PTO Today

Parent group embezzlement stories are back in the news and it’s hard not to get discouraged hearing about school communities—and, specifically, kids—losing out on so much.

But check out this story. It is guaranteed to make you smile.

This time last year, the PTA at Springfield Elementary in Plant City, Fla., had about $25,000 in the bank. Last month, it had to start over with $545.

Its former treasurer was arrested and charged with stealing $17,000. The remaining funds went to pay outstanding bills.

“We were shocked, just shocked,’’ says Kris Trottier, the new PTA president at Springhead, who had worked with the former treasurer. “She was disorganized and always had an excuse for things, but I never thought in a million years that she would have taken money.’’

The group was obviously discouraged. Plus Trottier says she worried that parents would get angry at the whole PTA and not want to trust it anymore.

But just the opposite is happening.

Since word got out about the alleged embezzlement, community members, including another PTA in Plant City, have sent money to help Springhead PTA get back on its feet.

“It just broke our heart,’’ says Yvonne Fry, president of the parent group at nearby Tomlin Middle School, which donated $500.  “That school worked so hard. We felt we couldn’t just stand for it.’’

Local businesses and a church also have kicked in. The total amount donated so far: $2,500.

One donation came from a senior citizen, who delivered a $200 check to the PTA, noting that she had been a student at Springhead 60 years ago and wanted to help support the school.

But this story isn’t just about the cash. Trottier says she held a meeting this week about the upcoming Harvest Festival and was amazed at the turnout. Parents are determined to help make this event a success, the PTA president says. For example, parents came up with a plan to seek donations to make themed-baskets that will be raffled at the festival.

“Everyone is letting us know they are here for us,’’ Trottier says.

So, way to go Plant City community, for giving us a different kind of story.

Embezzlement stories are dark—full of disappointment for PTOs that worked so hard.  Even the stories of the folks who committed the crime can tug at you because they often are tales of hardships that drove people to make really dumb choices.

But the Plant City folks remind us that sometimes communities really are, well, communities.

As Yvonne Fry says, “ I feel it is our responsibility to help restore something so broken like that.’’

I went to a PTO meeting at my kids’ school the other night and the teacher was talking about how the hum from the old computers in the school computer lab is so loud, it literally gives you a headache! Ouch. Not good for the teachers, not good for the students. But like so many school districts, funds are tight and there are so many programs and projects vying for PTO or PTA funds. Sadly, technology has not bubbled to the top. I am guessing that there are many of you who are in the same situation.

I was very excited to learn that PTOtoday.com is partnering with Lenovo for their Dream to Do Contest! By entering this contest your school can win a technology makeover valued at $50,000. I can’t think of any schools that could not use that!  Not only is the prize amazing, but Lenovo is demonstrating their commitment to education by providing teachers with some terrific tools to enhance learning.  They have created a “What will you do when you grow up” career lesson kit for grades kindergarten through 8.  As a parent of a senior in high school, I for one think it’s never too early for teachers to start exposing kids to career options.

Here’s how you can enter your school into the Dream to Do Contest:

And oh, by registering you’re automatically entered to win a THINKPAD X130e.
Visit http://www.lenovodreamtodo.com/technologymakeover for all the details.  Get those kids thinking about what they want to do when they grow up and grab the markers. Best of luck.

We’re very excited to announce that our Back2School 2012 program will include a  $1,000 vacation giveaway for your school!

Hmm, think of the possibilities of a vacation giveaway! Have a drawing to give it to one lucky involved parent, raffle it off at your school auction – what you do with it is up to your group, but we’re guessing you already have a few ideas up your sleeve.

For a chance to win in the $1000 Back2School Vacation Giveaway,  sign up for our free Back2School program today– then look for details* in your planning kit this July!

*Official rules for this promotion can be found here.

Right about this time of year it happens: you can’t help but start thinking about the next school year. What teachers will my kids have? Who will be the new parent group officers? What will our group do differently at our back-to-school events to get more parents involved?

While we can’t help you with the first two questions, we CAN help you with the third! Next week we are chatting about all things parent involvement. Join us on our Facebook page  for Destination Parent Involvement! Week to get parent involvement tips, chat with other leaders and learn more about our free Back2School program and how it can help enhance your back-to-school events. And for those of you (all?) trying to recruit new board members for the 2012/13 school year, invite them along. The feeling of support and connection they will get from Destination Parent Involvement week may just be the ticket to have them say yes to a board position!

Best part: stay tuned to our Facebook page next week for a big announcement about our 2012 Back2School program giveaway. You’re going to love it!

Not familiar with our Back2School program? Here’s the scoop: the program is designed to help your group make a fantastic first impression on parents at back-to-school, get parents involved and keep them involved all year long! Here’s what Back2School participants receive:

• Copies of Jump In! magazines and high value coupons for parents
• Back-to-school event planning guide
• A parent involvement banner to hang at your fall events
• Chance to receive free parent sample packs for parents, full of goodies
• Exclusive online access to new back-to-school and parent involvement downloadable tools
• Tune in next week for more details…

It’s PTO Today Expo kick-off week! Our first Expo is in Chicago tomorrow and our crew is setting up as I write. It’s the first of 14 locations and we are pretty darn excited.

This year we are upping the ante for fun.

Stop by our booth and spin our prize wheel (pictured right) to win t-shirts, Starbuck’s gift cards, pedometers, free magazine subscriptions, window clings, and more!

And that’s just our booth… our fabulous sponsors and exhibitors will be giving away loads of free samples and great giveaways all day long.

If you haven’t registered yet, don’t miss out. Register today.  But don’t take my word — see an Expo in action and read what past attendees had to say.

Join us for a day of laughs, learning and leadership and get ready to be inspired!

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.