I'm in the first half of first year and I felt like I was losing momentum right before Christmas. We give each classroom 2 board games each for indoor recess and each staff member gift cards. The thanks and the hugs when I delivered them perked me up. In January we collect staff's grant proposals and any parent may evaluate them. It always seems easy to get parents to tell you how the money should be spent and all the teachers are your best friends this month, so I'm getting more upbeat. It all seems worth it somehow. Towards the end of the year and your tenure, consider mentoring new prospects. Your journal will really help and if someone sits along side you now they may be less likely to bug you next year. The fresh eager face may help you gain the last momentum and give you the feeling how valuable you really are. Good luck.
I only asked my past co-prez something maybe two times this year, but I suspect with having to replace both co-presidents for next year, I may be consulted a lot more than that. This is partly why I've been keeping a "President's Journal" this year. I'm hoping it will help the next crew out a lot.
Due to everyone crashing from the first part of the year and usually having to work around snow days we don't have a Jan meeting. In fact when I became pres one of our long time teachers suggested to me not to have them every month to see if it would help the turn out and enthusiasim. It did help at little, it helped me alot. At the time I had a VP that was to "busy" to help me do anything and the other board member was staff. So the following year I made a schedule of the meeting months and circulated them. They were very appreciative and the the parents liked not having to commit every month.
[ 01-07-2004, 10:08 PM: Message edited by: C. Brooks ]
I think it's normal to lose a bit of momentum this time of year. Re-grouping and re-prioritizing will help.
And - not to be smug (well, maybe a little) - I can vouch for the fact that "Past President" is the most wonderful title I've ever held. So you have that to look forward to next year. Once you get past the transition of letting go it's fabulous to still be involved, hopefully seen as a valuable resource, but not be on the hook for each and every thing!
Thanks for the encouragement. I decided to cancel next weeks general meeting and want to have a separate board meeting to regroup and reset the pace later this month. In lieu of the general meeting, I'm going to send out a memo to all the families with a few updates next week.
I fully understand where you are coming from. It's also my end of office after serving as pres for two years. Most of our major events are in the spring...you at least have major events coming up to look forward to. But I also think the "losing steam" part is common this time of year. You've just had big holidays and are on the downhill slope of the school year. Try to keep up the momentum by having smaller things in addition to the major events. Get all your information together to pass on to the new officers. Maybe plan a "We did it" gathering for your executive board. And so on. Anything you can do to keep up the pace through the rest of the year.
:cool:
