I know you want and need a rest. But a few key steps this spring (and maybe even during the summer) can really make a difference for your group next school year.

That packet parents get at back-to-school time, the contents of the school website, your volunteering forms, the back-to-school parent meeting — those are all “first impression” items that make a huge difference in how your group is viewed for the entire year. If you wait until next September to give those items some attention, you’ll have missed out on a big opportunity. Many new parents and returning parents use those tools and have more contact with the school and your group during the four weeks around back-to-school time than they will the entire rest of the first semester.

The tip is: Do what you can now and this summer to make sure those early points of contact are really positive. Update the PTO section of the school website. Review your volunteer sign-up sheets and make sure they send just the right message. Get your (nonfundraising) welcome messages included in the back-to-school packets that go home from school. The payoff is significant.  

We have several good resources on this front:

• Our volunteer interest form
• A great article on making the most of the open house or early all-parent meeting
• Tips for effective PTO and PTA websites

I’m all for well-deserved rest and relaxation. But hopefully these few steps will make your back-to-school season a bit more relaxing, as well.

As we know, PTO people are not exactly a lazy bunch.

But I was still amazed last week by the Teacher Appreciation celebrations. Many of you did a full week of events, involving everything from leaving little gifts in individual teachers mailboxes to providing massages and gift baskets and hosting fabulous luncheons.

So, now that that’s done, we decided to pose a Facebook question to see if folks had all that much to do before the end of the school year.

Ah, you guessed it. Not a lot of down time. Instead, people have a number of projects, events, and tasks on their agendas. A lot of you have Field Days coming up and some are doing elections along with transition activities.

We know for many of you, this is just how you roll. You love being busy. But at this time of year, when you’ve been running hard for many months and your kids are starting to run out of steam (making home an extra fun place), it’s worth doing a stress check. Ask yourself if you are starting to feel overloaded. And if you are – and, really, who wouldn’t be—try to take care of yourself a little bit. You are chuckling now, right?

But, seriously, who wants to finish up the school year feeling miserable?

To avoid that, start by tapping back into your network. You know those other moms and dads you feel a connection with? When’s the last time you gave one of them a call or asked to have a really quick cup of coffee? Check in with another PTO person and share how you are feeling. Chances are, they are feeling the same way.

Another great venting spot is our Message Boards. You can go to town if someone or something is making you nuts and there’s bound to be someone out there who can relate and provide you with some great advice.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, don’t be ashamed to pass along some tasks to other volunteers.

We have a great article on PTO burnout that could be a helpful read. It identifies the signs (problems sleeping, loss of focus, irritability, to name just a few) and offers suggestions for avoiding burnout or addressing it.

Also, check out our article on how to organize a PTO to help prevent stress. You can use a few of the tips to help you wrap up the school year and the article will also be really helpful as you plan for next year.

We have soldiers stepping up, a PTA taking a stand on a controversial social issue, a district launching a parent academy to teach volunteering and, oh yes, a school giving a great big thanks for parents who give so much of their time!

Special Volunteers: For the fourth year in a row, soldiers from the 67th Signal Battalion from Fort Gordon helped out at the nearby Cedar Ridge Elementary School Field Day in Grovetown, Ga. More than half of the students have a family member connected to the military. The soldiers assisted in 12 different events and a news report said there was also a little dancing going on. Sounds like a great time!

Tackling bullying: The state PTA in Indiana just passed a resolution that says all schools in Indiana “should adopt anti-bullying policies for LGBT students and that these same students deserve to learn in a safe environment.’’ In the resolution, the PTA said it will publish an article in its statewide publications about issues surrounding LBGT bulling and encourage local units to work with schools on establishing policies to “protect LBGT youth.’’

Volunteer recognition: The Arizona Charter Academy in Surprise, Ariz., recently hosted a luncheon to say thanks to more than 80 volunteers who regularly help out at the school. One volunteer received the “Alumni of the Year’’ award for regularly devoting 25 hours a week to the kindergarten class.

