Laurie offers some good advice! Another thing to consider is reaching out to a few folks who have leadership potential and ask them how you can help them get involved. Sometimes you know a person would be a great board member, but he or she isn't there yet. Maybe this person is afraid to take on too much responsibility. So see what you can work out. Is there a way this person can team up with another person -- co-presidents? co-vice presidents -- or a way to help them come up to speed and transition them?
Think about why/how you got involved. People get involved when there is a goal for your group. We never had more participation as when we were saving for our playground. When your doing the same things all the time it's hard to be excited about PTO. If your group can give itself something to reach for, I bet you'll get a bunch of parents so passionate about that goal that they take over leading your group. Good Luck!
Hi, we did a lot in the last couple of years to increase parent involvement, and make sure that it wasn't the same folks manning the tables at every event. We were able to sign up lots of parents to take 1/2 hour or hourlong shifts at events and this way, everyone got to have some fun at an event and a lot of people contributed.
What we were not able to do was get many more parents to make that greater commitment to become leaders in the PTO. You know, the board members and officers who plan and organize every event and keep the organization moving along. I'm in my 2nd and last year as President, and I'm really interested in hearing any ideas about how to get more people to take the next step, from occasional volunteer to leader in the PTO.
