I agree! That is a major problem in my group also. This is my 4th year in the district and my 1st as PTO Pres. This year I had great expectations for what we could accomplish. Well, I learned really quick that there are a lot of good ideas but no one willing to follow through. I am getting burnt out already! I have even tried to do a family night (which has never been done) and right away was voted down by the members. They did not feel we should be spending any money on parents. I can't seem to get them to understand that having the parents participate in activities with their child is a very important part of the child's education. At the last meeting, I had several parents ask why we don't do more educational activities. I told them there is no reason why we can't and that I wish we were. All I needed was someone to do it. We have a lot of money available. I just need someone to step up and do,because I just can't do anymore. I am already over loaded. Well, of course, there was total silence! Keep in mind that they were 52 members at this meeting! I just really get frustated sometimes.
I am also in the process of starting a school store for the kids. The idea is for the teachers to be able to hand out points as a reward for positive reinforcement in the classroom. Every year the major request the teachers ask for is money to buy prizes for them to use in the classroom. So I thought why don't we just have one location for it all. We would get better deals on merchandise by buy in big bulk and also alleve the teachers from having to use their own money to supply these incentives. Well, right now we are at a stand still, because a few parents don't feel the teachers would award the points fairly. That we should tell the teachers how they should hand out the points. I personally feel this is over stepping our bounds. We can not dictate to the teachers how to run their classroom. We also have a few that feel we should allow the students to purchase items in the store and my opinion is that if we allowed them to buy everything they wanted then that would defeat the whole purpose of the store, which is to reward them for achieving a certain goal. [img]redface.gif[/img] there I go again....rambling on
Just keep trying! It will happen. As Tim said...."The journey of a thousand miles began with one step" (that was a good one Tim! I even wrote it down to add to my next newsletter Thanks!)

I have to agree with beach bum about being maxed out. Our pto is the same way , there are over 35 parents who will help out in any way except chair an event! Out of eight events this year I have chaired five...yes five.I can get all 35 to work the events but... I would love for us to add new events but no matter how good of idea it is unless we see real commitment we shy away from it. Up until now we have had no officers, bylaws ,etc. we are a year old and now I'm putting on the squeeze that if they really want this group they need to step up more. When the principal asked me to run this group ayear ago I had no experience...well guess what ? Now I have tons and i love it, but the principal and myself find we shy away from new ideas unless that commitment is there...which is too bad because in the long run the kids suffer ! So just show you're willing to do your part and hopefully it will all work out!

The problem may be that your PTO is maxed out with a few people doing all the work. That is how it is at our school. I have a rule that anyone that has a good idea also has to be willing to organize the event and recruit a committee. Don't just throw out ideas--make a plan of how it can happen and get some other parents to commit to helping out. Good luck.

15 people sounds like a lot. We're lucky to get more than about 6, 3 of which are the board. One board member has only been to one meeting. I too jumped in with ideas flying at the beginning of school and got shot down(a lot). I realized I was doing too much too fast. These people did not know me and what I was willing to give. You have to show that you are on their side and follow their directions for a while and slowing start adding in your ideas. Many people feel like changing something means that what they have been doing is wrong. You have to show them that changes are just to keep things exciting and to keep people from getting bored with your activities. My board seems to take suggestions for changes as criticism, so I try hard to make new ideas and suggestions as positive as I can.

We went thru that , our old pta was disbanded because of no involvement. They did a great job raising money for supplies, playground but never held any events. IN our first year we have brought in five new events. How ? If you really feel you have agood idea just take control and be prepared to run the event. Chances are that once others see the effort behind you they will get involved. Our first new event lead to everyone wanting to do more family activities. In the end we are totally different as we do very little fundraising and all funds we raise go into family fun nights. It will happen but changes are very hard to accept until they see the smiles on the students faces...thats what it's all about !

We went thru that , our old pta was disbanded because of no involvement. They did a great job raising money for supplies, playground but never held any events. IN our first year we have brought in five new events. How ? If you really feel you have agood idea just take control and be prepared to run the event. Chances are that once others see the effort behind you they will get involved. Our first new event lead to everyone wanting to do more family activities. In the end we are totally different as we do very little fundraising and all funds we raise go into family fun nights. It will happen but changes are very hard to accept until they see the smiles on the students faces...thats what it's all about !