PTO Today

Much of our focus as PTO or PTA leaders is on building involvement and fundraising. This week Tim suggests that you add another focus to your agenda: serving parents at your school. No, we’re not talking about serving them spaghetti or ice cream at your ice cream social. We are talking about serving parents by delivering programs that provide pertinent parenting information without asking for anything in return. There are so many hot topics that dominate the side lines at the soccer field: How to deal with homework, internet safety*, and the college application process, to name a few. Watch Tim’s video blog to hear his thoughts on these events.

*We have a free kit to help you run an Internet Safety Night. Check it out!

One of my favorite features on ptotoday.com is the Ask a Question section. You ask whatever PTO-related question is on your mind, and we send out our crack editorial and customer service teams to find the answer.

Ask your question here.

My tip this week is based on some common advice we give in answering those questions: Read your bylaws. Bylaws are a key organizing document of a PTO, and every PTO should have them. They state, in writing, the most basic rules of the group: what the officer positions are and what the duties of each office are, when elections are held, etc.

Your group should also have a second set of written rules called policies. These are things that are important to the way you do business but aren’t as basic as bylaws. For instance, your bylaws might say you must hold a general meeting once a month. Your policies might say that meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at 7 p.m. in the school cafeteria.

There are two important reasons to have written bylaws and policies: to have a ready answer to questions-especially when disputes arise-and to record a basic set of best practices so that future leaders can use them as a guide.

If you haven’t done so recently, take the time to review your group’s bylaws and policies. Make sure they fit the current needs of your group, and if they don’t, revise them. If your group doesn’t have bylaws and policies, this is a good time to get started on putting some in writing. We have lots of resources to help:

• Bylaws and nonprofit topic page on ptotoday.com
• Sample bylaws and other resources on the File Exchange
• “How To Write PTO Bylaws” article

Teacher appreciation done well is a great way to put your parent group on the road to success. We think it’s so important that we are hosting a Twitter chat to brainstorm teacher appreciation ideas.

So here’s the scoop:

What: We’ll be using hashtag #PTOtalk to talk about all things Teacher Appreciation!
Where: On Twitter, of course! Party on our Custom Tweetgrid (Use hashtag #PTOtalk)
When: Wednesday, October 6th, 2PM EST (1PM CET, 12noon GMT, 11 PST) – 3:30PM
Why: To have some fun brainstorming creative ways to show teachers appreciation
Who: We’ll be hosting the party (@PTOtoday & @TimPTO) and will be joined by our friends from VolunteerSpot: @Volunteerspot @VspotMom
Featured Guests:  @CarissaRogers @TeachMama @ZiggityZoom @SmartPlayBlog … and you!

This topic is too good to miss. If you don’t know how to use Twitter, don’t let that keep you away. Check out this blog post on Twitter basics:  http://www.ptotoday.com/ptoblog/organize-your-group/2010/02/09/how-to-use-twitter-to-build-parent-involvement/

Hint: it’s pretty simple! Even if you are new to Twitter and are not ready to jump into the conversation you can “listen in” by going to Twitter and searching on #PTOtalk at 1PM EST on October 6th.

Still not convinced? Watch this (very poignant) video, then mark your calendar for our #PTOtalk.

Looking to kick-start your teacher appreciation efforts this year? Try starting a new tradition around parent-teacher conferences.

Your conference events are some of the most challenging days of the year for your teachers. Lines of parents, long hours, and tons of talking. They’re essential days on the school calendar, but they’re not easy on teachers.

And that’s why they’re the perfect time for showing appreciation. Can you provide a buffet in the faculty room? Or have some gourmet coffee provided in place of the typical joe? I heard about a school that arranged to wash all of the teachers’ cars that day as a surprise. Kind of cool. It’s also a nice day for a thank-you note or thank-you poster from your PTO to the teachers.

Have you done anything special or unique in connection with parent-teacher conferences?  We’d love to hear about it on the message boards.

We have a ton of additional ideas and links on the Teacher Appreciation topic page on ptotoday.com. Good luck.

How can you improve communications and get more parents involved? Tim has a recommendation: Parent Express Email. Parent Express Email is a simple, quick and effective way to get emails out to people in your school as often as you would like. Listen to what Tim has to say about it:

Here is the link below the video ; ) http://www.ptotoday.com/parentexpress/index.php

Love to hear what you think about Parent Express Email. Please comment below.

Woot!  Excited to be putting up our very first “Rock Star” blog post. I will doing these periodically to feature the best content from PTO Today Rock Stars in our message boards. Here are two incredibly helpful posts from two terrific community members.

In the Fundraising Forum Rachel offered details that add up to one marvelous math-a-thon:

We ran a Math Challenge this year rather than a math-a-thon. The idea was that it’s hard to get kids excited about doing pages upon pages of problems and the idea was first to get kids excited about math (this school’s math scores are not to be envied and the attitude of the teachers, parents, and students about math in general was pretty poor). We had three levels: 4K-5K, 1-3, and 4-6. In hind sight we should have had a different level for each grade because skills are so different at these ages. Students worked in groups of 4-5 students. It lasted for one hour. At the start time, the principal made an announcement that it was to begin. Each team received their packet.

There were the 1 point questions – simple, quick, varied between math facts and trivia like what is Pi and there were between 75-150 depending on the level.

Then there were the ‘challenge’ questions. These took longer and there were about 10 (worth 5pts each) – word problems, logic based, needed more thinking and generally had multiple answers required.

Every 10 minutes (there were 5), the principal came over the loud speaker and gave a different ‘movement’ question. They varied in difficultly based on grade level and the student needed to go to one part of the building to obtain information and then perform a math funtion (one example was go to the front of the building and find the year the building was built and the number address of the school – for 1-3 they had to add the numbers together, for 4-6 they had to multiply them). These were also worth 5pts each and every team member had to have a chance to do one.

