PTA Moms

1. Don't ask for/beg for help when you really don't need it. Can't tell you the number of times I've gone to help only to find 30
Moms standing around talking, doing nothing when 5 vunteers would have been plenty. I'm always game to pitch in, but I'm not looking for frivolous things to do. I'm busy!
2. Don't expect golden treatment as a board member. I strongly disagree with board members automatically getting a spot for field trips, etc.
3. Give ample time. If I get an 11:00 pm email asking for cookies for the next day? Not happening.
4. Be specific about tasks. Not "copying in the office" but "copying in the office Tuesdays from 9-10:30."
5. Communicate!!! Not every newsletter placed in a child's mailbox makes it home. Make sure the newsletters are online or, better yet, email the newsletters as well.

I love how you phrased your question. and it definitely was a good question.

I think there are "powerful people" everywhere and it is easy to single out the PTA because yes those people that handle things well and get things done are the ones more likely to take on a position of leadership in the PTA.

but it doesn't really matter if it's PTA, or Sports Boosters or what ever. There are certain people that know everyone and do a lot and if you are "on friendly terms" with them I feel you know more and feel more included. If you are a more shy or socially or economically challenged then you are less likely to be "in the Know" and less likely to be included. Of course the solution is to not be socially awkward and to make sure to the best of your ability that their kids like your kids etc, and that you volunteer so that you have the chance to bond with them over what ever project. but that's not the way the world works.

to answer your question. we moved to our dirstrict when Ds was in kinder. I attended the pto meetings and signed in complete with my address. I found out 5 months later that the PTO president lived 4 houses down from me and her cronie the parliamentarian, lived 2 houses up on the other side. I am still in shock that neither of them could greet me at the next meeting, welcome me to the PTO and welcome me to the neighborhood. I was faced with 20 new faces, they were faced with 1. I will get over it and have made other friends but what a missed opportunity to get someone to help with their projects/

I work full-time and work until 6:00 most evenings, so I can't go to PTO meetings. I do want to be involved, but I'm pretty limited in what I can do. I wouldn't be surprised if there were many moms at your child's school in a similar position.

I have volunteered at a few events, and it's kind of hard to be a one time volunteer. Many of the other volunteers are regulars and know what needs to be done. The newbie (that's me) doesn't always know what needs to be done.

One time I was asked to fill in for someone at Market Day in November. When I got there everyone was hustling and bustling. It was unclear who was in charge and no one even seemed to care that I was there. I walked up to someone and told them I was asked to help out and did they know what to do. It was fine. She showed me and I asked others when I ran out of things to do. But it was really intimidating. If I were in charge, I would have wanted to greet a new volunteer personally and show them the ropes. The gal in charge never even talked to me. She never would have known if I hadn't shown up.

It can be really intimidating when you're the new person and everyone else seems to know everyone and no one is really welcoming.

Well, I am on the PTA Board and can definitely see both sides of the issue. There is sometimes a "clique" mentality within PTA. Sometimes it evolves just because those are the only parents that are interested in helping out. It is hard when you reach out to people and get very little response.

We have offered free PTA memberships with the purchase of a school shirt at open house. We do talk up volunteer opportunities at the general meeting. We also have a PTA website linked to the school website with information. It is great when the teachers help and connect us with parents that have expressed an interest in being involved.

I have also found that sometimes the folks that complain about the "PTA Mentality" just have a desire to complain without any willingness to help out at the school. If someone were to complain to me directly, then I would immediately offer them opportunities to get involved. If they don't respond to that, then they clearly just wanted to be unhappy and complain.

My PTA volunteer career started when my youngest was in Kindergarten. I finally had some time to do things! First I started small, volunteering an hour here or there in the classroom. As I got more comfortable, I started volunteering for more PTA-sponsored events - as a worker bee, not a planner. Five years later, I sit on two boards and am on one event committee. I'm "retiring" from the board positions next year - two years in any position is enough. I think it's important to get new people in on the boards. New people equal new ideas. I've made some great friends that I otherwise would not have met.

