You have all given me some great info. After thinking about it, you're right maybe the bylaws are too much info too soon. Maybe we would be better off having copies at our booth for people who would like them rather than including them in the folder. The original idea was to "inform" families of what the PTO was about and what to expect from Officers. Last year, everyone just took things as they came and many things backfired and caused ill feelings among long standing & new coming PTO. If you guys could email me anything you have it would be appreciated. We have plans of meeting all summer to prepare for next school year and would like to get well organized. Thanks everyone!!!
I just coordinated a meeting this past week for a Welcome Back to School Committee. At the beginning of school we are hosting a BBQ so that all the teachers, staff, parents and students can meet together at the school and get to know each other and get familiar with the campus. Our PTO will have a booth there for our membership drive and attached to the form will be a time/talent survey. We will use that information to guide people into the committees where they would fit. We'll have posters depicting PTO activities so new parents can see what it is we do. We're also inviting in other organizations within the school and community to bring in posters & flyers so the parents have the opportunity to get information about living here. My thought behind this is that you can be handed a book/folder full of stuff that may never get read or you can make things bold and bright and eyecatching and if someone is truly interested in more information they can pick up a flyer. :cool:
At our school we have a bulletin board for "official" information. This includes a meeting schedule, a calendar of PTO events, a roster of board members, and any local events that might be of interest to our parents. We keep a notebook in the school office with our by-laws, current budget, and any acquisitions we made for the school in the last school year. The notebook cannot be removed from the office, but is available to anyone who wants to look at it. I think it helps derail those people who are inclined to think the PTO is a group of insiders who don't want to share what they're doing.
we just did this at out kindergarten round-up and have already gotten back 10 signup forms. we included a welcome letter about our org.; an information synopsis of our activities, fundraisers, what we brought to the school last year; information on fundraisers they can help out with now - escrip,boxtops, schoolcash.com; and a sign up sheet that asked where they would like to help, and for their safeway card number to sign them up for escrip. we found that if they were personally given it was better than with the rest of the school stuff and we had a few members as well as the teacher there promoting. if you'ld like a copy i can email them to you in word.
i agree that the bylaws, budget,would be a bit much even scary for pto beginners.
lisa [img]smile.gif[/img]
It's great you want to give your parents informatin, but that list might be overkill. Few of our Board members have ever actually read our bylaws. (Those who need the info, have.) While certainly important, these are not "light reading". I'd skip those. Plus, the parents are overwhelmed with paper that first week - don't give them anything they don't need.
You might want to think of it more from a marketing point of view. Your parents are more likely to read something they can understand at a glance. I'd lean more towards a bulleted flyer explaining what the PTO does and giving some highlights of accomplishments. Or maybe use it as a cover letter to explain what's included. (Probably T-shirt order form, membership form, volunteer form, key announcements, etc.)
One lesson we learned quickly. PTO forms return to us better if they are copied on unique colored paper. They really stand out and tend to make it back in our mailbox rather than getting lost in the shuffle.
I am the new VP for our PTO. The year of PTO H*** has finally closed and it is up to the new officers to do some damage control. Alot has been resolved by just eliminating the problem, but so many people have been "put off" by the PTO that we need to reach out to them and get them involved. We are working folders to hand out to parents at Registration. We have a rather large stack of things we'd like to include - bylaws, budget forecast, volunteer sheet, and more importantly an introduction letter letting parents know what the PTO is all about. Has anyone done something like this before? What did you include? Any amount of help is appreciated. Our school is K-3rd and parent volunteers are hard to come by. We really do want to boost the morale.
