Thank you for responding. We may need to rethink this idea. Our goal was to have each of the 18 Committee Chairs to start by giving updates and then the general membership be able to ask questions of the chairs. I do see how we might vary from the PTO topics to school topics/decisions somewhat. I will bring these points up next week at the Exec Meeting.
Be very careful with a "town forum" kind of meeting! Our PTO had one of these last year, mainly because the pres and sec had issues with the school, and it turned into a major fiasco. I personally do not believe that the PTO should be a problem solver in the broad sense of things, simply since we have a school board, paid administrators and staff who have the power to change things in the school. Not to say we as the parents don't have a voice, just that it's not a good place for the PTO to be. Plus it puts the PTO into an "us or them" position and that reputation is hard to dissolve. Believe me, I'm the new president and people are sometimes surprised that I won't take sides. It is NOT my job to take sides, it IS my job to be neutral yet supportive of the school. That is actually in our bylaws! Our school board does a yearly confidential survey, given to parents, teachers, staff, etc, and the results are compiled by a neutral third party. The results and published and addressed. This has worked out wonderfully for our school. Do we still have problems? Of course, but we are also finding solutions. Our PTO is currently conducting another confidential survey about our Cantina. We will compile the results and give them to the school board to deal with. Why do all the work and not get credit for the changes? In the process, we would also get the blame and that interferes with our own productivity.
If you do proceed with a town forum meeting, be sure and have a neutral, third-party mediator who can separate personality issues from real school issues. That is very important in getting results that work for the school.
Thank you Lisa@Tx for the speaker ideas! We can definitely do some neat things with local folks.
We have really started concentrating on having good informative meetings in order for all parents to feel they have more of a say in the fundraiser and expenditures. We have a great base of involved parents, but sometimes we hear they are not happy with one committee or another. The next meeting (in November) is planned to be more of a "Town Forum" style so that there is more questions and answers.
Has anyone been successful with this type of meeting? Our biggest concern is...Will it become a B---- session? OR Will it be constructive? The President (I'm the VP) assumes we can set a few ground rules and the appropriate atmosphere to keep it up beat! I have to agree as the parlimentarian that we can keep it under control.
Again does anyone have any experiences they can share?
I approach our meetings differently. It is not our goal to have a lot of parents at the meetings, but instead our goal is to represent a lot of parents at the meetings. We do a high percentage of business at the meetings that is not that interesting nor does it require their participation for those not intimately involved. I much rather have the parents use their precious time at committee meetings, events, and fundraisers, comfortable with the knowledge that the money raised will go to the programs and projects they support. Some of our events draw over 100 volunteers (we have approx 240 families at our school) and most families contribute something throughout the year. We are very active (we have 8 officers and 34 committee chairs-not including committee members) and I and my vice presidents spend our energy recruiting committee chairs, helping the chairs recruit committee members, and providing them organization and information rather than promoting meeting attendance. All my committee chairs email updates for me to present at the meetings so their group is represented and any help that is needed can be given.
In order to represent the parents, we make an effort to find out parent opinion with polls, bimonthly meetings with heads of all the school affiliated organizations, and networking. At events with volunteers we ask how they would like PTO money spent and about any new ides they may have. Our fall sponsorship drive is set up so parents can easily dedicate their contributions to the programs and teachers of choice (we also ask that they give a certain amount to the general fund too).
Of course all parents are welcome at the meetings. But what makes me happy is when I hear parents say, Yes, I'll volunteer at this event. I know the money is going to a good cause.
I love the idea of RSVP for a quick dinner. To add excitement, how about more speakers? Ask a local police dept to send someone to talk about child safety; or a local grad student to talk about money management/college investing. Talk to your parents and see where their interest lies.
Oh, I forgot one more important piece...baby sitters! We asked a High School Red Cross group to babysit and ended up with 20 children in the gym. The girls and their Teacher/advisor planned games with the children and took donations for their community project.
