I admire you for being a teacher and PTO president. We have been blessed with a great PTO and teacher/staff at our school. You will do great and I know some positive changes for the better are fixing to be made at your school! Keep up your good spirits and just remember, we do this for the students, not the parents!

Thanks for the input! I am in a tough spot because of my position here at school and the fact that last year's Pres is a coworker. This person still wants to "run" the organization without necessarily having the Pres by their name. I am not a necessarily agressive person and that has led me to take a backseat this year. But there are a lot of people that would like to see some changes that aren't happening due to the fact that I haven't stepped up to the plate and taken control. I've worried too much about stepping on toes....does that make sense? I have a lot of good ideas that have been suggested and some of my own that I know would be worth investigating. I talked with my principal and she agreed that if I do it next year I will be in "charge" so to speak and my colleague won't have the last word. It's not a control issue as much as it is a lot of people - school and parents - don't feel like they are a part of PTO because of the way it has been run the last two years. I want that to change and so does my principal. I'll start with the survey and move on from there! If anyone has any more suggestions please let me know!!!

Obviously, you want to find out how valuable people think the current programming of the PTO is; this is also a way to inform people of everything the PTO does. But the other thing you want to do is not ask "what is it going to take to convince you to do something for the PTO"; instead ask "what can the PTO do for you?"

Ask questions like "what one thing would you most like to see the PTO start doing?" Point out that study after study shows that parental involvement is one of the greatest indicators of student success, and one of the most cost effective ways to improve education, and then ask "what can we do to make it easier for you to get involved with your child's education?"

And of course: follow up and use the suggestions. People who get asked to do the things they've said they are interested in doing are the ones who get involved. If a parent says they want to fold newsletters and stuff envelopes, don't ask them to bake cookies. And the ones who get involved and make friends doing it are the ones who stay involved.

I am currently the co Pres of my school's PTO - the same school where I also teach. We are in a slump - fundraising, parent participation, etc. I agreed to take over in August when the presidents abrubtly quit and I don't know what to do. We have some leadership problems with former PTO leaders who still want it their way and we can't seem to make anyone happy. I discussed doing a survey with my principal for the staff and parents. Any suggestions on what I should ask or not ask? We need some help!! I want to do this and have agreed to stay on next year as co president. Thanks!