Hi everyone and thanks for letting me crash your discussion forum.
I thought that since my wife (PTOPres03) had invoked my opinion, it might be a good idea if I made a "slight" correction. She said that I said that it would take me "several months" to create something as "complete" and that "looked as good" as the Futures Program, which she uses for our kids' PTO. That's not exactly correct. What I said was that it would take me several months to create just a volunteer database that probably WOULDN'T look as good as the program she has. Part of the reason is that I'm pretty busy with my job and the kids. The rest of the reason is that the program, which I reviewed for her a while back, has a lot of stuff in it and appeared to me to be really easy to use. I would have to do a fair amount of extra work to create the user interface that comes with the futures program.
It's time-consuming to create these special use programs. This one is very specific to schools. If you need a database program for your volunteers as well as a fair amount of additional functionality you might want to check it out. Also should mention that special use programs usually command a premium price. I thought that $300 was extremely reasonable for what you get.
Please remember that I don't use the program, I just looked at it from an IT standpoint. Also, my wife hasn't asked for my help with it more than once (a plus! Sorry honey).
Make sure you think about JHB's comments about software. That's something else I thought was good about this Futures program, is that there's no limitation on the number of installations as long as you use it only for one school.
Not trying to convince anybody of anything, just wanted to clear up the record.
How about Parent Movie Nights? We all need a break once in a while...
I think it would be great to have a customizable organization binder for sale. I had the worst time getting my board to remember bringing their notes from the last meeting, keeping a copy of their constitution and by-laws, and all that stuff where they could find it. They never had their calendars handy, and each time we had another board meeting, they would forget that they were supposed to prepare for the meeting. It's a wonder we ever accomplished anything!
OK, I think another thing that would be good to have is a cheap alternative to the promotional merchandise available. We were always looking for something to give students for incentives, but everything was so expensive.
Also, if you could work a deal with the die cut companies, the button maker companies, and the teacher supply companies to offer that stuff at a discount through your website, we'd be buying!
Originally posted by JHB:
They have all these fantasy sports activities and action video games where people can harmlessly channel their frustrations. Maybe THAT's the answer! Our own little role-playing, customizable video game. We would be able define our villains (uninvolved parents, controlling principal, power-mad committee chair, etc.) and then control their destiny via the video game. Not the current blood-and-guts variety, but more in the farcical style of the old cartoons – Road Runner or Tom & Jerry. Have a cartoon steamroller run them over, zipper their mouths, abandom them on a desert island….
It could be quite therapeutic!
I like your style!!!! Paintball and laser tag are fun too! Pictures and dart games....raindrops on roses and soft wollen mittens, these are a few of my favorite things.....I need school to start~
Tim - and your survival line of mental health, therapy, stress reduction, and relaxation services will be launched when? That's what we REALLY need! Let's see, since it's probably politically incorrect to joke about alcohol or drugs (to help get us through the high stress times) how about chocolate - the universal problem solver? You could arrange for emergency shipments to stressed-out PTO leaders.
They have all these fantasy sports activities and action video games where people can harmlessly channel their frustrations. Maybe THAT's the answer! Our own little role-playing, customizable video game. We would be able define our villains (uninvolved parents, controlling principal, power-mad committee chair, etc.) and then control their destiny via the video game. Not the current blood-and-guts variety, but more in the farcical style of the old cartoons – Road Runner or Tom & Jerry. Have a cartoon steamroller run them over, zipper their mouths, abandom them on a desert island….
By the way, thanks for all this great input. It's very helpful.
If you've followed PTO Today for a while, you may have noticed that most/all of our services have arisen from needs we kept hearing about. The print magzine and this site started it, but then we kept hearing about in-person stuff so we started our conferences. We kept hearing about groups needing help with involvement events -- School Family Nights (www.schoolfamilynights.com
). We got never-ending requests for higher-level help -- National PTO Network (www.ptotoday.com/npn
).
So don't be surprised at all to see one or more of the above (and please -- keep 'em coming) ideas in a service for parent groups in the months ahead.
Sorry, HollyinPA, for not responding sooner. I sort of took the summer off, I guess!
You asked whether the Futures Program is worth $310 an I thought you might be interested in my husband's take (he's an IT professional). He said it would take him several months to put together anything that is as complete and looks as good. Now that we're starting school again, it's nice to have it because all of our last year's data is there and we just have to update this year's volunteer activitires. The program has a Microsoft Access database. A lot of the forms mentioned here are built into it. Understand the $310 sounds like quite a bit, but there's no charge for maintenance or support so that helps. JHB:No limit on number of users. They said we could put it on a separate PC or on a network or both for the same price. We have it on our school network and yuo're right about your points of working with the DP person there, although they like it that they can get free technical support if they need it.
