As an outgoing PTSA President - keeping things positive is a must. I am lucky enough to work with a school administration that is willing to also help! They too will be working with the new team next year! I plan on going to them and with the help of their staff look to new(& current) parents that may stand out as potential candidates! Last year I hosted a "recruitment Lunch/meeting" where in I invited those that had been involved and those I hoped would like to become more involved, the division Principal attended and discussed her thoughts and goals and we were able to come up with a structure that worked well this year..also knowing that what happened this year doesn't mean that it "Must" happen next year. Good Luck! I know I'll need some too!

I thought the purpose of the message board was to get new ideas of encouragement to fill our committee positions with responsible, denpendable, trustworthy parents. It is great to hear that some schools have the same people, however, the schools that are struggling to retain volunteers are the ones that need the fool proff advice on how to get new people on our committee. Don't get me wrong, I have been on our committee for 5 years and it is demanding and alot of work. When people see how much we do they do not want to commit. They will help but not approach in trying to hold a position.

All of our officers are great friends, so we are sad when one of us decides not to move on the next year. What we have been doing is scoping out who would make good replacements and asking them how opposed they would be to holding an office. Part of the reason our group works well is because we get together once a month before our actual meetings and have lunch to talk about the plans for the meeting and what events are going on. I think others see that we genuinely seem to gave a good time together and that is an attraction. For us, it doesn't always seem like work, which makes recruiting easier !

We have assigned a few comittees to 'grade level approach'. Our Environment (Earth Day) is for the fourth graders. The teachers are really into it and throught their support they can get a few parents to take it on. Plus everyone knows it' s a 4th grade thing so their expecting it. The key is getting the staff behind you. So pick a grade where the teachers get along well and ask them what they would like to see at school.

the best advice on recruiting I've received from this site....Personal Invitations via phone calls and face to face. Ask them straight up for an office and tell them why you think they are a good fit. Point out skills and past successes that make them great candidates. If they say 'no' --ask them if they would consider a committee chair for a year. Be ready with chair descriptions. Once the year is over, renominate them and approach them again. If they initially say they'll consider a officer position, respond positively and then set a date to reconvene and get an answer. I've had almost 100% percent success at office filling and committee chair filling. Once they fill their spot, follow up in October with an encouraging email. I've also stepped out of my social circle to provide a 'rounded approach' on the PTO and so that my friends don't hang up when I call :>

Most helpful in recruiting next year's PTA board was having a (part-time) staff person at our school serve on the nominating committee. She is a paid "volunteer coordinator" and is worth her weight in gold because she provides continuity from year to year, gets to know parents on a school-based level (not a social level), and has good judgement. She has managed to recruit people that I never would have thought of, but would be great. Someone made a comment here which was helpful, namely that when a board is successful, people don't necessarily want to step up. That's a big problem at our school some years: people look at highly-competent officers and feel like they couldn't do as good a job, so they don't want to sign on. As an outgoing President, I am going to strongly encourage our incoming President to set some very basic goals for the year and not try to 'reach for the stars'. Of course, some people are going to feel inspired and pull off with one cool project or another. But the basic expectations for the core PTA roles should still be minimal.