PTO Today

Congrats to all the newly-elected parent group officers! Being a new PTO or PTA leader can be overwhelming at first, but no worries – there are lots of resources on our site to help you get on track to become a successful leader, build a strong executive board, and grow involvement under your leadership.

For starters, watch this video for some actionable leadership pointers by Tim Sullivan, Founder of PTO Today. Then be sure to download our Officer Transition Survival Kit.  Next, be sure to stay connected on our community and on our Facebook page.  The advice and insight you’ll gain from the seasoned leaders in these communities is invaluable. You are on your way!

I like the sounds of this NFL “Back to Football Friday” program for this coming September. The details for your school are here: http://www.nflrush.com/footballfriday

Basically, on the Friday before the NFL season starts (September 10th), schools across the country are encouraged to put together a spirit day of their own choosing to kick off the season. The more creative the better. The more physically active the better.

And the NFL will provide some tools and templates (look for a Back to Football Friday poster in your August issue of PTO Today magazine) to help you make it even better. $10,000 grants for schools that do the best job aren’t bad either.

There’s a lot I like about this idea: 1. It comes at a good time, a Friday right when the back-to-school season is finishing up for many schools. Lots of seriousness (new teachers, new assignments, new homework policies) followed by some fun. 2. It’s extremely flexible, which is always good for PTOs and for school schedules. Before school, after-school, during school. Contests, activities, decorations. It’s all up to you and your group and your school. And 3. Did I mention the $10,000 NFL Play 60 grants?

If you’re looking for a hook for an early-season fun school activity, this new NFL initiative may be just the fit. That link again is: http://www.nflrush.com/footballfriday

Enjoy!

Wow, the end of school came quickly, didn’t it? This time of year is cause for celebration. We hope you do make a point of celebrating all your group accomplished this past year. You deserve it!

We know, however, that parent group leaders can’t get together to celebrate a job well done with out doing a bit of a re-hash. How did your group do attracting new volunteers? What was the attendance like at family events? How did your fundraisers fare? As much as you need a break from it all, you can’t help but thinking about what you will do differently next school year. In this video blog Tim offers a suggestion on how to improve your group’s reputation and to get more volunteers.

Does your group have a signature event? We’d love to hear about it.

Want to make a really good impression next fall? You’ve got to sign up your PTO or PTA to participate in our back-to-school program.

We’ve been doing this for four years now, and it’s really our simplest and perhaps our most effective service for parent groups. You get a very cool magazine to give out to parents (all about making it a great school year for their family), plus involvement posters for back-to-school night and tips on making more connections with parents, and even the chance to get free samples for your parents to kick off the year.

You can check out some sample pages and content from the magazine for a closer look.

There is a catch — we’ve had to turn away some schools in each of the past three years, so you have to sign up early. This program is limited to just 5,000 schools and parent groups. Again, the info and registration pages are at ptotoday.com/back2school.

I find that serving parents in this way at the start of the year is a great way to make a positive first impression, help them with some of the very real parenting challenges that come with a new school year, and help change the reputation you may have as “just a fundraising group.”

If you have any questions at all on this program (or any others), please don’t hesitate to email or call us. Hope it’s a big help for you.

I’ve always considered the brand-new families to your school to be your best potential resource for new volunteers. They have no preconceived notions about your group. It’s a fresh start. Plus, many of them are excited to get connected. They aren’t burned out yet.

Why am I writing about this in March? Because several of your best opportunities to connect with these parents happen in spring and summer. Is there a new parent orientation? Is there a letter or packet that gets sent by the school in spring? How can your PTO or PTA get involved in these?

One of my favorite ideas is a late-summer “new families” picnic or ice-cream social at a local park or the school backyard. For these families, the new-school process starts well before the first day of school. If you connect with them and help them when they need the most help and have the most worries and questions, you have the chance to make big fans out of them. But you have to start thinking about that now.

Check out this article on welcoming new families for some places to start. I’d also love to hear about your best ideas for welcoming new families on our message boards. There are so many good ones.

Tim talks about the 2010 Back2School Program and explains why parent group leaders should take advantage of this great opportunity to reach out and connect with parents at their schools.

Yes, I know it’s still January, but this is actually when we start accepting registrations from groups who want to sign up for our very cool annual Back2School package of know-how for your group and giveaways for your parents. You don’t want to miss this one.

Complete details on Back2School 2010 are here on the website. The program does fill up, and we have to turn away groups every year.

As a summary, the centerpiece of the Back2Schoool offering is Jump In! magazine, which is written to help parents make it a great school year. How and why to get involved. Tips for communicating with teachers and helping the kids succeed in school. Lots of stuff. You get one copy for each parent in your school to hand out from your parent group. (Check out some sample Jump In! articles and other content.)

We also provide custom materials to help you make the most of back-to-school night and ideas on kicking off a great involvement year for your PTO or PTA. There are usually extra giveaways from our sponsors and supporters, as well, which are always nice. And all of it is completely free for K-8 PTOs and PTAs.

Again, here’s the link for learning more and signing up. Hope we can help you take advantage.

Yup, Lowe’s.

Lowe’s has been a huge supporter of schools and of PTOs and PTAs these past few years (their Lowe’s Toolbox for Education program has given millions to PTOs and PTAs these past 5 years), and I’ve really enjoyed working with their whole team on a variety of projects.

But when they started talking about Lowe’s giftcards as good teacher appreciation and holiday gifts, even I was a bit skeptical. After all – you can’t exactly buy ceramic apples at Lowe’, right?

After they walked me through a few things they’re doing though, I was impressed. And I think it’s worth a look for you.

First of all, while you can’t get ceramic apples — you can get about a billion other things, tons of which would be great for a teacher. (Classroom stuff and stuff for when the teachers are being actual normal everyday people). Think: plants, gardening tools, organizing bins for the classroom, even Christmas decorations. And a whole bunch more.

Even better, Lowe’s now has the ability for you to customize your gift card in a very cool way. You can, for example, add a picture of your son or daughter along with “Mrs. B – thanks for helping me with fractions!” right on the giftcard. How cool is that?

Check out their Lowe’s giftcard page and the personalization features before you make your holiday gift choices this year.

By now the lastest issue of the issue of PTO Today should be in your PTO or PTA mailbox. Don’t let it sit there — lots of great stuff to make this your best year yet!

Some of the article highlights in this issue include:

• Yearlong Travel Theme Makes Learning Fun
• Creating a Long-Term Plan
• Get Out and Smell the Coffee
• Sample PTO Strategic Plan

Happy reading!

Man, am I glad we have this Teach Flu a Lesson flu vaccination initiative out for schools and PTOs and PTAs.  When we started working on it last year, the flu was certainly a concern.  But then the Swine Flu came around and… well… it’s just about the hottest topic in the entire school world this year.

There have been dozens of articles out in recent weeks with predictions for this coming flu season and tons of news about schools possibly being the first line of defense in preventing the flu from really devastating communities.  It makes sense – schools are both: 1) where kids can so easily pass bugs from one to another; and 2) where we can most easily get the kids in one place for prevention.

That’s why I’m so thankful for Teach Flu a Lesson. The free kit has everything you need to know about your PTO or PTA bringing vaccinations right to your school.  Great fit as part of a health fair or as part of a Health Week or – this year especially – as a stand-alone program, since interest and concern is so high.   Hit that link to learn more or sign up.