We have poor attendance because of the clique of PTO officers ..... VERY hostile, VERY clique-ish, to the point of the treasurer (of many years) telling me that she "doesn't have time to keep records on how much money we have, or how it's spent, etc."......

Also, our Prez indicted that SHE decides which fundraisers we do - and it's always MarketDay, MarketDay non-food items, and candles. Let's see - she's a PAID MARKETDAY EMPLOYEE, and her mother is the candle distributor. See???

I think there should be a 2-yr term limit on each person serving in a particular office. That way if there are parents or teachers who are turned off by a certain parent, then within 2 yrs maximum they're out of that role, and someone fresh comes in.

Our officers are a tight-knit clique - trust me, this is why we have only 1-3 total attendees besides the officers.

You know, it used to really bother me that we had such low attendance at our meetings too. But, I have learned to look at it like someone else said, people are soooo busy. I send home a reminder before each meeting and include topics of discussion. If they are interested, they will come. We have also went from 6 meetings down to 4 this year and added monthly executive board meetings. We always have volunteers to help at events, so I'm satisfied with that. I feel like if they thought we were doing a poor job then they would definitely come to meetings and tell us or vote us out. So, I've learned to not stress over meeting attendance. Events are covered and we have large participation in them. I'm ok with that.

We have found a few successful ways of increasing attendance at our meetings.

First, we do an on time drawing. We have a raffle prize at the end of each meeting. It can be a book, some cosmetics, some tupperware (many parents donate items we use as prizes).

Second, we always have refreshements and childcare. HUGE help and worth the money. Just build it into your budget for the upcoming year.

Third - we guarantee ONE HOUR meetings! Sometimes these things can go on all night. What we do is tell the parents that have individual questions or concerns to stay after. If there is an issue that pertains to a large part of our school community, we start the meeting an hour earlier and those that are concerned with that issue can come at the earlier time.

Good luck!

Suzanne

If your school doesn’t have a uniform dress code put that on the agenda! That will pack-em in! We live in a “Head Line” driven society controversy & scandal gets attention. :eek:

I will venture to say that the average school administration doesn’t want a large attendance at meetings. :confused:

God Bless,
Marc

I have to say that we usually a decent turnout. We try to have a theme. One time it might be math & scienc night - there were estimation stations set up where the kids guessed how many balls were in the container or how many skittles and then some science activities like each child planted a seed in a cup to take home. On PE/Art night, the kids who showed up showed us the square dancing they learned. One year with Art they got to decorate a tile. Another night, it was music night. Each grade had practiced a song and sang. It was funny how there were a LOT of kindergarten kids and only about 10 5th graders - but we had a big turnout that month.

Do you have monthly meetings that you require or ask the entire PTO/PTA membership to attend? I see this topic of low attendance brought up a lot and I've never asked how often people meet.

This is what we do...

We have a Board that meets monthly. This is the President, VPs, Treasurer, Secretary, Committee Chairs (Hospitality, Volunteer, Staff Appreciation, etc.) We meet with the Principal and Assistant Principal as well since they serve on our Board. We have about 12 board members. During this meeting, we discuss items that have come up since the previous Board meeting, make plans, give committee reports and all the regular business that needs to be discussed. This is once a month and all the board members are expected to attend.

Then 4 times a year (2 each semester), we have General Assemblies. This is when we invite the entire membership and everyone else to the school for a "group" PTA meeting and vote on issues that the board recommends, etc. But we always plan these around BIG events that naturally draw parents up to the school.

In September it's Open House. We have our PTA meeting, then dismiss to visit the classrooms.

In December, we have the Class performance (for us it's the 3rd grades production of the Nutcracker). We have our meeting, then the musical begins.

In February, we'll have a Family night - last year was Arts and Crafts (right before Valentine's Day) - this was the first time we did this and it was a huge success. At this meeting we announce our nominating committee and begin searching for the the next year's board. After our meeting, we made crafts - but we've done game nights, and Fitness Nights, anything that draws a crowd.

In April, we have another musical - this time it's usually the 5th graders who perform. We have our meeting (elections this time) and then we have the performance.

When a Parent group must have a quorum, it's imperative you have an event that draws people up to the school. Not everyone can commit to serving on the board and meeting monthly, but 4 times a year is not asking too much. We have hundreds come out to these events and are always able to conduct business and vote on what we need to do because enough PTA members are there. Even though not everyone there is a member, they can still see what the PTA is doing for the school (by hearing it in the meeting and by participating in the activity.)

We also have many other events throughout the school year that do not involve having a PTA meeting before it. We do several Movie Nights, a carnival, a Talent Show and other Family Nights. These are held on Fridays or Saturdays. We also have several events that are during the day that the PTA hosts, but anyone can attend.

Anyway...that's my two cents.