I hear a lot about fundraisers. Yes, you need money to host events, but maybe the school needs events where you charge a very nominal fee for participation, more than fundraisers....

1 resident for a school K-12, are you nuts. That is too much for for 1 person to try and tackle.

You need to have more on the Board , not just you. We have a K-6 school and still have 5 on our board,( a President, Co- President, Secretary, Tresurer and a Vice-Pres.) We help each other with collecting info . and making sure all of the details from the other committees are covered, plan the Budget, and run the meetings.

First you need to figure out your budget. With the year almost over, you probably are limited. So work on Next years budget.

Then figure what committees you need.

We have Committees for the differant activities planned for the year.

Such as:

GameDay , BookFairs, Membership and Historian, Market-Day, Santa Shop, BoxTops and GiantEagle points, Fundraiser, Assemblies, YearBook Fieldtrips, and any other committees.

We send a letter home to the parents with a heads up, "WE NEED HELP WITH THE PTO ". List the comittees and programs you need help with and cross your fingers.

The Board also has to set up some By- Laws for the PTO group .

Lots to consider, too much for 1 person. Get more help. And don't be afraid to ask for help..
Good Luck

I was in your shoes this time last year even though I was not the President at that time, I was the one getting ready to take over for the upcoming school year. The best advice that I can give you is that you, yourself have to be motivated and enthused. Without that, you will want to give up before you ever get started. Enthusiasm spreads. Also, remember that you have a new group of parents coming on board to the school at the beginning of every school year. You must make them aware of who the PTO is and what the PTO does and make it look like something that they want to be a part of. The problem a lot of times is that people assume everyone already knows what's going on and that simply is not true. I had a table set up at the new year orientation and handed out packets that told about the PTO and laid out a huge "Welcome Mat" all year long. Our PTO grew from about a small handful to a membership of 154. I am convinced it is all because they were told they were wanted and needed. PTO Today has been and continues to be very helpful to me as I lead our PTO. I encourage to search through this website for answers to your questions and if anytime I can help you on this journey, feel free to email me.

I would say the first thing you need to do is get a full understanding of what funds are presently available.

Next step would be to figure out the normal budget, as in all fundraisers normally held throughout the year, how much they normally bring in, what expenses are normally incurred, etc.

Hope fully you have a Treasurer, as that would be the person that I would be working with to figure this out...

If you don't have a Treasurer, you need one, maybe two. But that's not going to help you right now. You may need to go to the bank, fill out the appropriate paperwork to get onto the account, and then maybe pay a little bit to get transaction from the previous year...

Once you have your budget done, and you know what events, fundraisers, and enrichments that are normally planned for the school year, you can then start looking to add things...

Also as others have mentioned you need to become familiar with your group's Bylaws, assuming you have them. If you don't that may be a priority once you get things going...

I would recommend not holding a general meeting until you have this understanding. You actually may want to hold a meeting to discuss these exact things once you have it down, and then go from there...

Regards,
PresidentJim

Wow. I am amazed that you have taken on this task without running for the hills. Seriously, I can understand how you feel. Our president stepped down in early October and I have been learning on the run ever since. We have a small school, grades k-5, so it is a bit easier (define easy, lol) Anyway, nobody had anything that was useful to me when I took over. There were no notes, minutes, account information from previous years, anything. I have had to ask questions of those that were around. Our school secretary, who in reality runs the school, was and is an amazing resource. She has been so patient with me and I have put together a huge book of all our events, financial statements, and other important information.

I have reviewed our by-laws and revised them to be more current and to provide a way for the by-laws to be reviewed and amended as needed. (i cheated and looked at ones here for ideas as well as other schools in my area.)

I have also sent out flyers requesting coordinators for the events that I knew would be coming up. People stepped up and I have had an amazing response. There are still some areas that need to be picked up, but it is coming along. Start slow, take one small event at a time and schedule a meeting as soon as possible. Ours are the fist Monday of every month and are stated as such in our by-laws. Get a hold of yours if you haven't already. They may tell you a lot about how things run and what you should be doing. Good luck and take care.

I can't imagine the frustration and hope you must feel! If I were you I would break it down into two groups. One PTO for grades K-12 is too much work and two totally different age groups. If you could I would even take it into 3 groups. k-5,6-8, 9-12. It is hard to plan a field trip for everybody and to do a fundraiser for that many grades would be so hard. And it would be hard to disperse money to all grades and teachers. You are taking on a big task, but it will be well worth it!

momof2inalabama;146880 wrote: Thank you for the advice. The principal is still there just not involved soooo much with the PTO. I just dont want to step on anyones toes. As of the other members from last year--None of them showed up at the meeting when we picked the officers. The principal was going to do away with the PTO due to the not so good last years and the teachers that feel the PTO is a good thing wouldnt let that happen, and maybe 10 parents agreed that we would get it back on track, we just dont know who to ask. About the minutes and things from last year,, Who would I ask for that? I just got the acct. balance as of yesterday. I figured that they would be giving this to me on there own instead of me having to search the whole school to find what I need. I didnt even know until I have read these responses that they are suppose to take minutes at the meetings!!!!I know it's going to be hard work but I believe the children(mostly) and the teachers deserve the best(regarding the PTO).
I just came up with another question? Our school is K-12. How should we go about the upper grades. The other problem I am having is that, when I have suggested to do a santa shop for Christmas, of course, the band is doing one. That was a little dissappointing. It seems like everything I have thought about doing(like I have a lot of time before Christmas anyways) either the Band is doing or the Booster club. I thought about doing Santa pictures and the Booster club is doing that. I guess I will just wait until we get back from Christmas Break and just get heads together b4 anyone else.

Can I (before we have our first meeting) plan like a bake sale or does it need to be in a meeting first? I just have so many questions that its hard for me to get the answers.

Thanks for the advice it is very helpful,,,
momof2inALABAMA ROLLLLLLLLL TIDE!!!!!!