PTO Today

Back to school. Does it seem like a long time ago or like just yesterday?

Did your PTO get lots of  fresh new volunteers? Do you feel like you made a positive first impression? Did your PTO or PTA have a strong presence at back-to-school night? Hopefully you answered yes to all these questions. But if you didn’t, don’t worry… you get a do over. No we don’t have a time machine but we do have the materials you need to get it right at back to school 2011.

Believe it or not, we are already taking sign ups for our Back2School Program for 2011. Have you heard of it? Here’s the top-line on the program:

Our Back2School program is loaded with everything you need to start the year off  with a polished first impression. That way, it’s easy to get more parents involved right from the start!

If you are selected to participate, your group will receive:

• complimentary copies of Jump In! magazine to distribute to parents attending your back-to-school event
• the chance to share FREE gift packs with your school’s families
• our Back2School 2011 planning guide
• a welcome banner.

We know that building involvement is a key challenge for parent groups. And we know that parents need help understanding how to best get involved with their children’s education. This program is designed to provide you with the necessary tools to address both of these obstacles.

So now the question is: what are you waiting for? Sign up today.

If you asked me what one question we get asked the most by parent group leaders, I would say without hesitation: “How do I get more parents involved in our parent group and school?”  This is the topic of our video blog this week. Tim talks about his top 3 things PTO or PTA leaders can do to encourage more parents to volunteer and get involved this school year.

As Tim mentions in the video, we have tons of information about these tips on our site. Here are some links to get you started:

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/120-make-your-family-night-a-winner

http://www.ptotoday.com/sfn/SFN_homepage_parent.php

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/816-what-i-know-about-fundraising

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/1004-9-tips-to-increase-fundraising-sales

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/1009-is-your-pto-fun-enough

http://www.ptotoday.com/boards/25-involvement-ideas-and-challenges/151885-volunteer-fun-factor-do-you-have-it

We wish you the best of luck this new school year. Hope it’s the best year yet for parent involvement!

Did you see Tim on TV this past Monday talking about the good work of  PTOs and PTAs and about Schools Serves‘ efforts to bring schools together to make a dent in childhood hunger? If you missed it, check out this clip then be sure to sign up to be part of this impactful program.

I don’t often plug specific programs here (and full disclosure: the NFL has been a client and partner of ours here at PTO Today), but I love ideas that add spirit and fun to the school environment, and the NFL’s new tradition fills that bill.

Basically, the NFL is encouraging schools and businesses across the country to show their NFL team spirit on Friday, Sept. 10, 2010, which is also the Friday of the first NFL weekend of the year. It’s not too late to participate. Maybe the kids can wear NFL shirts or perhaps you can have an art or banner contest. Who knows? It just feels like the right kind of fun, low-impact but high-interest program for the beginning of the school year.

There are more details on the NFL’s site. You’ll notice there is also a nice prize aspect to the program for schools that sign up and add the most creative and most active elements to their celebration. (Back to Football Friday is connected to the NFL’s Play 60 healthy lifestyles campaign.)

P.S. — Another quick one for you — I just reread this “balloon poem” on our message boards. Loved it for back to school. Hope it inspires you and your group.

This week’s video blog is dedicated to new parent group presidents.  Tim has some practical and actionable advice for new leaders about how to start the school year off on the right foot and make it a successful year.

It’s been awhile since I’ve done a weekly round-up. Not a lot of news over the summer about parent groups… which is a good thing because parent group leaders need (and deserve) time to re-charge.

For many of you, you have been back to school for weeks now. For the New England folks, the first day of school is just around the corner. I can feel the back-to-school energy building.  On our message boards and Facebook page, activity is ramping up and excitement is evident!

In the news, it’s apparent that many PTOs  & PTAs are already busy:

• fundraising for new school signs
• advocating for more comfortable learning environments for kids
• educating families on the importance of parent involvement
• creating websites to keep parents in the loop
• kicking off the school year with memorable family events

What is your PTO or PTA busy with this back-to-school season? We’re always interested in hearing about your events and programs!

Of course it does, but have you ever received a shirt that says so?

You may not get the kudos you deserve from your school, but we want to make sure that you get the recognition you deserve on the PTO Today site. That’s why we’re kicking off a “PTO Today Rock Star” program.

We’ve always been impressed with how much sharing and helping goes on in our message boards. We think it’s high time to highlight the really good posts and recognize folks who take the time to share their unique experiences or how they solved a particularly thorny problem.

So how do you get the illustrious PTO Rock Star status on our site? Well it’s very scientific… not. Here’s how it works: as Tim and I are reading the message board posts we will be looking for posts that go above and beyond the usual. Maybe it’s in the details, or maybe it’s in the attitude… if your post resonates with us, we’ll give your post a “This post rocks” sticky. Here’s an example of a “rocking”  post made by community member JHB:  http://www.ptotoday.com/boards/29-top-message-board-requests/150497-requests-from-high-school

From this point forward, if your post gets rocked, you’re officially a PTO Today Rock Star. You’ll then get your name up in lights… well, not really but you will get your name and your awesome post highlighted in a featured “Rock Star blog” post. You’ll also receive a “My Parent Group Rocks” t-shirt. Take a picture of yourself in your new shirt, post it on our Facebook page or email it to us, and make it your avatar in our community and we’ll add in a free one-year subscription to PTO Today magazine.

Cool, right? Our community means a lot to us. This is just our way of saying thanks for all you do.

Summer is waning and for some PTO or PTA leaders one task is weighing heavy on their mind–  the big back-to-school speech.  So here’s our advice: maintain a summer attitude and don’t make a bigger deal out of this speech than it needs to be. You probably have two major goals, right?

1). Make a good first impression.
2).  Inspire more people to volunteer this school year.

We’ve got you covered. Watch Tim’s video blog for some simple advice on how to approach the speech to help you accomplish both goals. Look below the video for some helpful links.  Last piece of advice is take deep breaths, smile and try to relax. You are going to do great!

Helpful links:

http://www.ptotoday.com/2hourpower/

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/137-7-steps-to-grow-involvement

http://www.ptotoday.com/filesharing/document/325-volunteer-form-for-start-of-year-detailed-two-parent

http://www.ptotoday.com/filesharing/document/389-five-reasons-to-get-involved-a-great-handout-for-parents

Middle school involvement is different. How is that for stating the obvious? The million dollar question is how do you adapt your parent group approach to parent involvement, when the kids don’t want you there in the first place? In this week’s video blog Tim talks about how to get past the resistance of kids,  how to build strong parent involvement, and offers examples of successful middle school events.

Fairly soon, your group will be welcoming a whole new crop of parents to your school. Some small percentage of those parents will be excited to get involved with your group. How will you react to those parents?

Will you make it clear that their questions are tiresome? Will you hastily dismiss their “new” ideas (that you’ve had in the past) and discourage them?

I hope not, but that’s what a lot of us PTO and PTA old-timers tend to do (often unknowingly) when we first deal with these new parents. It’s a great way to turn off the fresh, enthusiastic volunteers you most need.

I tried to capture this dynamic — and also some of the mistakes that new parents make in jumping in too aggressively — in a column I wrote last year called “A Tale of Two Volunteers“. I think this is a great time of year to bring it back out. I hope you’ll share it with your fellow leaders as a reminder of the mistakes we should try to avoid this summer and next fall.