Teaching involvement: The Kailua, Hawaii school district last week started a parent academy to help parents become leaders in working with schools. This follows several other recent steps within the state to get parents more engaged in order to boost student performance. The academy is intended to get information to parents about the schools in the hopes that that will encourage them to get more involved.

When a story broke this week about strict nutritional guidelines possibly being enforced in Massachusetts, a good deal of the coverage focused on the end of bake sales as we know them and the harm it would cause parent groups that rely on them to raise money for schools.

One Massachusetts State Representative was quoted in a Boston Globe story saying the bakery ban seemed “to go way too far’’ and added,  “I think we’ll hear from every parent-teacher organization. I didn’t say this on the floor, but what are they going to sell, carrot sticks?’’

This lawmaker wasn’t the only one expressing this opinion, and while we appreciate the concern for PTOs, there’s something here that is off key.  It’s the idea that PTOs are almost synonymous with bake sales or that they would be lost without them (selling carrots, of all things).

What we see, everyday, are PTOs and PTAs doing amazing work and running programs and events that are complex and often raise substantial funds for schools.  There’s no question parent groups would feel the effects of a ban on bake sales, but these groups are about so much more than this one issue.

We know of PTOs and PTAs that organize for months to hold elaborate auctions. These projects often resemble the running of a small business, requiring public relations, budgeting, sales, and event and sponsor management. Check out our Ultimate Donation List forum on the PTO Today Message Boards and check into some of these conversations. One group recently outlined how it raised $135,000.

But this isn’t just about the significant financial contributions PTOs make. More importantly, it’s about the integral role these groups play in school communities. Research shows the more engaged parents are in their child’s education, the more successful the child will be in school. It helps them academically, emotionally and socially. The PTOs are on the front lines in this effort and, year after year, they work to build a sense of community and foster involvement.

How about the parent group that took over running many aspects of the school to save it from closing? Or what about the groups that create great community service programs? Still others work to raise literacy scores and help build community in times of severe economic stress.

This isn’t about cookies or cakes, and it hasn’t been for a long time.

So, we’re against a bake sale ban — we think parents, and local schools, are perfectly capable of making their own decisions on what makes sense for their community. But we also know that banning cookies and cakes isn’t going to stop PTOs and PTAs or the important work they do.

Parent and teacher communication, a key piece to effective parent engagement, may not be perfect, but clearly both parties are working on it, according to the results of a recently released national survey.

The report showed that nearly half of the parents surveyed would give teachers an “A’’ when it comes to communications. But the survey also revealed that parents and teachers do not always view their communications in precisely the same light. For example, 68% of teachers surveyed said they had had some difficulty in interacting with parents. Meanwhile, 63% of parents said they’d never had difficulty communicating with teachers.

Another disparity: Nearly half of parents surveyed said their opinions are always taken seriously by teachers, but only 17% of teachers felt their opinions were taken seriously by parents.

The report is based on a survey of 1,000 parents and teachers and was conducted by Parenting Magazine and the National Education FoundationWhile some of the data shows parents and teachers can view things differently, both parties are also clearly working on communications. The majority of parents said they believed teachers offered supportive responses to their concerns and a whopping 80% of teachers consider parents to be supportive of them.

Also, almost 90% of parents said they consider their child’s teacher as a partner and 54% of teachers said they felt parents were doing their part at home to help their kids succeed.

This survey follows a report earlier this year that highlighted big increases in parent engagement. That report, sponsored by Met Life and conducted by Harris Interactive, showed that nearly half of the students it surveyed reported their parents visit their school at least once a month.

For years, research has identified a direct link between parent involvement and a child’s overall performance in school. It’s simple: Kids do better when their parents play an active role.

Looking for ideas to get parents involved? One of the key things a PTO can do is build community and help parents create real connections with other parents, teachers and kids. Whether it’s a potluck dinner or a night at the local bowling alley, events that focus on building friendships (and not necessarily raising funds) go a long way at fostering an open environment where parent engagement can grow.

