PTO Today

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?

We are excited to let you know that PTO Today and The Savings Bank Life Insurance Company of Massachusetts (SBLI) have teamed up to celebrate school and parent group volunteers from across the country. You may feel sometimes that your tireless volunteer efforts go unnoticed. Take heart, PTO Today and SBLI think that volunteers deserve recognition beyond their school walls. Starting this month, we’re kicking off a joint program called Superstar Volunteers. As part of this program, we profile a new Superstar Volunteer and their unique volunteer story every two weeks, from January through September. Here’s the really cool part: SBLI will donate $500 to the school of each volunteer we profile.

Our first Superstar Volunteer is Sunnie Robles-Schmidt from Santa Rosa, California. Props to Sunnie who has figured out how to juggle her busy family life AND volunteer at both the elementary school and high school. Read Sunnie’s full story to learn more about what kind of volunteer work brings her joy. Congrats Sunnie, for being the first SBLI Superstar Volunteer and for winning $500 for your school!

Do you have a volunteer at your school that you think deserves a SBLI Superstar Volunteer designation? Nominate him or her today – winners get a $500 donation to their school and will be featured on both ptotoday.com and SBLI, just like Sunnie!

As if we weren’t already totally pumped for our 2012 PTO Today Expos, now we have a really fun give-away t-shirt to add to the mix!  Congrats to Karen Shore, whose fun phrase was chosen by Facebook community members — seen on the t-shirt to the right.

Thanks to all who participated and voted in the contest. We couldn’t have done it without you.  It was a tough decision between Karen’s and the other two slogans, submitted by Lisa Singeisen and Jennifer Leach! We were just relieved that we didn’t have to make the final call.

We also had a random drawing for 5 free t-shirts, and Kathi Moore and Carrie Hirmer are the lucky winners for this drawing. Congrats!

If you haven’t already visited our PTO Expo page, be sure to pop over and register. Take advantage of the early bird special and you’ll automatically entered for a chance to win $250 worth of merchandise for your school.

Do you have any photos from the 2011 PTO Expos? We’d love it if you shared them on our Facebook page!

We are excited to let you know that we just kicked off the 2012 Happy Healthy School Kids Program! This is a fabulous way for your group to support health and well-being efforts at your school. We’d like to invite parent group officers to sign up — space is limited.

If selected to participate, each school will receive 200 gift packs to distribute to parents at an event. Each gift pack will include:

• Family-friendly product samples
• A copy of THRIVE!, our health and wellness focused digest and savings booklet which features tips and high value coupons.

In order to participate in the Happy Healthy School Kids program, you must have a school family event planned sometime between February 1 and March 31, 2012, at which you can distribute the packs to attending parents. This can be any type of event (doesn’t need to be health/wellness focused). There is no fee to participate and you’ll be notified, via email, by early January if your group has been selected.

This program is always a huge hit with parents so be sure to sign up early!

We had a great turn out last week at our “All About Online Auctions” webinar. Thanks to all that participated. There were many excellent questions asked and we hope you learned a lot.

This Wednesday, November 16, is the Maximize Your Online Auction & Intro to Mobile Bidding webinar.

Take part in this webinar for a more advanced look into maximizing the potential of your online auction, including the most recent technological development – mobile bidding. The online auction experts from BiddingForGood will share why schools are especially suited for online and mobile bidding success.

Register today and tune in for some great info on Wednesday, November 16th at 2:00 PM ET. If you are working or you are taxiing kids around during that time, fear not! Sign up for the webinar anyway … we will be sending everyone who registers a recording of the event so you can listen and learn, when it is convenient for you.

Thanks to everyone who submitted a fun phrase to our Facebook contest! The PTO editors said it was not easy deciding, but we do have 3 phrases picked! Congrats to Jennifer Leach, Karen Shore, and Lisa Singeisen for being chosen as finalists.

