Hi, we had always used scholastic as well but this year have decided to try a new company here in Massachusetts.We felt Scholastic was sending more "junk" than books and it was difficult to exlain to parents why they had to only pay $1.00-$3.00 for books in the classroom bookclubs and then have to pay more at the bookfair even though it was a fundraiser.So we shall see how we do. Our TPA handles all the bookfair and we recruit mom's to work to assist the children but usually just have 1 or 2 mom's do the register.Why not suggest to the woman that since she cannot do the set up etc that you would like her to help out the person who is taking over for her to instruct her on the papaerwork etc.You will not hurt her feelings and be able to set yourself up with a person who can take over for her and manage the entire thing for the years to come.Just a suggestion good luck!

At our school, we have only used Scholastic. We have a book fair committe who does all the setting up, scheduling with the teachers and promotion. We have it during October of every year, so our parents are expecting it. As for the collection of money, that is handled that day by our treasurer. She is the 'cashier' so to speak, with one other parent, (most of times a board member). The reason for this is two fold; we have had problems in the past with people not charging for each book (I see you have three books, but I will ony charge you for two) and we have also had problems with skimming money. That has all been put to rest by the new rules we have institued.
If you are on the committee, or the chair, it is up to you to be there to handle the entire project. Perhaps this is a way to polite have her step aside ( we know that you are busy, and we have had a volunteer step up to handle all the aspects of the book fair, so you can take a break this year) Hopefully, with a little hint like that, she will understand and not bash the PTO afterwords. There is one other approach- have her train the new person. She will feel jsut as important as she did, and she will be training the new person in 'her' image. Hope this helps. Good Luck!

Our Volunteer Coordinator has been in charge of the 7 book fairs we've held at our school. She's handled paperwork, scheduling, volunteer recruitment, etc. She's resigned her position as Volunteer Coordinator and said she will handle the paperwork, promotion and collection for the book fair (7 weeks from now) but cannot help set up, run the book fair or pack things away.

I'm uncomfortable having her handle the administrative side of the book fair as she no longer holds an Executive Board position. If we break ties with her there may be backlash as she was the driving force behind our previous fairs and tends to be volatile, and difficult to work with unless things are done "her way" and could damage the PTO reputation with behind the scenes badmouthing.

Who manages book fairs in your school? Any ideas for telling the current manager "thanks for your years of service, we'll take it from here?" What incentives does your school offer to boost sales? Any schools out there that once did book fairs that don't anymore? Why? Do you work only with Scholastic or are there other companies you've had success with?

Thank you - I know I can count on my virtual helpers to get us through this!