PTO Today

Tim answers the Question: how do you increase PTO or PTA meeting attendance? He also provides some tips on parent involvement.

So did it make you feel better to have Tim put parent group meetings in perspective? Hope so.

If you are interested in learning about the  basics on running an effective meeting, be sure to check out the Meetings and Robert’s Rules section of our site.

Now that it’s November, I imagine your membership drive, if you have one, is over. So my question (and tip) for you this week is, why do you charge dues to belong to your PTO? I personally think it’s a bad idea, and I hope you’ll discuss it with your group before next year’s drive rolls around again.

I wrote a column called ”Just Say No to Dues” a couple of years back, and I thought I’d summarize it here.

My problem with it comes from two perspectives. First, I think dues are anti-involvement and send the wrong message to your parent community. Why do I have to pay to belong to the parent group at my kids’ school? I feel like I paid those dues with blood, sweat, and tears (not to mention the tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars I’ve already spent raising junior). Most parent groups cite increasing parent involvement as their number one goal, and then the first thing they do is put a barrier (”$5, please”) between parents and their group. I think a much better message is “All parents and guardians of XYZ School are members of our PTO, and we look forward to a great year of working together to make our school a great place for our kids.”

The second is that membership drives actually aren’t even very effective as fundraisers. You spend lots of time and energy on a membership drive…frequent reminders, sign-up tables at open house, emails, more. And for what? $500? If you have a membership drive for the money, you have much better options to consider.

My observation is that most groups have membership drives because that’s the way it’s always been done. My tip this week: It’s OK to change the way things have always been done.

Agree? Disagree? Tried it already? I’d love to hear your take on this issue. Chime in on the ”dues or no dues” thread on our message boards.

I’ve been following this story in the Del Valle district in Texas with interest, largely because it is so unusual. The super there is taking a fairly strong stand against the formation of an independent parent group of any kind. Most of the articles on the topic have been referring to PTAs, but I understand that the policy is meant to apply to any independent (from the district) parent group. There was an editorial in the Del Valle paper last week about the PTA and PTO controversy.

The district and its schools do have school-organized and run parent committees.

In general, I think this is bad policy. It’s obviously bad from the public relations perspective – this super may not be against parent involvement, but it sure is playing that way in public perception. But I also think it’s wrong on the merits. Schools and districts should be supporting organized and empowered parent partnerships, not running scared from those. I certainly understand when districts want to place some collaborative limits on their parent groups (mandating, for example, an annual audit or asking that fundraisers be run a certain way), but this Del Valle approach takes those concerns way too far.

The one area where I agree with the super is in my opposition to dues for parent groups. We actually have an active topic on “dues or no dues” on our message boards right now. But if the parents in Del Valle want a parent group of their own – whether with dues or without – then they should be helped and encouraged. That’s clear. Here’s hoping this policy gets changed ASAP.

Kind of a controversial tip for you this week, and it starts with a question: Has your leadership started slipping into a “this is what works for us and we’re the only ones involved, anyway” mindset?

While I understand the thinking, slipping into that mindset is a sure-fire way to close off involvement and to earn a clique reputation, even if it’s undeserved. Think about the one parent (who barely knows you guys) who has been thinking about getting involved. Will she feel comfortable finding your house and entering this very social, personal atmosphere? Unlikely. She’ll probably choose to stay home.

But that’s just one scenario. Have you stopped doing introductions and welcomes and nametags (because, well, most of us know each other)? Have you started just scheduling the regulars to volunteer (because no one else ever wants to help)?

Leadership isn’t easy, and good leadership is often not convenient. Taking those extra steps to be welcoming and open to even the few newcomers is part of the job. Work at keeping at it even when it feels pointless. It’s not. If you do have only a small handful of core volunteers, then just one or two more can make a big difference. And remaining open to that help is essential to bringing in the newcomers.

I would love to hear whether you’ve experienced this in your group or worked to solve it in some way; please join the discussion we started on our message boards. We also have a ton of other great articles and resources on getting more parents involved.

Save time!

Just wanted to give everyone a heads-up that we have reorganized the popular File Exchange section of our site. We’ve added new categories, renamed a few, and moved around a bunch of files that were getting lost — so leaders can easily find the forms, flyers, letters, and surveys that they need. Hopefully, the changes will also take the guess work out of where to put something when you upload files to share with others.

Some new categories include:

• volunteer recruitment
• fundraiser forms & letters
• fun run, walk-a-thon
• spaghetti dinner
• holiday shops
• audits
• community service

New file additions of note include a slew of generic parent group logos and a new email opt-in form.

Thank you to all who have uploaded documents to share with fellow parent group leaders. We hear from leaders all the time that the file exchange is such  a powerful resource.  Happy sharing and swapping!

Which one did you use this fall?  Which one is the best choice for your group?

