Alone & in need of help!;140704 wrote: I am having the total opposite problem. My problem is I have very little parent involvement and half the committee consists of teachers. But they don't feel that it's their job to do anything. The parents that are part of the committee eiteher don't speak English, don't have transportation or have little kids and can't get away without a sitter. I end up doing everything myself and I am get frustrated and tired of being the only one worried about a big school wide event. How do I deal with this kind of problem? How do I get teachers to help out more than just show up for the event? And how do I use my parents who don't really speak the language and can't make flyers, call other parents, or run errands for me to help me out?
I think you need to make the flyers in english and whatever other language your parents speak. Maybe the PTO can provide child care during the meetings.
I saw this and I just had to respond. I am a PTO President and I wish I had executive board members like you. My problem is after I have assigned different task or ideas to the other members they would wait to the last minute and say they can not follow through. First express you concerns to the Executive Board as a whole, if that does not work talk to your president one on one. If that doesn't work, I think you should talk to your school principal. If that does not help take it to the district. PTO is just what it is, PARENTS/TEACHERS Organization.
But please don't quit. Don't let that defeat you. Some of us try really hard to get our parents involved and they just don't have time. Or, you and your other parents start another group where you can be equally active, like, i.e., All-Pro Moms or something. BUT I SAY AGAIN, DONT QUIT.
We have 2 treasurers and use PTOManager. This has helped out alot. Anyone running an event can count money- as long as there are 2 people present-- doesn't have to be treasurer, but only teh treasurers make deposits into the bank. Once a week, we empty the safe, go over all depsoits and put all transactions into the computer, then the treasurers take the deposits to the bank. And then one of the treasurers puts all the transactions into the ptomanager software program on the computer. Any Board member can check to see what has been going on if there is ever a question.-- this has worked out well for usm and with the software in place, the time a treasurer has to be at the school has become less-- usually about 1 hour each week to do the banking. Not bad, it used to take 3-4 in input by hand all the items we do.
2wonderful---now you should try to get those changes that were made into some sort of pass along so that the next Pres and Treasurer have a blueprint. If you can get processes institutionalized then you lower the risk of having the same things occur...
So much of a PTO is personality driven--the more we can create processes so that we can accomplish "routine things routinely" the better the chance of having the group stay on track.
I have had similar experiences in our PTO group. This year everything changed and it is much better. I was the treasurer and never knew about deposits, checks, nothing! At meetings the group would ask me questions and I didn't know anything. Last year our secretary got elected to President and other members of the PTO got elected as board members and I am still treasurer. I know what is going on with the account. I know exactly what is going in and coming out. I told everyone that all money was going to be handled by me.
I would say to try and talk to the other board members and tell them that you are the treasurer and you need to know about all money transactions. Also you can see about running for president so that you can make those changes. We also made those changes in our by-laws.
raptordad--I agree with you-- if you don't like how things are being done, then you should step up and help0 to make changes for the better. It may be hard at first, but remember,everything the PTO does is to better and further your children's educational experience-- working together-- teacher, principal and PTO-- you can much better results than everyone working on their own. Trust me, if you don't get a handle on the checks and what's going on with each event, you can run into big money problems-- stay with it though. Good luck!
