2 yrs ago we had afternoon board meetings and evening @ 7pm general meetings, however, we only meet 6 times a year. We only had 1 working parent on our executive board so this was possible, the working parent liked the afternoon one and then went to get her kids early that day.
This last year we have 1/2 and 1/2 working and non so we do a 7pm meeting, board and general but on diff days and again we only have 6 for the year. Any other issues that need to be taken care of we either discuss and vote on via our email group or we have an emergency meeting which is seldom.
This time seems to work for everyone, siblings are able to get home and watch the kids for 7pm board meetings, 7pm is when most of the grades do a singing performance so having a short gen meeting right before works out and parents can make it. For our 7pm board mtgs we have some fruit and crackers to munch on since alot of members have to come straight from work.

Remember, there are some people out there that even if you gave them something for FREE they would complain, I just roll with the punches. LOL, of course in the back of my head I think, hmm... i will have to check and see if they are members since they would like to voice their opinion about PTA issues. teehee

I don't think that there is any one perfect time for meetings. There will always be conflicts for some and others won't care what time it is because they won't attend anyway.

Our council meetings are held at 6:30pm, last year on Wednesdays but that will be changing this year. We as a board, chose that time because 1. One of our officers lived in Fernley (45 minutes away on a good traffic day) 2. It gave the 5 o'clock workers time to get home, feed people and make the meeting. 3. 6 O'clock workers couldn't feed anyone but could still make the meeting on time.
We had no board members or delegates, that during the planning meeting, expressed that this time was a problem.
At my school, for two years, the meetings were held at 6:00pm. There was a good number of parents who stayed home during the day but the time worked okay (meeting attendance always fluctuates between low and slightly higher, unless there is a problem) This last year, they alternated between 3:30pm (school gets out at 3:15) and the other month, 5:30pm. There was no change in past year's attendance, nor between the months.
Other units I have, their meeting times also vary. I know that at least two of them have them at 9:00am (I have been to their meetings) and again, the attendance numbers have been the same. I have also been to one unit's meeting that was during the lunch hours (12:00pm) again, no difference in attendance.

If your focus is on getting more attendance at the meetings, either from parents, teachers or both, you need to survey them and see what works in their schedules. This does not, however, guarantee that they will be there!
Another important note for our area, we are a 24 hour town/area and we have many casino workers who do the swing shifts or graveyard. For some of them, 10pm would be the best.

I think the best thing to do is to accomodate your officers and their schedules. They technically have to be there.

We meet once a month at 7:00 PM. We meet in a room that has an area that children can be in so anyone who needs to bring their kids can. We have an average of 20 people who attend each meeting.

I too am a stay at home mom, but believe it or not 3:00 PM would be a terrible time for me to have meetings. Also night meetings are the only possible way working mothers can be involved. We have quite a few working moms who come to the meetings and they take off a day or two from work during the year to help out at events.

Think about maybe sending home a survey at the begining of the school year and ask people what time would be the most convenient for them.

I was just wondering, At what time do most of you hold your parent meetings? And Why then? And how many parents attend? (last year we had only 6 who showed up regularly, until the last meeting when we had about 25 angry parents show up to complain about everything from the fundraiser, to meeting times, PTO board, to teachers and other parents)

I have planned to set ours up for 6pm because I have had alot of parents tell me they can't make it to the 3o'clock meetings. But I also know as a stay-home-mom myself, it is much easier for me to be out in the afternoon than in the evening.