Also, it helps to reach out to families and spread the simple message to parents: the more they get involved, the more successful their kids will be.

Remember, you are the ground troops, PTO leaders! You are the ones running the events that can get the ball rolling when it comes to parent involvement.

Yup, it’s Teacher Appreciation Week. The good news: It’s not too late to send a great message to your teachers. You don’t need months of planning.

While I’m certainly a fan of elaborate appreciation efforts, I find that simple or frequent and sincere thanks can be just as powerful. For any of you procrastinators out there, we actually have a great article on last-minute teacher appreciation ideas that I think you’ll find very helpful.

As far as longer-term teacher appreciation, I hope you’ll also take full advantage of the new TeacherLists.com web tool. Tons of PTOs and PTAs are getting their schools set up on TeacherLists.com, and teachers are loving it. Give it a look.

All of us here at PTO Today salute teachers. We love passionate parent volunteers and we love talented administrators who lead so well, and – this week – we love especially all of the dedicated teachers who give all of themselves to inspire our children year-in and year-out.

You might think a fundraising chairman’s job is done once stacks of orders start flowing in. Not quite. It’s important to manage the money throughout the fundraising process.

1. Start by establishing paper trails. Encourage sellers to write the student’s name on each check they collect. This is a big time-saver should there be an issue with any check.

2. Assign someone you trust to collect fundraising envelopes. Try to limit this job to just one or two people so nothing gets lost or misplaced.

3. Make sure there’s a collection system in place. Establish a routine of collecting envelopes each day. Keep collecting envelopes several days after the fundraising deadline to catch late orders.

4. Once all orders have been placed, review each one. This is time-consuming but critical. Make sure a payment is included in each envelope. Endorse the checks as you are organizing them at this point—it will save a little time.

5. Count all the cash. Bundle the bills by denomination, with singles in stacks of 50. Roll the coins. Complete a deposit form to list all the individual denominations and simplify calculating the total. You can download a free deposit form from the “Treasurer’s Forms’’ section of the File Exchange.) Have your trusted assistant recount your deposit to verify your total.

6. Create a separate “oops” list of orders that have a discrepancy. Work from this central list to call or send a notice to each of the parents to get more information about their payment.

7. Get to the bank. Deposit the money immediately or lock it up in the school safe until you can make the deposit. Don’t wait until the money is all in; make several separate deposits rather than one big one.

8. Verify before you pay. When it is time to pay the fundraising company, verify the amount with the fundraising committee chairperson. Record the payment on a check request form, and send in the check.

Here’s a look at some of the work PTOs and PTAs have done this week on behalf of families, kids, and schools:

• The PTO at the South Park School in Rapid City, South Dakota, held a carnival recently to raise funds for its pack and food program. Even though the school had rainy weather, it still managed to raise over $1,000. The pack and food program is for families who do not necessarily have enough food for the weekends. Children get food-filled backpacks to take home with them.
• Walking programs increasingly popular: Parent volunteers at the Ridgecrest Elementary School in Largo, Fla., coined the name Walk A Way Train for a parent volunteer program to help students walk safely to and from school each day. Parents walk with the students and report the program not only addresses the safety issue but also helps students interact in more positive way with peers as they make their way to and from school.
• Turning bad news into something good: Several Atlanta-area parent groups  reported they were reviewing their financial procedures after a news story broke that a local parent was accused of stealing PTA funds. In reaction, a parent from a neighboring group said they are making sure to have “two sets of eyes’’ on fundraiser money before it goes to the bank.  Periodic reviews of financial procedures are always a good idea and our story on financial controls offers five great tips to help that process.
• Would this work at your school? The PTA at the Euclid School in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., decided to try something new and create a school cookbook.  The PTA formed a cookbook committee that solicited recipes from parents, students, and teachers. They received 150 recipes and put it together in a book they named: Alphabet Soup: Our Euclid School Family of Recipes. The group is selling the cookbook for $10

Middle school changes the rules for a PTO. The classroom parties and reading nights, some of the biggest successes of elementary school days, won’t cut it on the middle school level.

