Pleae, please don't walk away! I think you may regret it later on. Remember that we are all in this for our children and shoud lead by example.
Show your children how to act and re-act in the face of adversity. You have the opportuity to teach them a very valuable lesson. Stay strong and see this through and you will be glad you did.
It is unfortunate that you don't have your district's support. I am president of our PTO and can't imagine not working hand-in-hand with the district. We are a fairly small district 1 high school, 1 junior school, 2 elementaries and 1 kindergarten. Over the summer, each pres. meets with the principal of their school and sets the calendar, then the calendar goes to the district office for review and approval. If there are any conflicts, they are discovered before school starts. Additionally, we have a monthly presidents' council meeting with our superintendent where we are able to report on all activities and upcoming events. Of course, we still have conflicts from time-to-time, but it is much easier to work through them when you have forum in which to do so.
Again, I urge you to not give up. This job is a tough one, but our kids deserve the best we can offer. I'm sure you would not have accepted this position if you were not passionate about your kids and their school!
Each August our PTO president (me) meets with our superintendent and the principals of the elementary and high school to set the years PTO calendar. Any conflicts are hashed out then. If something is added or changed by PTO, I call everyone to have it put on the district calendar. This works for us. Both PTO and the administration are working together for the same goal.
Remind them that "together we can make a difference"
If there is any way possible for you to stick in there, I would. I can imagine it would be hard without the support of the district, but did you take this position to please them? Of course not! It's the kids!
Just a suggestion...Take a break. Cool off and come back after the holidays. Make March, April and May a new beginning. Show them you won't be pushed out! Get teacher support too.
I am so sorry to hear about your problem I hear you, it is hard to get people to show up to things with nothing else going on. I know all school districts are set up differently. In our school, we schedule things within the school and other than sending a list of the planned monthly meetings, we do not get approval through the central office for anything. If we had something planned, the central office would most likely not know the date.
I myself have thought of walking away but I can not, I have to see it through, my payment is when I see the smiles on the students faces when they see me at the school.
I am the president of the PTO at our elementary school. We hold three fairly big fund-raisers per year. Our second fund-raiser is a chili cook-off and silent auction coming up Nov. 13. I just found our school district has called a meeting for the same night, expecting our parents to attend. I feel like I am in competition for parental involvement, with the school district. Our event has been on the calendar since June, and when the meeting was announced at another meeting a spoken reminder was made about our event. I am so upset. I have decided to resign my position at the end of first semester. Unfortunanly it looks like all of the PTO officers are leaving when I do. I feel bad for the school, for the kids, but it's hard enough being in competition with everyday life things a parent needs to do to get them to come to events-I cannot compete with the school district. Shouldn't we be on the same side? I thought we were. I feel our school district does not respect, let alone appreciate, the PTO. Anyone been through this? If so how did you handle it? Thanks Deb E
