PTO Today Blog » Tim’s Tip

My Tip of the Week: Simple Teacher Appreciation Idea

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 16:29:42 +0000

Quickie tip this week: You know what teacher job seems easy but is really kind of a pain in the rear end? Recess duty.

It seems like fun to get some fresh air and watch the kids play, but it’s a bit less so the 314th time you do it, especially when duty means you don’t get the break you normally use to recharge your batteries or get ahead on correcting assignments.

That’s why one of my favorite teacher appreciation ideas is to have parents serve recess duty , during Teacher Appreciation Week or even randomly throughout the year. Check with your principal on how it could work. If he wants a staff member at recess all the time, perhaps parents can be the “extra” adult so that only one teacher is needed outside rather than two or three. The same can hold true for lunch duty, another of the most dreaded parts of the teacher day.

For more great teacher appreciation ideas, check out our topic page at ptotoday.com/teacher-appreciation.

My Tip of the Week: Three Ways to Find Support

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:15:50 +0000

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:

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.
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.
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.

My Tip of the Week: Create a PTO or PTA Goal for 2012

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:32:14 +0000

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!

My Tip of the Week: How To Avoid Fundraising Fatigue

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 15:35:58 +0000

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:

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

Good luck!

My Tip of the Week: Making the 2nd Semester a Success

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 15:54:51 +0000

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

My Tip of the Week: New Year’s Resolutions for PTO Success

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 18:13:28 +0000

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!

My Tip of the Week: Why We Volunteer

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 17:58:13 +0000

On behalf of all of us at PTO Today, please accept our warmest holiday wishes and thanks for all you do year-round. May these next weeks afford you all the family time that you so richly deserve (and that you sacrifice so often to do your school volunteer work).

If you are looking for a holiday link, I bet you’ll love this column from Sharron Kahn Luttrell. It’s called ”One Last Dance” and it’s been one of our most popular stories for several years now. It really captures the heart of this parent volunteering stuff that we do. Enjoy.

Happy holidays to all!

My Tip of the Week: Have a Stress-Free Holiday

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 21:30:59 +0000

‘Tis the season of joy, goodwill, and peace on earth. But one thing we’ve noticed recently is that our website is getting a lot of traffic an article called ”How To Deal With Difficult People”. It’s an excellent article that talks very specifically about coping with a variety of annoying personality types and tough situations. But why now? Maybe it’s that along with all the good things about the holidays, stress levels tend to rise. Or maybe it’s that the school year has gone on long enough at this point that people tend to get on our nerves.

Whichever is the case, we have several resources for dealing with the stresses of parent group work, and the varying personalities we encounter:

Dealing With Disagreements: Tips on finding the right words for difficult conversations
Responding to Criticism: How to handle complaints about the PTO
Managing Personality Conflicts : Insight into working with different personality types

I hope you’ll find these articles useful in turning down the stress levels and getting in tune with the harmony of the season!

My Tip of the Week: Communicate With Parents Instantly and Directly

Tim Sullivan — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 18:53:34 +0000

In all my discussions with parents and with PTO and PTA leaders, I’m hearing more and more about email as the new must-have tool for groups.

And it’s funny — the primary driver of this is actually parents, not leaders. A huge percentage of your families are now running their home lives using basic technology tools. Whether it’s a shared family calendar or looking up old emails on their iPhones or forwarding emails and to dos between mom and dad — parents now, finally, much prefer email to a printed flyer or letter home in the backpack.

The good news is this trend is also easier on leaders and saves trees and money. If your group hasn’t collected emails and asked permission to contact parents that way (here’s a form you can use to help), and if you’re not using email as your primary communication tool, you’re missing out on a chance to connect more easily and more effectively with more parents.

And the additional good news is that PTO Today has a free email system that makes this even easier for groups. Our Parent Express Email (PEX) service manages your email contacts and allows you to send professional-looking emails to your entire parent population or to specific groups within your school (like 3rd grade parents or board members). It couldn’t be easier, and we have videos and great customer support to walk you through the quick steps of getting started and learning the system.

With the craziness of back to school behind us, now is a great time for you or another volunteer at your group to get a system like this in place. Your parents prefer this type of communication, and it’s easier (and less expensive!) for your PTO or PTA. What’s better than that? Learn more about Parent Express or get started.

My Tip of the Week: Promoting Involvement

Tim Sullivan — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 18:40:03 +0000

Instead of a tip this week, I have a resource to offer you that will help get your message across about the importance of parent involvement.

It’s from our sister website, SchoolFamily.com. If you haven’t visited SchoolFamily yet, it’s filled with information to help parents help their children succeed in school. Topics range from how best to help your child with homework to tips for communicating with the teacher to explanations of academic expectations for each grade level.

The resource is a newsfeed from SchoolFamily to use on your own parent group or school website or blog. It features articles on the importance of getting involved in your child’s education — articles like ”5 Reasons To Get Involved.” You can get the newsfeed for your website here:

SchoolFamily.com newsfeed for parent group and school websites.

As encouragement, we’re offering a copy of PTO Today’s Parent Involvement Toolkit to any parent group that uses the newsfeed. I think you’ll like the newsfeed. It’s easy to use, and it will make you look good for providing helpful information to parents.