PTO Today

We have to go to a teacher's meeting in a month or so. What we are going to talk to them about is what they need from us? What does the school need? What do they need as teachers that the budget doesnt incorprate?

So I am wondering if anyone has any ideas that I can give to them as examples. They have a die cut machine and we purchase the things they need for that. But we want to send out a survey to each teacher and I need some ideas to list on there. I am not in the classroom much so I don't have any idea where to start with this.

There are always basic supplies: scotch tape, markers, construction paper, glue, etc. Also, most teachers have their own classroom libraries. They may even need games for days when recess is indoors. Don't forget your PE, music, and art teachers too.

You might also want to recommend that the grade level teams put together a list of what they might need. This could be things like a set of classroom atlases or encyclopedias or a class set of a certain book that the teachers use in a reading program.

As for the school as a whole, there is always the playground, but they may need items like DVD players, TV's, computers, Smart Boards(check out the post on this one here on the forum), or software.

There could also be special assemblies the teachers would like to have at the school that are relevant to curriculum.

Are you planning on just getting your ideas from this meeting or are you going to give the teachers a timeframe to respond back? A few years ago, the elementary group I was President of sent out a teacher survey that asked the questions you are asking. They all responded and it was really helpful when we set our budget for the year. We also asked some questions about the volunteer needs and their opinions of other PTO sponsored events and programs. You might want to send them from the meeting with something like this, so they can take it back and do some thinking and brainstorming before responding.

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Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.

While the fundraising PTO's do is invaluable, don't miss an opportunity to market yourselves comprehensively by focusing strictly on fundraising. I believe that's wrong on so many levels and a huge mistake.

You might want to go in with a one-page flyer of what the PTO does/has done for the school. Hopefully buying stuff is not #1. Ours was always sorted categorically and covered the school spirt and involvement activities like having school t-shirts, hosting family events, providing a newsletter; volunteer coordination; family involvement; support of school actitivies; AND supplementing school programs and supplies.

Certainly the teachers need things money can purchase, but be sure to widen your scope. For example, we coordinated volunteers for field trips and managed an ongoing class wish list (things not purchased by PTO, but donated by parents). Our PTO organized volunteers to supplement classroom staff on a day when they had some school-wide testing.

Your meeting may indeed be mostly about potential purchases, but make sure they understand "raising money" is just ONE piece of the story. It's so easy for the PTO to be seen as only a fundraising machine. Be sure not to fall into that trap.

For the first time last year I published a list, by month, of all of the things the PTA did/does for our school. I included everything I could think of and was astonished at all we had done. Include things such as:
Teacher appreciation week (bus-drive, support staff etc. etc.) publishing school directory, cultural arts events that the PTA pays for, all PTA sponsored events (including after-school activities etc.), social events, monthly newsletters, box Tops, amount spent to support bus transportation, amount raised last year and what it was used for, restaurant nights, sports events, family programs, even the PTA meetings. People need to know the breadth of what we all (that is the usual 8 of us do for a year.

Do you still have a copy of the survey you sent?

I'm sorry rnbowmom, but I don't have a copy of the survey anymore. It doesn't have to be anything elaborate. We just asked some questions and had people circle "yes" or "no", had some areas where we had them rate some programs on a scale of 1 to 5, and had a list of possible things that volunteers could do in the classroom and had them check which ones they would use. We also gave them about 3-4 lines for comments at the end.

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Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat.