We had our monthly meeting last night and it was... interesting. This woman brought her entire family with her - presumably so that they will be eligible to vote next month in our elections.
It's not against the rules, but it is in poor taste I think to try to influence the outcome of the elections using people who have no intention of actually being members of the PTO. Personally, I wouldn't want to lead a group that hadn't actually chosen me.
It was somewhat discouraging but I think there is still a good chance that I have enough of the active members' votes.
We also had a candidate for school committee who is very interested in the work of the city's PTOs come and observe the meeting last night which was nice.
Klbrengle-
You're welcome. Hope things are improving or you are letting her insecurities roll off you. I always say: a different day, a different perspective.
kbrengle-
Vent away! This is a great spot to commiserate with other leaders. I loved Lynn's advice. Thanks Lynn. She's right-- there's always one in every crowd.
There will always be the "good ole girl" pack who doesn't want to change anything and likes the status quo. What you can do is continue to be the positive presence and work hard at making the school the best place for every child and family. Eventually, people will begin to recognize what success looks like and you will be identified. Ignore is my best advice!!!!
I am at the end of my rope with our current PTO board. I was a new parent at our school at the beginning of this year, and I joined the PTO and jumped right in volunteering my time and ideas and really being the driving force behind a lot of good things that have happened this year (or being a very strong support for those in charge of a given activity or fundraiser).
From about the second month, one of the board members has clearly taken issue with me. She is very condescending to me, shuns any ideas from me or other members (new and old alike) and is really just generally unpleasant to work with.
I've been on almost every committee all year, attended the PTO Today Expo, have gathered information resources for us, started a blog for the PTO and manned a new email address for parents to send us questions and ideas... I am the coordinator for our current fundraiser and have more or less been running the fundraising committee for months.
Today she called me out after I requested to add an agenda item for next week's meeting and went on and on about how I was too bold and disagreed with her too often etc, etc.
It's so frustrating. She hasn't attended most of the events, hasn't attended a meeting in 2 months (she had a good reason and I don't even blame her but to tell me I should step back when I have done so much this year is very insulting), and she really brings down our meetings.
I guess I am just venting and I am hoping to be elected President in June based on the hard work I have done so far this year and a pretty exciting list of ideas I have compiled with other highly active members over the past few months. I just hate the drama that goes with this. All I want to do is make life a little bit brighter for our students - many of whom come from very disadvantaged backgrounds - and every time I try to take a step forward, I get pushed by this woman...
It has been very frustrating all year but the other day was particularly bad. The articles definitely helped, thank you! 