PTO Today

Naked ploy for votes? Or commitment to parent involvement? Frankly, we don’t care — we just love it!

Labor Party in district of Australia proposes $15,000 to every school parent group. Of course, their closed-minded opposition thinks it’s a wrong-headed idea. C’mon — this is an idea whose time has come. Mind you, it’s just a 150 schools or so, but why quibble. Please feel free to forward this proposal to candidates McCain and Obama. I think I can almost guarantee (80,000 schools x 5 board members per school) 400,000 votes from this one.

It’s that time of year when the new PTO cubs start bugging the seasoned PTO mama bears. Yup, I said it Whether you’re the spirited newcomer or the grizzled old verteran, I hope you can find some peace by thinking about what the other side is going through. This column on the gap between old volunteers and new volunteers could help.

Also find this quick diary/blog interesting from a brand new PTOer, attending her first meeting at a new school. Good to hear what the new eyes see. Love the observation about just how much trash can be turned into school cash (and the fact that she’s diving through the home trash to recover school treasure).

Not since Barbara Eden was traipsing around Harper Valley have parent group volunteers had this kind of attention. You can’t turn on the TV or read the paper without reading about how this PTA mom has ascended to the national stage. Cool, right?

I ‘m hopeful that the attention leads to even more school involvement. Now there’s a platform we all can get behind!

I do have a quibble, though, or at least something to keep an eye on. While no one is making the case that PTA or PTO leadership is akin to national and international standing, it should be equally clear that volunteering (and leading volunteers) shouldn’t be any kind of a blackmark either. I can’t give you an exact link (if you have one, send it through), but several of the commentaries I’ve seen contain a subtle condescension toward Palin’s school volunteer work, as if no one of real substance would have done that job. That’s equally unfair and says more about the speaker than it does school volunteers.

Finally, one interesting link. Found this memo from/to national PTA leadership re: what to say about Governor Palin.

Will be interesting to see if Palin’s school work/school beginnings stay in the spotlight or if — as I suspect — that element of her biography will fall more into the background as the election nears.

Gotta love it when a PTO realizes that involvement takes unique outreach… and then sees great success.

This PTO in Southwest Florida is hosting family events and they’re involvement motto is: “Make it Fun and They Will Come”. How great is that? Check out more about their involvement success in this article.

It’s such a fundamental truth of growing involvement — it starts with the family events. Meetings aren’t the key at all. You can have better meetings. You can have raffles for attending meetings. You can have shorter meetings. But they’re still meetings. When you’re trying to connect with those who aren’t connected, you have to attract them. (Hint: meetings are not attractive.)

This has probably been our number one topic on the site and in our talks (which is why I love this Florida story so much). Looking for more aroud this? We’ve got: My column on why meetings don’t matter nearly as much as most PTOs think. And we’ve got great family event ideas.

If you do nothing else this coming year, think this way. (Now, would someone please help me down of my soapbox???)

I just ran across this t-shirt site (and this one shirt, in particular), and I think I’ve found the best door-prize ever for a Kindergarten welcome event. Cool stuff. Thought I’d pass it along.

Wow, this is really the week for honoring PTOs. First it was the school throwing the nice party for its PTO. And now Ellen Degeneres is giving away brand new playgrounds to two deserving groups.

Side note: looks like our friends at Playworld Systems were heavily involved in this program with Ellen. That new NEOS playground system of theirs looks cool.

Now, that’s what we’re talking about! Most of our appreciation stories here are of PTOs appreciating teachers or PTO leaders appreciating volunteers. But this Kansas school turns that story (rightfully) on its head with a great, creative appreciative event honoring the PTO. Very cool.

Yup, turtle races. Love the creativity of these PTOers in Massachusetts, who are planning a ton of activities centered on a man-made river (in the schoolyard) with plastic turtles floating downstream. The article contains really good detail on the build-up and plans for the turtle race event, which is a big fundraiser for a new playground project. Nice job.

Story is a great example of the “doing fewer things but doing those things better” philosophy that we’ve written about in the magazine for years. This is the kind of event that — done well — can change the reputation of a PTO for the better.

Today is National Teacher Day.

Don’t worry if the holiday snuck up on you. The NEA has some cool electronic greeting cards your kids can email to their teachers. As an added bonus, the teacher’s name will be included on what’s being called the nation’s largest teacher thank-you card. (You can snail mail your own cards to be incorporated into the giant card, too.)

Today’s also a good time to think about ways your parent group can appreciate teachers all year long. Be sure to check out our article on this topic, Teacher Appreciation Done Right, which has great ideas on how to do just that.

Here’s a new twist (and I bet it will be the first of many of these). Talented volunteer puts together a video selling the importance of volunteering at school. Professional editing and a soundtrack make it really slick. Love it! I feel like I’m watching Oprah:

We’ve always said that if announcing: “Meeting next Tuesday at 7PM” is your main involvement-building strategy, then you’re in trouble. These guys clearly get that.