This is always a big discussion on our message boards and in our PTO Today community, mainly because the differences are so stark.  I recently received an email about this topic from an expert that brought a fundamental new concern into the debate.  I’ll explain below.

First, to set the table what we’re talking about here,  is whether you should run your fundraiser so that all sales are paid for up-front (pre-pay) or whether you should take orders and then collect money only at delivery time (post-pay).

I can give you three facts in this debate:

1. Almost all group will make more profit with post-pay– usually a lot more.

2. You will likely have a bounced check or two or get beaten in another way in post-pay (though #1 still applies).

3. There’s some extra work involved with post-pay, as sellers need to go back and collect money at delivery time.

This expert I heard from – a long-time salesman in the fundraising business – gave this perspective:

“A postpay sale is going to generate some “no pay” sales.  That’s a given as “the cost of doing business.”  It is also true that a postpay sale generates approximately double the sales volume of a prepay sale.  As an example, (one of my schools) had a total sales of about $4,500 on their prepay fall fundraiser in 2007.  They switched to postpay in 2008 and had a total sales of over $20,000.  They more than quadrupled the fundraiser profit that they could spend on behalf of the children, and did it with the same size of enrollment.  Yes, it takes a little effort to collect all the money, but they liked the additional money so much that they are doing a postpay sale again this fall.

A second reason relates to the issue of trust.  When parents are told they must have the money up front, they are reluctant to ask their co- workers to buy, lest the co-worker be insulted, thinking that the parent doesn’t trust them.  An even worse situation is one where a school will not accept checks at all. This indicates a severe lack of trust and is pretty much guaranteed to make parents decide not to participate at all.   If you have less than half the parents participating on a fundraiser, you have a lack of trust on the part of the parents in the school administration, simply because the parents feel that they are not trusted.”

The new factor for me was a discussion of how our credit card and debit card and online banking society has made prepay so difficult. Years ago in a prepay sale, the neighbor or co-worker or aunt or uncle pulled out a check and paid for their order on the spot.  Today, I haven’t carried a check in my wallet in several years, and I rarely have more than $20 or $30 in cash in my pocket. Many days, I couldn’t help the prepay seller, even if I wanted to.  The stats show that I’m far from alone in using plastic and online banking (and few paper checks) in my daily routine. This is a huge factor making prepay so difficult.

Hadn’t thought of that.

I’m interested in your take and your experiences on this. Did you prepay or postpay this year? Seeing any trends at your school? Love to hear ‘em.

PS – Are you following us on twitter yet?  @TimPTO and @ptotoday.

Seems there’s a lot of PTO v PTA action these days.  I’ve certainly been getting more than the usual number of emails and calls. And the news media has picked up the story several times of late.  The latest is a comprehensive feature in Washington Post on two high schools going PTO in Virginia and the related membership trends in that area.  The number that jumps out at me is that both those groups had 1,000 members. Wow.  Huge groups, but 1,000 members also means $3,000 per group in dues paid to state and national PTA.  Average PTA unit pays roughly $1,000 in dues.   (Note: you’ll find another fairly long take on the Woodson High PTA going PTO in this local paper coverage.)

And a third Virginia PTA going PTO is covered in this smaller article.

This Michigan feature looks at the whole PTO v PTA issue with the main conclusion that both groups do great work for kids.  We agree!

Obviously, it’s a lively issue.  Whether you’re a PTA thinking about switching to PTO or a PTO thinking about going PTA or even a brand new group deciding on a format, our new PTO and PTA Differences at a Glance chart should be a big help.

My advice to you this new school year: Stop worrying so much about attendance at your meetings. Focusing on who attends meetings is a sure-fire way to get depressed about your group’s progress and, frankly, a waste of your time and energy.

I’ve seen great groups that don’t have meetings. I’ve seen great groups that struggle to get even four people to meetings. I’ve seen great groups with excellent meeting attendance. They were great because of the work they did at their school, the involvement they fostered, the school community they helped create, the support they gave their teachers, the communication channel they created between school and home. Not at all because of their meeting attendance or lack thereof.

The fact is that meetings are boring and parents are busier than ever. I’d much rather have lousy meeting attendance and a highly successful family night (with lots of volunteers) than great meeting attendance and just a few sparsely attended events. No question.

Putting meetings in perspective is a key skill for a new officer. We also have a great section on the site about running better meetings. Hope you’ll enjoy both.

Every school year we read about new cases of embezzlement from parent groups. Sadly, in this case it’s a principal that is at the center of the alleged theft of PTO funds. Ugh.  Hate to hear these stories, especially when they are preventable.

With the new school year, it’s a good time to take a good look at your PTO group’s financial controls.  What are you doing to prevent theft? Does your group have insurance?  Is an annual audit part of your group’s standard procedures? Please take the time to read these articles and review your systems. It is our sincere hope that this information will reduce the number of thefts this school 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!