Question: trouble w/the Principal

I have only been in office as the PTO president a little over a month after the last PTO president resigned. Since then, the PTO has been feverishly trying to put together a comprehensive calendar. But I am having difficulties with the principal approving the few activities we have scheduled for the remaining months of school (4 months left to be exact) year. Even though I have given her details, she tells me I need to provide her with even more details which now prevents us from carrying out our intended activities. Out of the three events she would not approve two of them. Then she said she would approve of the events if I combined the 3 activities together. Does anyone have any ideas on how I should go about handling this situation?

Asked by rgibbs

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
It sounds like the principal has some objections she's not sharing with you. You need to sit down with her and get to the real root of her concern. Does she doubt your ability to pull off these activities? Then you have to demonstrate to her that you have organized them and planned them in a professional way. Does she think they will conflict with other activities on the schedule? Is she concerned about teacher time? Is she afraid office staff will end up shouldering the load? Or does she just not really want to encourage parent involvement? You need to know before you can take action to make your events more appealing to her. And if it's the last one, you need to convince her that you can make a positive difference in a way that will benefit her and the teachers rather than cause them more headaches. The article Make the Principal Your Partner delves into some of these issues. And you'll find more resources on our Principal page. Good luck!