Advice from PTO Today

Craig writes:
I'm interested to know what you're expecting from teachers or how you would like them to participate. There aren't very many schools where teachers attend PTO meetings regularly, help organize events, work on fundraisers, etc. There are several reasons for that. For one, writing lesson plans, grading papers, etc. can be a time-consuming process. Teachers tend to work a lot of hours during the school year, and coming back after hours may be difficult. For another, teachers with children may want to help out at the (different) school that their children attend. They get involved in that PTO rather than the one where they work. To me, it's important for teachers to focus on their most important job: teaching. If they are generally supportive of the PTO and maybe attend an occasional event, that's great. More involvement is a bonus and not something that I would take for granted. Even though it's called PTO, in practice these are really parent groups aimed at supporting the school and the teachers.

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Community Advice

chidek writes:
What do you want from the teachers? We recently polled our teachers because we were feeling the same way you are expressing and the teachers think we want their involvement by attending PTA meetings and events held on weekend and evenings. In reality, we would like them to be involved by knowing what events are going on and being our cheerleaders with not only the kids to promote fundraisers and family fun events, but also to parents. So we've discovered our disconnect and its something I'll work to change next year.

So think about what you want from the teachers and then ask (nicely!) for it. A quick survey could help you tons.

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Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
I like chidek's idea about a survey. It's a great way to reach out to teachers and get feedback on how to better work together. We have a couple lot different surveys on the File Exchangethat might be helpful.

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Community Advice

ELMcHenry writes:
As a teacher, the majority of us understand what PTO/PTA stand for. Please remember that, just like many parents, we hold jobs, have families, and are involved in activities outside of school. I appreciate that you want teacher involvement, but specificity helps. What exactly do you want from your teachers? Do you want them to sit in yet another meeting? Volunteer at events? Chair committees? In contrast, what does your organization do for the teachers? Are you there simply to fund classrooms or do you help build community and welcome new families?

Personally, I would appreciate a face to face invitation. Surveys are just one more thing to check off my to do list. However, if a PTO representative were to approach me and ask me to do something specific, I would feel honored and appreciated. Putting a little sugar on it helps! (Please note: I am a teacher on a PTO Executive Board, so no one ever has to ask me for help.) Good luck!

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Community Advice

RMNJ writes:
As a former teacher and current PTO Board Member, I managed to support both my children and students' schools. It's important that students see their heroes at events sometimes to feel a connection. The biggest support we'd like to see from teachers is excitement for fundraising. Get those kids excited to nag their parents to come to events and perhaps show up at an occasional event that might be fun for their own kids. I really liked the above comment about a personal invitation to help with something, too.

In NJ, it is against union rules in most cases to expect teachers to volunteer. In some areas, a teacher might be penalized for doing anything on their own time. This is why it is such a difficult situation. Even when a teacher is zealous to help, he/she might face consequences. Overall faculty excitement and ra-ra over events would be a great start!

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