One way to get more people involved is to have a parent and teacher rep for each grade level on your Board. We know that if all the board shows up for our meetings we will at least have 15-20 people.
Our principal really supports the PTO and he makes sure that we have these teacher reps. They rotate each year so no one has to serve two years in a row.
Make them be a voice!! That's why we are called a PARENT TEACHER ORGANIZATION right?? And not Two People Organization. [img]tongue.gif[/img]
Your Bylaws ( if there are any ) should state what your Board consist of. At Open house each year, we always ask for the new parent and teacher reps for each grade level. These are not voted on, just volunteers.
But remember the philosophy here. Number of folks at the PTO meeting doesn't relate directly to strength of the PTO. We are working now on our volunteer lunch and there are conservatively 160 people on the list of invitees. If I get 45 at a PTO meeting...that is a very, very good turn out. It's who will heed the 9-1-1 calls when you send them out. As the last poster mentioned, don't sweat the meetings...d
I am in the same boat as you are, so scoot over and make room! Our PTO has dwindled over the years for various reasons until there is no one left but the principal and me...and a few parents who show up sporadically. So here's my plan:
I sent out a volunteer form similar to those mentioned above. Then I sent out a flyer about our last meeting stressing that PTO may have to disband next year for lack of participation. That decision will be made after school begins again in the fall, in case we have any new families interested in helping out. If no one steps up, the money in our account will be divided up amongst the teachers and that will be that.
But if we do get some people who still want a PTO, my focus will be on getting familes involved and building a community through family fun nights and similar events. Make PTO fun and exciting and people will come around. Forget meetings at this point--have them, but don't expect a huge turnout. Get families to the school, show them that PTO supports them, and they will in turn eventually (I hope) support PTO.
In april I was elected PTO President. Am I excited or what! (YES) Problem. The last two years there have only been two functioning board memabers. Eight years before that there was no PTO board. How do I get teachers, parents, and administration involved in PTO?
<share the work>
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18 years 5 months ago#115140by <share the work>
all our committees are headed by more than one person,teamwork always makes the job more fun and easier , and easier also to recruit replacement chairpersons if they know in advance they will be in good company.
We send out a form at the beginning of the year for all our various committees and have people check off the ones they want to be involved with. That way the committee chair has a stable of people ready to work. Granted quite a few of these people flake out but at least they have some sort of base.
