Our meetings are only every other month also. I actually wish they were every month. The feed back I am getting from our PTO members is that " oh so and so does everything so why don't go to the meetings or even contribute."
This upsets me also. Yes brainstorming has it's place and time- these "ideas" need (my opinion) appointed a person who is the" idea person " and they should form a small group (size depends on idea and size of event and school) do their homework, see if the idea is fiesable and then use the chain of command to implement it (or not).
Some parents will not attend meetings if they just sit there and listen----MYSELF---get EVERYONE involded in ANY sort of way-someone always could use an extra hand----oh no there's fire coming out my ears--just idea for our PTO--create a position to see where help is needed, could be used and try to discourage-- the "I'll do it myself" syndrome....Parents would not show up if they truely did not want to help. Myself w/ my committees- I keep a personal record of who I call for help, yes and no's, schedule concerns, email addresses, and yes the parents how say yes and then just never call or show ( I will not after 2 tries to call back soon--I give them time and then in a few monthes try to contact again w/ possible overbooking help due to no'shows.. Hope this helps covered a lot---
Our meetings are only every other month also. I actually wish they were every month. The feed back I am getting from our PTO members is that " oh so and so does everything so why don't go to the meetings or even contribute."
This upsets me also. Yes brainstorming has it's place and time- these "ideas" need (my opinion) appointed a person who is the" idea person " and they should form a small group (size depends on idea and size of event and school) do their homework, see if the idea is fiesable and then use the chain of command to implement it (or not).
Some parents will not attend meetings if they just sit there and listen----MYSELF---get EVERYONE involded in ANY sort of way-someone always could use an extra hand----oh no there's fire coming out my ears--just idea for our PTO--create a position to see where help is needed, could be used and try to discourage-- the "I'll do it myself" syndrome....Parents would not show up if they truely did not want to help. Myself w/ my committees- I keep a personal record of who I call for help, yes and no's, schedule concerns, email addresses, and yes the parents how say yes and then just never call or show ( I will not after 2 tries to call back soon--I give them time and then in a few monthes try to contact again w/ possible overbooking help due to no'shows.. Hope this helps covered a lot---
Since our meetings are quarterly, they tended to last aboutr 1 1/2 to 2 hours. It got late for everyone. We decided to try going to an earlier time. our meetings were at 6:30 pm but now are going to be at 4:15pm. Adleast if we try and it doesnt work we can say we tried. We try hard to stick to the agenda, but it isnt easy and everyone is pretty flexiable to trying to let everyone have thier turn to talk
I agree with Jewel. If you let general pto meetings get off track with brainstorming you'll lose people. What we do is if an idea comes up we recognize the contributor and ask if they want to be the point person for it-- we are alwayss open to new ideas -- and then we say that it will be noted in our minutes and a separate meeting will be organized and published on our website for anyone who would like to attend.
Yes, brainstorming meetings are separate (for the most part) from board meetings. The board meetings are for review of the treasurers report, review/approval of minutes, and brief activity status updates (plus motions/votes as needed).
Last year our new principal was appalled that we had a 2 hour meeting. Granted, back then we were meeting only every other month and we had several large activities coming up with lots to discuss/brainstorm.
He is insistent that we keep our (now) monthly meetings to one hour AND keep them more structured without the brainstorming.
My question is this........do you hold more 'informal' meeting for that brainstorming to happen? It's still very important to brainstorm.
When people suggest new things or off topic things what do you say to not squelch their enthusiasm but keep on your time schedule?
