PTO Today

One of the cruel twists of running a school parent group is that while you are often surrounded by hundreds at school or school events, the actual leadership job can be fairly isolating. Very few people can relate to the unique challenges of managing a group, avoiding drama, handling a principal, running successful events, and more, all within a school setting. That isolation can lead to burnout.

That’s why I highly recommend that all PTO and PTA leaders find some outlets for sharing the challenge with other folks who can empathize. Hearing you’re not alone, understanding you’re doing a good job, keeping your chin up — those things all can help you make a difference for the long term at your school. It’s OK to need support.

My tip this week — three ways to find that support:

1. Check out the vibrant communities on ptotoday.com and on our PTO Today Facebook page . Thousands of leaders sharing ideas and solutions (and occasional frustrations) that only other leaders really understand.
2. Create your own group of leaders locally. Reach out to some other local schools and their officers and schedule a monthly coffee. I wrote a column called ”Get Out and Smell the Coffee” on this subject a while back.
3. Finally, check out our 2012 PTO Expos coming this spring. We’re bringing our unique brand of fun and idea-sharing — and, yes, empathy — to 14 cities from February through April. And right now, we even have a 2-for-1 special on our already very inexpensive (just $10) ticket prices. Learn more about the Expos (and sign up!) here.

Something a little different for this tip. I believe that goals that you write down or speak aloud or make public are much more likely to be achieved, so I figured I’d get us started on the right foot in this new year. I’m going to share my goal, and I’d love you to share yours (details below). Let’s inspire each other to make some progress.

For me, the PTO goal is to find a minimum of three brand-new volunteers who will step up into starting leadership roles (chair a committee, help run an event, take on an important function). I fear that our group is becoming too content with experienced vets.

What’s yours?

We have two ways for you to share and to see what others are thinking:

• On our message boards: Use this message boards thread to share your 2012 goal.
• On our Facebook page. Visit our Facebook discussion here and add your perspective.

I look forward to seeing what you’re working on and hearing all about your success!

Well, it’s January and the holidays are squarely behind us. Every January I do the same thing: I sit down and regroup about how Christmas and New Years went. I write down what went well and what I would change. I jot down decorating ideas, fun family event ideas, and reminders of what made me crazy this year. I think back-to-school season for PTO, PTA, HSA leaders is a lot like the holiday season. You do your best to be organized, and then you dive head first into this insanely busy time. Have you regrouped with other volunteers on how your back-to-school season went?

What would you like to do differently for back-to-school 2012? How can you make it better? Now is the time to think about it. I bet getting more parents involved at the very start of the school year is TOP on your list!

Here’s where PTO Today comes in. Make your back-to-school life a whole lot easier and productive — sign up for our Back2School program. It just kicked off and boy, are people signing up quickly! They know that participation in our FREE Back2School program is a fantastic way to get helpful tools and resources to make a great first impression on parents this fall. That first impression can make or break your year, in terms of involvement!

Here’s what Back2School participants receive:

• Jump In! magazines and coupons
• Back-to-school event planning guide
• Chance to receive parent sample packs
• And more!

If you are not familiar with our Jump In! magazine here’s the scoop: It’s a magazine that’s brought to you by the same team that produces PTO Today magazine — for you to pass out to parents at a back-to-school or parent/school event. Parents love the insightful articles that are meant to help parents bridge the school-home connection, as well as high-value coupons from family-friendly brands.

If you’d like to hear what other parent group leaders thought of the Back2School program, check out their testimonials and photos. If you still have questions, visit the Back2School FAQ. Sign up is here.

So, what are you going to do differently for back-to-school 2012?

Ever wonder when it is worth speaking up about something in your role of PTO leader?  This question may be on the mind of Kristen Pierotti, PTO president at the Lincoln-Hubbard Elementary School in Summit, N.J.

Recently, she raised concerns about a school uniform issue to the local Board of Education. The response? The board clearly indicated it had more important items on its agenda. Ouch.

This story started when Kristen Pierotti heard that some parents had raised a question about adopting school uniforms. “I was never trying to dictate what the district as a whole should do, ’’ Pierotti said in an email discussion with PTO Today.

Pierotti said the PTO decided to do a survey to determine if the issue of school uniforms really was important to parents. She said she sent out more than 200 surveys and had a 50% response rate – and 75% of those parents said they were open to the idea of holding a pilot program to see if uniforms would really work.

The issue was then forwarded to the school board, which, in published reports, essentially said it had bigger fish to fry.

“I appreciate that there are initiatives of greater consequence, however, I don’t see that in itself is a reason to close the door on something [for which] there may be a majority of community support,’’ Pierotti added.

So, apparently, a public put down will not deter this PTO. Pierotti said her hope is the school board approves the idea of Lincoln-Hubbard piloting school uniforms so it can be a “test run for the community at large’’ in the near future.

Fundraising fatigue is one of those alliterative terms that newspaper editors love. And the story of parents tired of getting hit up for more dollars seems to appear in one paper or another almost every month.

But is it true? And can your group overcome it?

I wrote a longer column on this topic, but in a nutshell, I think fundraising fatigue is way overstated and — where it does exist — most often self-inflicted.

