzation.
3. I'd like to add one activity - a game or fun night. We do a movie night and a book night now.
and lastly
4. I'd like to form a roundtable with other schools in my area to meet with them a few times a year and share ideas

We had alot of turn over in the past 2 years at our school. We've had 5 different principles and two different PTO Presidents... Most of all I'd like to leave a history of what was done before me in the PTO with a list of what was done during my year so the next person doesn't have to re-invent the wheel. I think number one and two will help with that. If I'm lucky I'll be the President for 3 years and can add in a thing or two each year so gradually my ideas can come to life in time...

You have this one chance to do things right so I commend you coming to us...

Here's some questions/points...

- First you need to define your priorities for the year. For example, last year when I was in the same boat as you are now I looked at everything that was done previously and saw places that I wanted to affect. For example, I felt the communication process was lacking and made this one of my priorities. This included a monthly newsletter, a new website, the flyers that go out for events, etc.. So define your priorities to the committee and ask them for their ideas on how to work on this.

- Does your school presently have a mascot? The reason I ask is that this past year we discussed a new mascot with the Principal and he ran with it. We had voting by the kids to come up with a new school mascot, I defined a new logo, we have new apparel and other spirit items and now on Fridays you can see hundreds of kids and the teachers walking around wearing the new apparel and it seems to have really affect the school's spirit. Starting the year off with something like this would be a great beginning!

- I would recommend having this meeting out at a restaurant or some place similar. That's what I did last year and it made it fun. Sure we talked about places where we still needed people to step up, my priorities for the year, some of the new ideas, etc., but the atmosphere made it less formal which helped.

- Do you hold a back to school event? If not I would recommend trying one. It will help a lot with getting new members and getting the existing members excited.

Anyway, good luck,
PresidentJim

From experience with working with adults in the office and being their new boss, I found that coming in and only speaking of the changes you want to make could put some people off. You will alienate parents that like the traditional events and have been there a while. So you have to be sensitive to how you approach your presentation.

You have to point out all the good things from the past (so's not to offend any of the old members that worked on events)
Talk about incorporating some new events to the already "impressive" line up of traditional events that the school has to excite the teachers and students.
Welcome ideas and comments from all parents to keep the traditions near & dear while also bringing new life in. Its NOT out with old & in with the new!

You are a new generation that embraces its traditions and polishes off the treasured things to bring them new life.

I am the new president and I am in need of boosting the morale of our PTO. I am planning our first meeting for July. Does anyone have some boosters i could use for the meeting? I am trying to be much more organized and upbeat for the returning board members due to such a rough year last year. I already have some that are not on board with me with excitment and all the new and exciting activities I would like to do this year. I want to grab them before it snowballs and others have a lesser of a excited attitude. I am trying to have a theme for our first meeting and i was just looking for some idea's from other's who may have done something like this before. Any suggestions on first meeting do's and don't would be great. I have a half and half board with new and returning members. Myself being a new one.
Thank you for any help!!