Well we had our PTO meeting last night,it went very well with alot of new ideas for parent involvment,one being to have an informal am meeting once a month as parents are bringing their children to school,coffee and such for about 20 minutes just to let them know whats happening with their PTO. I'm finding that keeping the meetings as quick as possible is important.I'll let you all know if it helps our attendance at our regular monthly meetings. Thanks for all the suggestions!
We have the same problem...530 students in Pre-K - 5th grade and have about 8 - 10 parents at each meeting (and that includes the officers and principal). It's always the same people volunteering and showing up.
I like some of the idea's of ptoparent. We're trying to come up with ideas for next year. I've thought of having guest speakers at each meeting (we've actually cut them down to every other month) but I'll be embarassed if there are only 6 parents there to hear what they have to say.
We have about the same number of students as you and 3 years ago never had more than 6 parents at each meeting. We made it a goal of our new board to bring more parents in...here are some things we did:
1. Bought a large yellow banner than we hang in front of the school the week of our meetings
2. Send home 1/4 flyers with students on the day of the meeting to remind everyone
3. Start an email group for all parents...we send out email reminders the week of the meetings and throughout the month
4. Start "PTSO Room Rep.s" with the parents...simliar to a room parents however this parents attends the monthly meetings and brings forward any concerns their classroom has, any needed material request, etc. They then report back to their class and students. In some cases we have 2 for each teacher.
5. We do some small raffle items and provide refreshments and childcare free of charge - it is a friendly atmosphere!
Our Elementary school has almost 500 students in grades K-5,but our PTO meetings are only bringing 15 or so parents to attend. Most of the same parents are volunteering for the activites that need doing.Any suggestions on bringing up our attendence would be greatly appreciated!