It’s simple: If you want to have parents who complain less (and support more), then fundraise less but fundraise better. Stick to that mantra even when your budget gets low and even when the next neat idea is proposed at your meeting. Groups that have a higher fun and involvement quotient almost always raise more dollars, too. And groups that seem to fundraise all year long almost always see diminishing returns and a less effective parent group in the long term.

As you start thinking about your spring fundraisers or start reviewing choices for your next big fall fundraiser, check out these resources:

1. Our Fundraising Yellow Pages on ptotoday.com
2. This article on choosing the best fundraisers for your group
3. This additional column I wrote on ”profit percent” (and why it can be a bad measuring stick)

Good luck!

These best practices can help your committees run themselves, efficiently and without conflict:

Give committees a job to do. Every committee should have a specific purpose, clear expectations, budget, timeline, and milestones. Don’t establish any committee without a definite idea of what you want it to accomplish.

Focus on the goals, not the process. Once you establish the goals and parameters for the committee, let the committee itself decide how they will do the actual work. Micromanaging is more likely to undermine the work than to move it forward.

Set milestones. Committees should report their progress to the board at regular, predetermined intervals. Use these check-ins to make sure the committee is progressing as you expect and has all the resources needed to effectively execute their work.

Get all members involved. It’s up to the committee chair to divide the milestones into discrete jobs and to make sure everyone is involved in moving the committee toward its goal. Keep in mind that people participate because they want to make a meaningful contribution, not just to do busywork.

Don’t wait until the end to say thanks. Celebrate when milestones are reached along the way, even if you haven’t completed the entire job. Giving people encouragement will help keep them energized even for long projects.

Learn more: PTO and PTA committees topic page

January, it seems to me, can go one of two ways. Best case, your officers and key volunteers come back from the break refreshed and ready to go. You swing right into the new year and build on your successes from the fall. Or, and I think this is pretty common, you have a hard time recapturing that spirit and building momentum. The feeling is more like “back to the old grind” than “let’s get rolling.”

My tip for this week, no matter which category your group falls into, is to take some time to think and reassess before jumping back into your normal active routine. Start by having a low-key social get-together with other leaders-a little bonding now can go a long way toward creating unity as you move into your busy schedule for the months ahead.

Assess your fall activities. Talk about what went right and how you can capitalize on them moving forward. And celebrate your successes-nothing is as motivating as feeling that you have accomplished something and can accomplish more.

Finally, take some time to review your plans for the next quarter and make sure everything is in place for success. Are there loose ends that can be tied up now rather than on deadline? Do you have enough volunteers, for example, or would it help to start recruiting now for future events?

For more on making the second semester a success, check out these articles on ptotoday.com:

11 Midyear Problems and Solutions
Beat the Midyear Volunteer Slump

Here’s an idea if your parent group is short on volunteers. Instead of sending out a tersely worded note asking for help from your parents, how about borrowing some volunteers from a neighboring school? We came across a story about schools in Chattanooga, Tenn., doing just that and we think this is a great idea. In Chattanooga, one school had literally hundreds of volunteers (can you imagine!) while another had just a dozen. So, the school with all those helping hands sent over volunteers to the less-fortunate school to give it a boost. Think of the possibilities. If you could get some neighboring schools interested in this idea, you could create a volunteer swapping program. There are many opportunities for this, including providing babysitters for each other during parent meetings. Also, volunteers could assist a neighboring school by manning the snack or carnival booths so parents could enjoy these events with their children instead of working the event as likely do most of the time.

The Chattanooga story was particularly touching because the school in need of help had been without a parent group for a decade. It was really trying to make a go of it and those borrowed volunteers made a big difference.

That’s a win-win, as they say, especially for the kids.

We all do it, right? New year. Fresh slate. Great intentions.

For your parent group resolution, I’ll give you three possibilities. Little habit changes that can make a big difference:

1. Make each of your family events 20 percent more special. Pony up for the good DJ or add free popcorn (yes, free!) or see whether you can get the fire trucks to come down to your fair. Special events attract more families, and (key secret!) they also attract more and better volunteers. Check out this article on ways to make your events more memorable.

2. Use email for quick thanks. Spend 15 minutes after events writing three- to five-sentence emails to volunteers. It’s amazing how effective this habit can be. Need a great, free email tool for your group? Check out Parent Express Email.

3. Smile. Have more fun. One of your goals, I’m sure, is to recruit your own replacement, right? Well, that’s awfully hard to do if everyone sees and hears how taxing your job is. What signals are you sending? Can you change those in the new year? I bet you can.

From all of us here at PTO Today, best wishes for a fantastic 2012. May your volunteers be plentiful (and on time!). May your fundraisers sell themselves. And may your school community thrive like never before. Happy New Year!

Creating a Facebook page can be a great way to keep in touch with parents and build community. Use these guidelines to set up a successful Facebook page for your group.

• Write guidelines for your page that emphasize the importance of being polite, avoiding profanity, and writing only what you would say to someone’s face.
• When you set up your page, tell Facebook you want to add a “Like” box to it. This will help you attract more parents.
• Vary your posts. Include information about school events, volunteering, and fundraisers, but also add photos, links to interesting blog posts and articles, public thank-yous, quotations, and anything else you feel is relevant.
• Delete all posts that are negative, inflammatory, or promotional.
• Promote your page in your other communications whenever possible. The more parents who know about it, the more lively and beneficial it will be.
• And don’t forget to like PTO Today on Facebook!