Now it’s up to you! Which fun phase would you like to see on the 2012 PTO Today Expo giveaway t-shirt? Head over to Facebook to see the choices and cast your vote.

Two random voters will each receive 5 free t-shirts with the winning slogan. Be sure to tell your fellow school volunteers to vote too!

It’s not too early to start thinking about PTO Today’s 2012 Parent Group of the Year search. Entries are due May 31, 2012, but you can start collecting information for your entry now, saving materials from or making notes about your activities as you hold them. Just tell us how you connected with families and students this school year, and your group could win cash prizes up to $3,000.

Click here to see the entry form, complete details, and answers to frequently asked questions. And be sure to read about the fantastic groups that took honors in the 2011 search, too.

2011 PTO Expo T-shirt -- Your fun phrase could be on the 2012 t-shirt!

We are super excited to be in 14 cities for our 2012 PTO Today Expos! To kick off the Expo season we need your help! Do you remember the “My Parent Group Rocks” t-shirts that we gave away last year? (pictured right) They were a huge hit. In fact, we ran out. So, this is where you come in!

We need a new fun phrase for the 2012 Expo t-shirts!

Share your creative brilliance and you and your parent group can win!

Here’s the scoop on the Fun Phrase T-shirt contest!

First of all it’s living on our Facebook page on the Contest tab (left hand column of our Facebook page).  Pop over there to submit a fun phrase (7 words or less) that captures the spirit of PTOs, PTAs, HSAs, etc. (Note: We want all parent groups to be able to wear the t-shirt. So please use the term “parent group” instead of PTO or PTA.)

What will the winner get, you ask?!  Well, fame, notoriety and free stuff!

The winning fun phrase will be printed on t-shirts that will be used as prizes at PTO Today Expos and beyond.  The winner will be featured in a photograph wearing the winning t-shirt (with up to 4 fellow parent group volunteers) in an upcoming issue of PTO Today magazine. Also, you and 11 of your closest PTO or PTA peeps receive a free t-shirt. AND everyone who enters gets one free admission to your closest PTO Today Expo!

Here are the details on timing:

• From October 13- 25 submit your fun phrase (7 words or less) — use the “Enter Contest” button on the Contest tab or Facebook to get started. One submission per person.
• On October 26 the judges, the PTO Today editors, will choose the top three slogans.
• Starting October 27, all parent group volunteers are invited to vote for their favorite phrase until November 9th. Be sure to invite your PTO and PTA friends to vote for your fun phrase!
• The winner will be announced on November 10th.

Just think of the boost your parent group would get by winning the contest, getting the free t-shirts, and having your photograph in an issue of PTO Today Magazine! As they say in the Mastercard commercials, priceless!

* NOTE: When entering the contest using the Internet Explorer browser, after you hit “enter contest” and you get to the next page you need to scroll down to see the contest information. This is inherent in the contest application we are using and beyond our control.

Wanted to give a big shout out to the PTO Today Teacher Wish List grant winners!  Here are the 10 lucky winners:

• Ririe Elementary School - Ririe, ID
• Centennial Academy - Littleton, CO
• Lakewood Elementary -Twin Lakes, WI
• Gardnertown Fundamental Magnet - Newburgh, NY
• Nolachuckey Elementary - Greenville, TN
• Meadows Elementary -St Louis, MO
• 66943 Skipwith Elementary - Richmond, VA
• Coronado Elementary - Amarillo, TX
• Berryton Elementary - Berryton KS
• Hollister Elementary School - Hollister, MO

These ten PTO Today grants are added to the 100 grants given by Teacher Wish List and Bounty. That’s a total of 110 schools that have received Teacher Wish List grants! It makes me smile to think of all the school supplies that these grants bought!  And the best is yet to come. Next week Bounty will announce the winner of the $25,000 art room makeover! Stay tuned…

Have you signed up your school for Teacher Wish List yet?  What are you waiting for? Order a free kit to get started or visit the Teacher Wish List site. The teachers at your school will thank you!