My advice is to be careful, very careful about taking time in PTO, whether among yourselves or to others, complaining about teacher involvement. The off shoot of this is that you end up with an us vs. them mentality. At our school, this happened several years ago.

Teachers v. PTO Board who complained or gossiped to ohter parents about lack of teacher involvement, which got back to teachers. Soon, teachers were the enemy of the parents, and the parents were the enemy of the teachers. And who ended up suffering for all of this? The students.

It has been a rough three years trying to get over this, and for every step forward we take, we lose two.

BUT THERE'S HOPE! Our principal suggested that we use the 2 Hr. Power volunteer forms and make it for teachers. We changed some boxes and added a few things. We also took the time to get teacher's birthdays and special needs (like food allergies) which we could use for teacher appreciation gifts. We added a section about other volunteer avenues our teachers participate in.

The principal is pushing the form, and letting it be known that there is some expectation of involvement. It is also helping us see how many teachers are involved in activities outside of our school (like their own school's PTO, or coaching, etc.). And we are getting to know our teachers.

raptordad;142327 wrote:

barb_r;142318 wrote: The PTO may not be able too but at a local school where my friend teaches 2nd grade (pk-5th school) the teachers are REQUIRED to attend at least 3 school programs (in the evenings) even if their class is not in it, at least one PTO board meeting a quarter (they meet monthly), and at least 2 events a year. The teachers may not like it but, since it comes from the principal the PTO is off the hook so to speak as being the bad guys and the teachers comply.

This may be a contractual thing and not a principal directed thing - and I know it would not work in our district. Not being sarcastic, but as a teacher/parent who is President-elect at my child's school - there is this spectacular thing that teachers do every day with your children in a classroom of 15-30 students. We call it teaching, but it is so much more involved. I would hope that many parents are taking the opportunity to get involved and see things from this angle too - it is something spectacular and I love it.

We are symbiotic in this relationship and both groups need and exist to help each other. You have no idea how wonderful we think you all are, and how your commitment makes each school the best it can be. Not every school is so lucky. For my colleagues who may not say it often enough . . . thank you for all you do.

barb_r;142318 wrote: The PTO may not be able too but at a local school where my friend teaches 2nd grade (pk-5th school) the teachers are REQUIRED to attend at least 3 school programs (in the evenings) even if their class is not in it, at least one PTO board meeting a quarter (they meet monthly), and at least 2 events a year. The teachers may not like it but, since it comes from the principal the PTO is off the hook so to speak as being the bad guys and the teachers comply.

This may be a contractual thing and not a principal directed thing - and I know it would not work in our district. Not being sarcastic, but as a teacher/parent who is President-elect at my child's school - there is this spectacular thing that teachers do every day with your children in a classroom of 15-30 students. We call it teaching, but it is so much more involved. I would hope that many parents are taking the opportunity to get involved and see things from this angle too - it is something spectacular and I love it.

We are symbiotic in this relationship and both groups need and exist to help each other. You have no idea how wonderful we think you all are, and how your commitment makes each school the best it can be. Not every school is so lucky. For my colleagues who may not say it often enough . . . thank you for all you do.

mamachrissy;141778 wrote: The 2 principals are very good at reminding the teachers when things are happening but as you know, we cannot force them to do anything.

The PTO may not be able too but at a local school where my friend teaches 2nd grade (pk-5th school) the teachers are REQUIRED to attend at least 3 school programs (in the evenings) even if their class is not in it, at least one PTO board meeting a quarter (they meet monthly), and at least 2 events a year. The teachers may not like it but, since it comes from the principal the PTO is off the hook so to speak as being the bad guys and the teachers comply. And some have found they actually enjoy it and attend more then the "required" amount.

FoxMom;142011 wrote: We are also finding this out very much so this year-- fewer and fewer teachers show up for our events-- what's frustrating to us is that when a teacher runs a fundraiser or event, most of the staff shows up to help out-- that's why it looks so bad.

We experienced the same problem. Then, this year we ended up with 2 teachers on the board as vice-chairs. Their involvement has increased the overall teacher involvement ten folds. We had always had teacher reps but they were inconsistent in sharing information, etc. These two ladies are wonderful and have certainly helped to build that bridge.

This thread talks about the concerns, etc. associated with a teacher on the board but in some cases, depending on the people involved, it is a solid solution and may help to get more teachers involved.

We are having a Teacher Getaway Raffle at our Spring Fest this year. For $1 a child can buy a ticket for the teacher and during the festival we will have a drawing. The teacher must be present to win. A member of our council donated the house, gas station donated a gas gift certificate, and grocery store donated a gift card so we had no expense but it has improved relations with the teachers and will hopefully get some out to Spring Fest.

We are also finding this out very much so this year-- fewer and fewer teachers show up for our events-- what's frustrating to us is that when a teacher runs a fundraiser or event, most of the staff shows up to help out-- that's why it looks so bad.
We just remind ourselves that most of the teaches have families, or are going to school still to further their education and just don't have the extra time to come to all the meetings-- we are asking them to email us with any questions about our events and to please attend some of the events... we would rather have them there, then the monthly meetings-- the kids see the teachers at the events and it means so much to them... that's what we are here for--- the children--