When I went to my first meeting 5 years ago, I was astonished to see 3 parents, one teacher (required attendance) and our school administrator. My first years as part of the group were A LOT of work. 3 years ago, we asked for 5 min in each classroom during our beginning of school open house. We highlighted what our group does (fun and fundraising), and what we need help with, and passed around a sign up sheet with our monthly meeting dates and likely topics for each meeting, and asked parents to come to just ONE meeting. We then called those parents before that particular meeting. Focus on the younger grades....the parents are at the school for longer! The other thing that has worked wonderfully for me personally, is to TALK to parents at our school events, and while I'm doing that ASK them if they would help me out by coming to a meeting. We are a school with about 80 students, and our group has about 16 parents who attend meetings regularly now. Our lead teacher and school administrator came to us earlier this year and asked HOW ON EARTH we were getting so many parents to be part of our group! Most people will say yes if asked directly for help with something that benefits their child.
I have to chuckle. If we had 6 people show up at our meetings I would be doing a happy dance! I like what someone suggested about holding regular business meetings only quarterly. Or possibly...just thinking outloud here...maybe still hold the meetings monthly but do something a little more special quarterly. A speaker, a meal, a different location,... We are a small school and in the midst of some transitions. We typically have decent participation at events so i'm not overly concerned about meeting attendance. It would be nice to get more than just the officer's though.
Karinlea-
How about your event attendance and fundraiser participation? Measuring parent participation in events and programs is a better gauge of success.
Here's an article that may put things into perspective for you regarding meeting attendance:
Our problem at our PTO meetings is we can not get our teachers invovled!! If we can get our teachers more invovled we could get more parents!! Our school only has 400 students and our PTO meeting usually have 6 parents and only 1 teacher at every meeting.
We highlight a specific activity that the children are working on and have those children come to our meetings and show the parents/teachers what they are learning. We usually use the music or gym classes. The music teacher will get k,1,and 2nd graders doing a selection of songs they are learning or instruments such as handbells they are using. We also have 3, 4 , and 5th graders featured at the next meeting showing off what they are learning. The gym teacher does the same and the children will show off the skills they learn, such as speed stacking, etc. If the children are showing off their talents, the parents and grandparents will come and they will be there for your meeting.
