We had our school nurse speak on nutrition and sleep for young children right before the kids took their Basic Skills tests. Since our school also had the special needs program starting this past school year, we had a special needs teacher/parent speak about blending the kids and teaching our children about how to deal with the special needs kids.

At our first meeting we usually have a speaker from Title I, Family Resource Center, and our county ag dept. We have to cram those in there because their info is important to our school function. Our Ag. Dept has a grant for Character Counts. Sometimes she waits until the next meeting. It seems like I remember seeing something about your area a while back when I was doing research for Character Counts.

We've also had a speaker from a college about saving for your child's college, and programs that are offered in our state. We were supposed to have someone from our Anti-Drug coalition to speak, but he didn't show. (I was not thrilled).

After looking into speakers from special school programs you may have, I would look closely at your community. Do you have a YMCA, Big Brother-Big Sister program, or something along those lines? Maybe they would send someone to explain how important these things are to your community.

I would like to have a guest speaker at each of our monthly meetings this year. However, I can't think of more than 2 speakers. I have a few subject ideas, but don't really know who or where to go to get these speakers. If any of you have a tried and true ideas, I would really appreciate it. By the way, I am in the Southeastern area of Massachusetts. THANKS!!