PTO Today

School’s ending soon and that means transitions for kids, parents, teachers—and PTO leaders.

For many new leaders, it can be a scary time if there’s no transition strategy to bring them up to speed. We heard about one group recently that is taking an unusual approach. The six-member executive board agreed to step down as a group, retaining committee responsibilities while an entirely new group of six will step up to board positions. The idea is the new board will have mentors on hand.

But there are many ways to tackle the transition challenge. For example, PTO leaders of the Temple Independent School District in Temple, Texas, will come together this weekend for a morning workshop on PTO basics. Run by the district, the event is intended to give new leaders a primer on PTO group management.

Attendees will get an overview on bylaws, budgets, and nonprofit status as well as discuss ideas for recruiting volunteers and collaborating with each other.

“It started because one PTO parent was so frustrated by being dumped into the deep end,’’ says Regina Corley, PTO president at Western Hills Elementary in Temple.

That parent was Corley, who described a situation that will ring a bell with many PTO leaders: She stepped up to run the PTO at Western Hills in 2009 when a group of grade 5 parents, who had been on the executive board for a long stretch, moved on.

“They left and we didn’t know what to do,’’ Corley says. “We had a tough, tough year.’’

Since then Corley has been on the board in one capacity or another and will serve as president again this coming year.

But in 2009, she and her fellow board members felt overwhelmed. “I remember our first fundraiser,’’ she says. “We all just looked at each other when we realized we had raised $15,000.’’

At the time, Corley was also the director of communications for the school district, a job she wrapped up earlier this year. She shared her rough-start story with the superintendent and they talked about ways to help PTO leaders become more informed. That eventually led to the idea of the workshop and the first one was in 2011.

The district now keeps a copy of each group’s bylaws and budget on file, and new leaders can access those documents when they take over a group.

“What’s come out of it is we have strong, functioning PTOs,” Corley says. “So the next time a group of grade 5 parents moves on, the new officers won’t be completely lost.”

For any leaders who need transition tips, we have many resources on this important topic, including:

Help Prepare New Officers for Success

Officer Transition Survival Kit

You’re Elected! Now What?

8 Tips for Passing the Gavel

We’ve just added a bunch of new logos to our Clip Art Gallery that you can download and use when you are promoting your events or updating parents on activities. It’s easy to download these logos and then copy and paste them into your documents. The Book Fair and Silent Auction logos shown here are just a few of the choices we now have.

The logos really help jazz up newsletters, invitations and other correspondence. We know how disappointing it can be when you work on a great newsletter or note and then parents tell you they didn’t even read it! Often, giving your documents just a little boost with an image can really catch people’s attention and make all the difference.

So, check out the logos here on our File Exchange, along with lots of other great clip art.

Good luck!

On the scale of Painful to Fun, where would you rank your parent group’s meetings? I’ve written a lot over the years about how parent group leaders tend to overemphasize meetings. Meetings are a helpful organizational tool; they’re not a measure of parent involvement. Lots of groups have great overall involvement despite attracting only five or 10 people to monthly meetings. 

Still, many leaders use meetings as a recruiting tool. “How can I get involved?” “Come to our meeting on the second Wednesday.” If you do that, and even if you don’t, efficient and well-run meetings will make more people want to participate and will lower the stress level on your regulars. 

My number one tip: Limit meetings to a maximum of one hour. If you set an agenda and follow it, get officers together to prepare in advance, and let committees do the detail work, you can do it.

Here are some links that will help:

The One-Hour Meeting Manager

Handout: Robert’s Rules for Beginners

9-Point Meeting Checklist

More meeting resources

Is your group reaching out to parents and conducting PTO business online? If not, it’s time.

A few things we’ve observed lately:

• As this school year is starting up, we’re hearing more and more about groups launching Facebook pages and we’re seeing more Tweets going out under hash tags like #ptomeeting.

• A report released late last month by the National School Public Relations Association shows just how important online communication is to parents. When this group polled parents on how they wanted to receive school information, the top five answers were: email, online parent portal, e-newsletters, school and district website, and the telephone.

• And then I happened to attend the PTO meeting this week at my children’s school at which the principal gave a presentation on the different technologies the school is implementing to share information about events, kid’s grades, and classroom content. There have already been some “firsts’’ this school year. For instance, the school did not send home paper copies of the kids’ schedules.

