Hi All,
I am the President of the PTCO at my daughters school and only have 1 year under my belt, brand new school! We had an excellent year, but struggled with attendance at our monthly PTCO meetings. I am looking for any good ideas for topics to discuss at the meetings. I am a planner and want to plan out the entire year of meetings. If you all have any ideas please help me out.

We had our first Board meeting today and the principal came up with a great idea for our first PTO meeting in September. We are going to raffle off a gas card worth $100 at our open house in July. The catch is that attendance is required in September to be able to win.

Our board starts planning in June and July for all fund raising, specials events, teacher luncheons...etc. We enjoy keeping things organized and structured so any one of the officers can fill in when needed.

Some of our planning was our first and second fund raisers. We kick off Jaxco at the end of Aug. and run it for 2 weeks. This is our largest fund raiser of the year. We also have a traditional fall festival in October. This is our second largest fund raiser. November leaves some breathing room for us to prepare for our Holiday events. Some of the things we do at our school are:
Teacher Luncheons during conferences, Popcorn parties for students, Incentives for students with achievements, Funding the special departments, Bookfairs, Teacher appreciation week with a special treat each day and another luncheon, Principal requests: Seminars, educational materials for grade levels...etc.

Hope some of this helps!
Lisa

I would start with the Principal....maybe she/he has something they want to announce or discuss.

I make an Agenda and keep it pretty tight and on schedule and on topic.

I would only discuss what needs to be discussed (upcoming events) and whatever needs to be voted on.

I send out email blasts about the PTO meetings and put it in a PTO Newsletter of the meeting and topics to discuss, vote on etc...

your district may have some speakers to come to the meeting but... keep it simple. people are busy! The first meeting of the year for me is to go over the budget and vote on it. go over any school grant requests.

this website has great ideas on sample Meeting Agenda. here's an example of mine:

I. welcome/announcements by Principals
II. Budget Report
a. Status
b. Grant Requests

III. Committee Reports or "Old Business"

IV. "New Business"

V. Teacher Reports

VI. Q&A


hopes this helps.

D

We have about 4 general meetings a year (more if needed but 4 in the bylaws). At our October meeting we brief the budget and approve that, lay out our goals for the year in general terms and have the PTO membership bless that, and discuss the overall calendar. In February I present a "State of the PTO address" that lets folks know how we're doing, what our money coffers are looking like, address upcoming elections for start up etc, and then in April we have our elections. That allows a month turn over time until our May meeting where the new board holds their first meeting. Of course this varies a bit and we do have agendas etc as suggested by denver, but those are the primary "points" I have put out in those timeframes.

Things we've also done:
Round robin brainstorming for different projects; teacher appreciation ideas; gift donations etc.

d

I am a newly elected PTO President for the upcoming year. We had the same problem with our meetings. Going into the new year, one of the new things we have decided to do is.....

Working with the Music teacher she is going to do mini music programs with our 1st graders during our Oct and Jan meetings. It is our hope that it will bring in enough parents to spark interest in attending future meetings, as well as, a chance to volunteer for any upcoming activities.

Hope this helps.
Tammee
Ohio

Discuss healty fundraising. To much unhealthy food products.