AS far as I understand, traditionally, we have PTO meetings only in combination w/another school function, like open house, Christmas music program, etc. I wondered how often other groups meet & how do you get parents to come to them?

We meet once a month in general. Usually on a set night each month. 2 years ago we were luck to get 8 parents, this year we have had over 20 at each meeting. How??, we just keep informing everyone of what is going on and telling them that they need to come to the meeting if they want a say. "Do not complain if you were not at the meeting" is what I say.

We have 9 general meetings per year (none in December) and we have an executive board meeting 1 week before each general meeting. Some of our committees have other meetings.

We have meetings on the 2nd Thurs of every month from Sept through June. We send out our agenda and previous meeting's minutes the Friday before to remind people. GaryWT is right, you need to keep the PTO visible. Also I think it's important to show the members that their voice will be heard and not just the board dictating what the PTO will do. That will help get people there.