There’s no one bombshell here. But, when you put it all together, it points to a significant shift that we’ve been observing for some time. Parents will soon be able to get pretty much all the school information they need online, not just about their own child, but about the school community overall.

Essentially, parents will soon be “living’’ online when it comes to all things related to school if they aren’t doing so already. So, they are going to want to find you there, too.

It might mean more active outreach through email or providing parents with online forums to exchange information. It really depends on your community. As an example, Joe Mazza, principal at Knapp Elementary School in Lansdale, Penn., recently related a story about collaborating with the Home and School Association to put together a back-to-school newsletter. It took about two weeks and all communication between Mazza and the board was conducted via Twitter, Mazza says.

Also, the parent group at Knapp has hosted meetings in which participants can log in from home and type their questions and comments, which are then projected onto a large screen at the meeting.

“Once you get people using it—all these teachers and parents—think about the possibility for a connected culture and what it can do for engagement,’’ Mazza says. “It puts everything together at your fingertips.”

So, are you ready? Some resources to consider:

• Looking for ways to help bring parents and teachers together online? Take a look at TeacherLists.com, our sister site that provides an easy way for teachers to share their classroom supply and wish lists to parents. Launched in mid 2012, TeacherLists already has 100,000 classrooms participating.

• Wondering how to use these different communications channels appropriately? Looking for best practices? Check out our E-Communications Handbook for Parent Groups, which you can download from our File Exchange.

• Aren’t really into Twitter yet? No shame. Here’s a basic primer on Twitter that we published a while back that covers all the territory you need to know.

• Need information on email? Take a look at our Parent Express Email tool. It’s free! And it’s a great way to manage your parent email network.

For some reason, the idea that fundraising (parents and others providing extras for schools) is harmful for schools has gotten more traction than usual lately.  Like a snowball rolling down a hill, the concept seems to be gaining momentum with each new article.

It’s not a new idea.  Heck, we wrote a feature about how PTOs should be spending their money back in March, 2002 and for years we’ve been spotlighting fundraising issues such as how more fortunate groups partner with less fortunate parent groups. One example is this story, “PTOs helping PTOs,’’ which we first published in March, 2003.

But this New York Times story from June 1, 2012, with the eye-catching title, “Way Beyond Bake Sales: The $1 Million PTA”, along with follow-ups, such as this blog pointing out inequities in fundraising in New York City Schools, as well as a www.thespec.com series on inequities in Canadian schools, have all received outsized attention in the past month alone.  Just last week, I caught this story about a controversy that erupted in a Long Island (NY) school district over a donation of 3O new iPads.

But, penned by writers with little or no experience with the nuances of schools and school fundraising, the articles frequently miss essential points and almost make it seem like those who are working so hard for local schools are somehow part of the problem.  A few points from an alternative view:

1. We can’t let this discussion be framed by what happens in Manhattan. The Manhattan economy and culture is just a tad bit different than most of the rest of the country.  There are more than 80,000 K-8 schools in the country, and the concept of a million-dollar PTA is comically foreign to the vast majority of them. Much more typically, we are talking about groups raising $30,000 and $50,000 per year (at financially successful PTOs and PTAs) and $4,000 or $6,000 at financially struggling PTOs and PTAs.
2. Parents and community supporters who dig deep and support their schools – yes, with dollars, sometimes – are doing a very good thing.  They could put their dollars and their volunteer time somewhere else, but they choose to support schools.  These folks should be celebrated and held up as examples.
3. This concept that all school fundraising dollars should be pooled and shared equally sounds nice, but will inevitably yield fewer dollars. And that’s a bad thing.  That’s fewer field trips and fewer playgrounds and fewer teachers supported and fewer learning supplies. It’s a fundraising fact that the closer a giver is to a cause, the more likely he or she is to give and the more dollars he or she is likely to give.  The Cancer Society raises research dollars most effectively from families that have been touched by cancer and the American Heart Association does likewise from those who’ve experienced the pain of losing someone to cardiac problems.  Is it unfair if the Cancer Society raises more dollars than the American Heart Association?  If we tried to pool all medical fundraising so that all diseases were supported equally, there would inevitably be fewer total dollars raised for important research. That’s a bad thing.
4. I couldn’t believe more strongly in funding our schools well.  I believe the government has a responsibility as well as an economic incentive to educate our children, all of our children. But I also think it’s very important to point out that one school having more doesn’t make another school have less.  If there are two schools next to one another that are completely equal in every way, and –one day – the first school gets five new computers, the second school doesn’t become worse. The donor of those five computers did a good thing for one school.  Period.  He or she didn’t do harm to the second school.It makes little sense to make all schools less well off in order to keep the resource gap to an absolute minimum.  Making that – minimizing the resource gap — the priority is a recipe for mediocrity, at best, for all.  I’d personally rather we work our tails off to make every school – one-by-one – as great as it can be, celebrating (and thanking our stars for) those that get it right or get lucky or have resources, and continuing to fight for and advocate for (and even fundraise for) those that need more.

