OK maybe the title doesn't sound right,LOL
But what I was wondering what PTO positions have each of us held and how long have you been doing this? Also what do think you greatest accomplishments for your PTO and personally doing the PTO?

Cindy

15 yrs and pretty much everytitle known to man (or woman)

All of our PTA/PTO projects have been samll - so their all great-
Getting our old schools PTA in the mag was cool for helping with the tree planting- school beautification events a last yr

My greatest accomplishment is helping others help themsleves further their childrens education (and the friendships i've made)

I'd just like to do one gigantic project thats an out-of-the box type project. Something new and different to get more parents involved

Wow, that's a loaded question! Let's see.... I am a stay-at-home mom to an only child so I've never had to overlap two groups or have an extended stay at any grade level. Nor have I had to struggle with the working parent challenges. Here's my list:

Pre-K (2 years) - Co-President of parent group at a Catholic preschool. We functioned within the structure of the school and ultimately answered to the preschool director and the school prinicpal.
K-1st -At large volunteer, filling in whenever asked
2nd - Chairman of two committees; Room Coordinator (room parent)
3rd - Secretary of PTO
4th-6th - President of PTO
2nd-6th - CoManager of volunteer library staff, part time volunteer librarian; various non-PTO school committees
7th - Taking the year off.....
9 total years.

We've lived four places since Shorty started school so pre-K in one town, then k-1st in one, 2nd-6th in one and now 7th here.

I could go on and on about the benefits of being part of the parent group community but let me just list the highlights - not in any particular order:

1. Involvement in my son's education
2. Giving back to the community
3. Using my pre-mommy corporate warrior skills
4. Social outlet
5. Sense of accomplishment from leading a highly successful, very well liked and respected team of volunteers.
6. Continuing to grow and learn as a person.

Gosh, our greatest accomplishments are impossible to list. I've worked with four seperate teams at four wildly different schools. All through it, though, there has been a sense of community. I didn't realize what a blessing it was to experience that four times until I started coming here to PTO Today and read about some of the challenges other groups face. I guess I'd have to say the greatest accomplishment of any parent group is to exist at all. If you can have a positive realationship with the community and a positive impact on the children's education then you are doing truly amazing work!

I have been:

Breakfast with Santa Chairperson
President
Grade Representative
Spring Fling Chairperson
Secretary
Scholarship Chairperson

This is across 3 different parent groups - various positions, various time periods over the last 10 years.

Single greatest accomplishment?? That one's hard. The most memorable is definitely ousting a former pres. Prior to a meeting several folks were discussing a recently discovered pattern of embezzlement for which the current president was allegedly responsible. (I only say "allegedly" because it was never formally prosecuted.) Some asked me if I would ask the president to step down. I said "yes", thinking they meant did I agree with that action. Later, during the main meeting as all eyes turned to me expectantly I realized they meant would I , a relatively new member of the group, request it in front of everyone because no one else had the guts to do so. Ugh! Talk about trial by fire. It was hard, but it had to be done. I was as diplomatic as possible, but how much tact can you have in such a situation? I hope I'm never in that position again.

President, V.P., Secretary, Volunteer Coordinator, Room Parent Coordinator, Head of Reading Program, Book Fair Chair, and just about every committee you could think of: fundraising, craft program, playground, carnival,....I'm sure I've forgotten something.

Been doing this PTO stuff for over 8 years now.

I have also served on some committees within the school district.

president,president,president...did I say president for five years. I can't get out of it and actually have been the only one to do it as our group was started in 2001. The greatest accomplishment is watching our group and school evolve into a great school for parent involvement within the past four years. Our group numbers have gone from 23 (in 2002) to 72 active volunteers, our school has gone from 69 active volunteers (in 2003) to 156 seeing more families step up is all worth while. We have around 340 families/457 kids. You know that you are truly making a difference...