The challenges that middle school presents were evident this week during a Twitter discussion called #PTchat with parents and educators. The discussion centered on the big question of how to foster parent involvement to benefit the kids, parents and the school (and not embarrass or upset anyone along the way!).

We know these issues make a PTO’s mission really tricky. If you are about to enter this new territory of middle school, or are even in the thick of it now, here are some things to keep in mind:

For starters, embrace the fact that the job of a middle school PTO will be different. Often, middle school PTOs find themselves helping parents in new ways, such as giving them information to support kids outside of school, on such matters as cyberbullying, drugs or sex. Workshops or parent nights on those subjects can be a big draw.

When it comes to planning events, don’t think you know best. The kids do and a key success factor is to let the kids come up with event ideas. If they think it’s cool, they’ll want to attend.

Keep in mind that after-school clubs and enrichment programs are big in middle school. PTOs can bolster a community spirit (and help parents better connect with their kids) by fostering good relationships with these clubs.

It’s also important to remember that some things won’t change. Working on a good relationship with the principal still matters and the basics of running a group, such as a good organizational system and sound financial practices, are still key.

During this week’s #PTchat discussion, which is hosted by Joe Mazza, principal of Knapp Elementary School in in Lansdale, Penn., and an active voice on Twitter, participants raised questions about how to maintain a community when so many folks are actually starting to disengage from their kid’s school.

Some participants put forth good ideas you might want to consider:

• Try an off-site event that’s interesting to kids. Make it stress-free and low-key. One idea was a family fishing day.

• Make events authentic and casual, like having a get together at a local pizza shop for families rather than hosting a more serious event like a workshop where parents learn how to engage appropriately.

• School pride days can be a safe way for families to engage. A cleanup day that involves lots of outdoor work can be considered fun (or at least not too uncool) for lots of kids.

• Reach out to adults beyond the parents, including grandparents and community members, when hosting an event. This gives the kids access to additional good role models, who can be helpful when communications between parents and kids can at times be strained.

• Have parents do fun jobs that aren’t too high profile for events, such as running valet parking. This keeps them in the loop but not in the spotlight (which is what can sometimes make kids uncomfortable).

While attending our PTO Expo in Marlboro, Mass., yesterday, I had the pleasure of chatting with two women, one of whom was the outgoing president of her group and the other was the incoming president. The outgoing president said she had been looking for someone to take over for a long time (we all made a few jokes about how fun that can be!) and now she was working with her replacement, spending time with her and helping her along.

Too bad it can’t always be that way. Seems like when we can come up with some kind of mentoring, job-shadowing, or job-sharing approach to bringing new volunteers into the fold, we are all a lot better off.In one of our recent and informal Facebook polls, we asked our community how they learned the ropes when they first became volunteers. About a dozen of you said you got help from a veteran, which was great to hear! But just as many reported that you didn’t receive any help. A little disheartening.

In this same poll, several of you also said you got some on-the-job training, while others said they learned by observing what others did. But a few also said they learned by “making it up” as they went along.

It’s tough being a new volunteer and it is so great when a more experienced person reaches out. Many of us can remember that feeling of being a newbie and not really knowing what to do. Hey, when I first joined the PTO at my daughter’s school, I was so clueless that I felt like the board spoke its own language. As silly as it sounds now, I didn’t know what the PTO president meant when she said, “We’re starting magazines this week.’’ Starting what? Collecting magazines? Reading them? Of course, she meant starting the magazine fundraiser. But I had no idea.

So, here’s to the buddy system! If you are interested in mentoring ideas or other tips for helping new volunteers, check out this article about orienting new members. Also, this story offering a new volunteer’s perspective gives great insights!  This Idea Bag item gives suggestions on how to manage volunteers so they enjoy what they are doing and everyone is productive.