There are lots of challenges facing our schools. but hard-working and committed volunteers is not one of those problems. I work every day with committed volunteers who give their time, their passion, a good number of tears, tons of sweat and occasionally their dollars to schools. Do we really think that limiting those folks is the recipe for *better* schools?

Let’s be careful who and what we paint as the villains when it comes to the struggles too many of our schools face.

A recent news story reported on a Mississippi school district getting publicly peeved at parent groups that had not submitted their quarterly fundraising reports on time. One school board member went as far as to suggest the district seize the funds of the tardy groups.

Oh, just another little dust-up with local officials and parents. Or maybe it signals something more.

A quick scan of our Ask A Question section indicates there’s a trend of an increasing number of school districts exerting control over parent groups. In recent weeks, we’ve had parents wanting to know such things as: Does their district control Box Top money, can it demand they re-write their bylaws, or is it able to prevent them from going forward with a 501c(3) application.

The more districts try to control these groups, the more they risk diminishing the groups’ effectiveness. A key appeal to parent groups is their independence and sense of community that they foster.  In our experience, when districts try to micromanage parent groups, parent involvement disappears.

If parent groups become an extension of the district, the independence and sense of community go out the window. Parents will become far less enthused about pitching in and helping out.

Districts would be better off opening lines of communication with parent groups. This should be a two-way dialogue to find the best situation that addresses district concerns without snuffing out the parent group’s ability to make a real difference for the school.

If your group is caught in this situation, it’s important to compromise on measures that you can accept but strongly point out the consequences of ones you can’t. District administrators, in particular, don’t necessarily understand the nuances of what makes a parent group successful. But you do, and you should communicate that to them.

And let’s remember, parent groups are made up of volunteers. In most cases, they are doing their best (during their free moments when they are not working, taking care of kids, and running their own households) to pitch in and help the schools. Do we really need to layer lots more paperwork and deadlines on these folks?

You don’t have to do it all on your own. Many PTOs reach out to neighboring groups for help with ideas or volunteer power.

Loaner Volunteers
In Chattanooga, Tenn., a school with an abundance of volunteers offered to lend a few hands to another school that had hit a rough patch and had less than a dozen members in its parent group. Not only did loaners from the Ganns Middle Valley Elementary PTA help out at the other school’s events, they also provided some support and coaching to the smaller PTA to help it rebuild.

Network of Leaders
In Burlington County in southern New Jersey, one PTO leader thought parent groups within her community could benefit from sharing resources. She reached out to other leaders in the region and set up the Association of Parent Leaders at Elementary Schools. The group began meeting in fall 2011. It doesn’t have a list of specific goals but rather is set up to brainstorm and exchange information.

Coordinated Fundraising
In DeSoto County, Miss., a new policy requires that school fundraising groups coordinate with their principals to avoid piling up on parents with too many requests for funds. With this approach, PTOs and other groups must get approval from their principals for fundraisers and the district will compile a calendar of fundraisers from all schools. “We decided to get the principals together—they all know what they need…and come up with a schedule, so they won’t be overlapping,” says Thomas Spencer, an associate superintendent.

As we know, PTO people are not exactly a lazy bunch.

But I was still amazed last week by the Teacher Appreciation celebrations. Many of you did a full week of events, involving everything from leaving little gifts in individual teachers mailboxes to providing massages and gift baskets and hosting fabulous luncheons.