All the volunteers got a t-shirt, all the students got a smart smencil (although we had trouble with ours so I would necessarily recommend unless you have plenty of times (many weeks) to deal with smencils if they are incorrect). It was a fundraiser but this school it terrible with fundraisers so it didn’t do very well as a whole school. However, the students that did participate in the fundraising portion did VERY well collecting pledges.

We set it up like any catalog fund-raiser – a certain dollar amount raised gets a certain incentive so it was a pledge drive for the donor but the students got more than just ‘knowing they helped their school.’

$25 t-shirt like the volunteers (kids loved them because they were different, a great color rather than grey, and the logo was professionally designed – donated).

$50 a math drill calculator

$100 Equate math board game

$125 extra Equate tiles

$250 electronic handheld math game (either stand alone or a cartridge for a handheld system like DS – they choose)

$500 either zoo pass or family four pack to a local water park (both about $100 value)

Prizes were cummulative so you could get some serious stuff if you tried. Some did! Next time I would have smaller prizes for the inbetween amounts but that is based on your school (this one is very much ‘what do I get’ and fewer-better doesn’t resonate, they want more more more).

Teachers were excited about it but didn’t help. Some of the lower grades did because they needed an adult for each team but the upper levels used it as a planning period and offered no help with the organization of the event. It was a lot of work but the school buzzed with excitment the whole hour and the kids loved it. They were very excited to hear their scores and results as well, announced over the course of a week to build excitment since there were classroom prizes as well.

Good luck – math is a great thing and I wish fewer people were scared of it!!

In the School Family Events Forum Barb R offered some excellent advice to a community member thinking about organizing an art show:

Our PTO pays for the entire art program at our school. As part of that one of the fundraisers is focused on art and we ALWAYS do an art show at the end of the year to highlight the kids accomplishments.

We normally chose one week night, normally a Tuesday or Thursday, in April or May. The show runs for about 2 hours or less. We post the art work in the hallway by the child’s classroom, normally 3 to 4 pieces, depending on how/what was done. The easiest way is to put the child’s name on a card at the top and all of the art work under it so it is easy to identify per student. The kids normally do 6 or so projects but normally only the best 3 or 4 are posted. There are signs put up with each grade level telling what the art is or why it was done. Last year was the first year that we gave ribbons for 1st, 2nd, 3rd place per classroom. A grand prize and a 1st, 2nd, and 3rd (I think) were then chosen from those pieces and highlighted at the front of the entrance on a special table. (They were later framed and hung in the school lobby. The ribbons are just paper clipped to the edge of the picture for simplicity sake. We normally offer some light refreshments. (Last year were pretzels, m&m’s and lemonade… some years have been cakes and fruit, it varies.) And we have also started involving different musical (instrumental) artists in the community and have them come in and provide atmosphere music for the event. One year it was the kids for the talent show, another year a few kids from the high school orchestra. It varies, depending on timing, etc.

One year we also had an “exhibition guide” which shared information about the type of art, classes, etc. So that can always be another option.

Congrats Barb R & Rachel and thanks for being team players.  We appreciate each and every one of the questions and comments posted in our community. It’s a lot of fun connecting with all of you and even more fun keeping an eye out for “rocking” posts!

NOTE: If their posts have inspired you to take on an art or math program at your school, check out these links:

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/88-how-ptos-foster-math-skills

http://www.ptotoday.com/answers/question/12414-sunshine-math-club

http://www.ptotoday.com/answers/question/11263-family-math-night

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/1018-pto-program-puts-art-into-action

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/147-bringing-art-appreciation-to-students

http://www.ptotoday.com/pto-today-articles/article/853-make-it-an-a-plus-year

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.

Besides providing great family activities and supporting your school with resources and volunteers, are you helping the parents at your school become better school parents? It’s an often-overlooked role of the best parent groups around the country.

Whether it’s sharing information (or bringing in speakers) on Internet safety or college preparedness or connecting families to academics with a program like Family Reading Night — your group can go far beyond fundraisers and fun nights.

With that in mind, we’ve recently launched a really simple web plug-in for school and PTO and PTA websites that automatically shares great tips on being a good school parent — how and when to help with homework, best ways to communicate with teachers, managing the morning madness, etc. — with all the parents at your school. The “widget” pulls the best content from our sister site, SchoolFamily.com, and displays it and updates it right on your website. Any webmaster can grab the code and add it in just a couple of minutes. You can also feel free to add the same links to your print or email newsletters.

Great teachers teach. Great principals keep effective schools running well. Great parent groups are passionate about helping all of the parents at their school connect and serve. Hopefully, this new web tool will help you do that even better.

With school opening up, do you have a plan to connect all those parents who say they want to help with actual volunteer opportunities?

For too many groups, the plan is a nice Open House speech followed by a sign-up sheet that winds up in the back of a file somewhere. Two months later, the leaders of those groups are frustrated by a lack of volunteers and a whole bunch of parents are wondering why the cliquey PTO doesn’t call. Ugh.

With that in mind, here are two tips this week — both regarding getting and keeping lots of new volunteers.

1. Do you have a well-done volunteer interest sheet for your parents? More than just “can you help,” a well-done survey asks about interest areas and best times. We have a sample volunteer interest form in our File Exchange area that you’re free to use as is or customize.
2. Have you looked at our PTO Manager volunteer software service for keeping track of all your parents, managing volunteers for events, and communicating with parents? It really does make a difference for those groups that take advantage.

Many parents will help if the opportunity and timing and commitment are all right. You have to ask — sometimes several times, and always nicely — and you need a system for keeping track of the interest. It’s not as hard as it sounds, and it’s well worth the effort.

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