Even when a school is begging for volunteers, there are times when the PTO would be better off doing without than having certain people volunteer.

Has your PTO had to deal with less than competent or outright destructive volunteers?

How have you discouraged them from participating in future volunteer activities?

I am with you on this....Of all the things PTO officers have to deal with, this has been the hardest thing for me to deal with personally . I am a firm believer that anybody that has a child attending the school has a RIGHT to participate in the PTO and it's events. But, unfortunately, I have learned that just because they have the right, doesn't mean they need to be making decisions or even participating. Took me a while to realize that I wasn't being a bad person because I felt that way, instead I felt that way because of THEIR behavior or even because they made it clear their only concern/goal was to have things work for what was best for their child and couldn't care less about other children or the school as a whole. I still find myself with my mouth hanging wide open at how some people think. LOL I still do not know the best way to handle this situation. I hope somebody has some good suggestions or guidelines they can share.

We've figured out that you pick jobs that the person in question can do without being a problem. For example if the person is not good with kids, give them something behind the scenes.

We have a few moms that can cause a big issue when they work with us. We just have her come and give her something meaningless to do (which nevergets done) and she is happy with it.

Hope you guys find an answer.

It seems like every PTO has one or two 'show outs' in their bunch. I would suggest @ your next PTO meeting, if the 'difficult volunteers' are present, I would casually address the Whole Group( U don't want to "poke the bear"), & just say that your PTO has a respectful image & reputation you would like to portray & maintain @ school events. Also, just let everyone know it would be in the PTO's best interest not to draw any negative attention to your group. Afterall, our purpose is to be POSITIVE ROLE MODELS for our students & the best way to do that is lead by example. & if that doesn't work then the PTO President needs to pull out your PTO BYLAWS(should cover member code of conduct)& have a 1 on 1 w/ that person. Hope everything works out for you!!

Went looking for this "oldie but goodie" and decided to resurrect it to see if anyone has stories/advice to share.

I currently have one volunteer that has a year-long position with two different but interconnected responsibilities. She enjoys and does well one part of the job but has passively refused to do the other part. When I spoke with her about it, she had a laundry list of reasons why she hadn't done that part but promised to "get with it".

And, for a short time, she did "get with it". However, it's clear that her turn-around was a passing thing as we're back to same old, same old.

I have to speak with her about this again soon. I'm going to inform her that I'm pairing another parent volunteer with her to take care of the other part of the job. I'm sure she'll protest, but really, the proof is in the pudding (so to speak). She's not getting the job done so she's left the PTO no choice.

What similar volunteer issues are you currently, if any, going through and how are you handling said issues?

This has to be one of the most frustrating things about being on the PTO.
Yes I think every parent should be able to help and the PTO is always in need of more willing parents we should not have to deal with parents who have hidden agendas.
I am PTO president this year and we have one mom who already has me at my whits end(and we have only had 2 PTO meetings) . She does not want to do any hands on work to get the job done she just wants to boss us all around.
One committee we formed when parents found out she had also signed up to be on it I had 3 to 4 parents jump ship . I can not give up 4 hard working parents who I know will get the job done to make one happy that will end up dumping it all in my lap.
Yes I know what I did was wrong I just never let her know about the meeting we were having.
We only get 6 volunteers max and on this one we had less and I really needed the help due to deadl ines.
I am sure that at some point in the year I will be able to give her some thing to do . But I couldn't run the risk of her blowing our biggest fundraiser of the year.
It is hard to let parents who want to run the show do no real work (type letters , run carnival games ,or any other job ) join in and make other parents mad.
I am very big on all parents feeling welcome and getting parents to help . Parents need to remember if they are not willing to put in 110% on projects only want to shoot down the ideas of others that is not help . PTO should be fun not fist fights or yelling matches . So for parents who want to help out be sure you are willing to do as much work as you are willing to boss.