So, now that that’s done, we decided to pose a Facebook question to see if folks had all that much to do before the end of the school year.

Ah, you guessed it. Not a lot of down time. Instead, people have a number of projects, events, and tasks on their agendas. A lot of you have Field Days coming up and some are doing elections along with transition activities.

We know for many of you, this is just how you roll. You love being busy. But at this time of year, when you’ve been running hard for many months and your kids are starting to run out of steam (making home an extra fun place), it’s worth doing a stress check. Ask yourself if you are starting to feel overloaded. And if you are – and, really, who wouldn’t be—try to take care of yourself a little bit. You are chuckling now, right?

But, seriously, who wants to finish up the school year feeling miserable?

To avoid that, start by tapping back into your network. You know those other moms and dads you feel a connection with? When’s the last time you gave one of them a call or asked to have a really quick cup of coffee? Check in with another PTO person and share how you are feeling. Chances are, they are feeling the same way.

Another great venting spot is our Message Boards. You can go to town if someone or something is making you nuts and there’s bound to be someone out there who can relate and provide you with some great advice.

If you are feeling overwhelmed, don’t be ashamed to pass along some tasks to other volunteers.

We have a great article on PTO burnout that could be a helpful read. It identifies the signs (problems sleeping, loss of focus, irritability, to name just a few) and offers suggestions for avoiding burnout or addressing it.

Also, check out our article on how to organize a PTO to help prevent stress. You can use a few of the tips to help you wrap up the school year and the article will also be really helpful as you plan for next year.

While attending our PTO Expo in Marlboro, Mass., yesterday, I had the pleasure of chatting with two women, one of whom was the outgoing president of her group and the other was the incoming president. The outgoing president said she had been looking for someone to take over for a long time (we all made a few jokes about how fun that can be!) and now she was working with her replacement, spending time with her and helping her along.

Too bad it can’t always be that way. Seems like when we can come up with some kind of mentoring, job-shadowing, or job-sharing approach to bringing new volunteers into the fold, we are all a lot better off.In one of our recent and informal Facebook polls, we asked our community how they learned the ropes when they first became volunteers. About a dozen of you said you got help from a veteran, which was great to hear! But just as many reported that you didn’t receive any help. A little disheartening.

In this same poll, several of you also said you got some on-the-job training, while others said they learned by observing what others did. But a few also said they learned by “making it up” as they went along.

It’s tough being a new volunteer and it is so great when a more experienced person reaches out. Many of us can remember that feeling of being a newbie and not really knowing what to do. Hey, when I first joined the PTO at my daughter’s school, I was so clueless that I felt like the board spoke its own language. As silly as it sounds now, I didn’t know what the PTO president meant when she said, “We’re starting magazines this week.’’ Starting what? Collecting magazines? Reading them? Of course, she meant starting the magazine fundraiser. But I had no idea.

So, here’s to the buddy system! If you are interested in mentoring ideas or other tips for helping new volunteers, check out this article about orienting new members. Also, this story offering a new volunteer’s perspective gives great insights!  This Idea Bag item gives suggestions on how to manage volunteers so they enjoy what they are doing and everyone is productive.

One of the most popular search terms on ptotoday.com — all year round — is “dealing with difficult people.” Whether it’s the folks who always complain about what the parent group does but never seem to step up to help, or the ones who are willing to give their time but make everyone else’s life miserable in the process, these difficult people cause a lot of headaches among the leaders we talk to.

Some leaders worry that if they address the situation, they’ll make it worse. But an uncomfortable situation is unlikely to change (and may even get worse) if you don’t do something. If you’re faced with someone who is complaining nonstop about the spring carnival plans, for example, find a minute to pull them aside for a discreet conversation and ask them (kindly) what their concerns and worries are. Maybe they’re feeling overwhelmed and would like extra help. Maybe they’re afraid of screwing up a much-loved tradition. If you just get annoyed at the whining and vent to your friends and fellow leaders, though, you’ll reinforce your own negative feelings about the person — and never find out what’s at the root of the complaining.

These articles from our archives have more details about different situations you might find yourself in, and how to handle what comes up:

Dealing With Disagreements

How To Deal With Difficult People

How To React to Critics