Back to School Archive

Helpful ideas and tips to get your PTO or PTA in gear for the new school year. See the Back to School resources page for even more tools and programs.

  • Create a School Tradition

    Ambitious events build excitement and involvement. They make your PTO look great, too.

  • Growing Involvement -- YouTube-style

    Here's a new twist (and I bet it will be the first of many of these). Talented volunteer puts together a video selling the importance of volunteering at school. Professional editing and a soundtrack make it really slick. Love it! I feel like I'm watching Oprah.

  • SchoolFamily.com -- check it out

    Excited to introduce all of our ptotoday.com readers and users to a new site we launched just this morning -- schoolfamily.com.

  • Volunteering = Perks?

    Interested and heated discussion on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution site. The crux: should heavily-involved parents get (or expect) occasional school benefits in exchange for their volunteering?

  • Kindergarten Welcome Shirt

    I just ran across this this one shirt, in particular), and I think I've found the best door-prize ever for a Kindergarten welcome event. Cool stuff. Thought I'd pass it along.

  • Getting Involvement Right in Florida

    Gotta love it when a PTO realizes that involvement takes unique outreach... and then sees great success.

  • Boo Hoo Breakfast

    OK, this PTA creatively calls it the "Kindergarten Cry" but I still love the name "Boo Hoo Breakfast" for an event to welcome/support the new parents at your school, who are letting go of their babies for the first time. Fun way to make that first connection and make a great first impression.

  • Excellent Parent Involvement Q&A

    Unusually strong (and long) piece here from Connecticut with excellent content for parents on the hows and whys for parents of getting involved at school. Good stuff.

  • Maryland District Looking for Dads

    Prince Georges County (MD) making specific efforts to involve Dads. Article includes good research and background on why getting dads involved is so key.

  • New Volunteer, Old Volunteer -- What they'd like to say.

    It's that time of year when the new PTO cubs start bugging the seasoned PTO mama bears. Yup, I said it :-) Whether you're the spirited newcomer or the grizzled old verteran, I hope you can find some peace by thinking about what the other side is going through. This column on the gap between old volunteers and new volunteers could help.

  • PTO Fun Run Details

    Good details in this piece about an Ohio PTO's overall efforts and their upcoming road race community day.

  • Philadelphia Involvement Kudos

    We've worked with these guys a bit in the past, when we've had PTO Expos in the Philly area, but we're continually impressed with the Philadelphia public schools and their outreach to parents. Here's just another example, as district hosts wide-ranging Parent Appreciation Day. Love it.

  • Parent Involvement Success in Minnesota

  • Think Big, Get Big

    Launching an ambitious project can rally support for your group and enhance your image.

  • Marketing 101

    Family fun = success.

  • PTO Today on TV!

    Check it out!

  • PTO Today on TV

    Back-to-school advice was the topic this morning for this Fox Morning Show appearance (see video). Still amazed at how smooth and quick those hosts are -- they can make even a stuttering amateur appear a bit less stuttering and amateurish. :-) A lot of the interview tips come from our new SchoolFamily.com website.

  • PTO Today...Again

    This time on Fox & Friends - a national morning news show. The back-to-school segment will air tomorrow morning at approximately 8:40am EST. Hope you can tune in!

  • Fox Video

    So I had this sit-down yesterday with the Fox & Friends crew on TV yesterday. We have the video embedded on the Back2School Blog over on SchoolFamily.com. Was a cool experience, but -- man-oh-man -- did they have to put me after both George Lopez and Ben Stein?

  • Principal arrested to get parents involved

    There's a neat story on page 17 of the October issue of PTO Today magazine. Mary Phelan-Jackson, a principal in Hayneville, Alabama, had herself arrested to get parents involved at her school. The only way to secure her release was for at least 200 parents to attend the school open house that week!
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