I think the best way to get people to volunteer is to send out newsletters explaining about all the things the PTA does, but cannot do without the support of volunteers! Also include lots of pictures of their children having fun at the events. Make sure you have a PTA Face Book page and invite parents to join it. Great way to remind people of events and meetings and request volunteers. And make sure that you explain that every little bit of contribution helps. You need someone to run the Face Book page - that's an at home job! If you have a website, make sure it is current! Nothing more frustrating than getting old information.

Make sure meetings are welcoming and accessible to all. If you mainly meet during the day, make sure there are a couple of night meetings for parents that work. For meetings, make sure to say that children are welcome. Provide agendas in advance (post on your website or FB page) so people know what to expect.

Also, talk about it on your board to see if you can accept teens that need Community Service Hours for school or church. They can give back as well! A lot of our junior high and high school kids volunteer at our events (mainly the fall/spring clothing sale). They get service hours and we get the help.

Good luck!

Be sure that you have jobs or tasks that do NOT require folks to attend any meeting. Ever. I was a co-chair of a PTA committee for two years and never once went to a PTA meeting, and my co-chair went only occasionally. The program we chaired did report on things at times, but it simply was not necessary for us to be present at meetings and if I had been required to attend PTA meetings as a condition of doing this job, I likely would have had to say no -- the meetings, both daytime and evening, were not at times I could make -- and the program would not have taken place, period.

Attendance at every PTA meeting should never, ever be a condition of volunteering. If folks want to help but can't be at meetings, allow them to submit written reports (and keep those short and sweet--a few bullet points in an e-mail should be enough for certain programs or tasks).

Do try having a meeting each month that is in the daytime and another in the evening. Our elementary PTA had two meetings a month, one at about 10 a.m. and another on another day at 7:30 p.m. That does help! But be open to having program chairs who cannot get to meetings. It does not mean they want to rule their own little kingdoms or want to avoid other people; it means they have schedules that don't allow them to get to those specific meeting times. But they are no less interested in helping out when and how they can.

Also be sure to find places for volunteers who do want to do things like photocopying but just don't ever want to be program chairs etc. Be sure to pass their information along to anyone who needs help. There's nothing more disheartening, and nothing that kills volunteering faster, than volunteering to help and then never being contacted and never being told about something you can do. Some folks want to help but have no clue what tasks they could do -- be sure they get tasks given them and that they get initial advice on how to do things, even using a photocopier.

Our PTA encourages parents to share positions. It's less intimidating when you can share the responsibility with a friend.

We try to make our parent council meetings enjoyable for the parents who come out by having dinner or snacks and drinks. We also make it possible for single parents or families who do shift work by providing child care during meetings. Also, extending a personal, face to face invitation is so much more meaningful than asking for participation in a newsletter. Make it known that volunteers are needed for small jobs or one time tasks/events. Many people are more comfortable volunteering for a one time thing than taking on an ongoing responsibility although often the one time thing turns into a long term commitment.

I'm president of our PTO this year, and here's what I've seen from being on both sides.

When you're not on the board, volunteering can seem intimidating, but honestly, these board members are just begging for help. ANY help. 5 executive members cannot run a PTA/PTO alone. They need and rely on volunteers to get any type of fundraiser, activity, event done and done well.

As easy as it is to judge these people for being standoffish or consumed, one must remember this is a volunteer position that they are doing in addition to working and/or caring for their own families. Most of the time if they're doing things with limited or no volunteer help, it's overwhelming. Try not to judge them until you've walked a mile in their shoes. I can't begin to tell you how many nights I've been up until 1am doing PTO stuff because I'm not willing to sacrifice my family time to do it. I don't need a pat on the back, but don't criticize me when their are a few bumps in the road during an event/meeting. I'm not a professional PTO person being paid to do this. I do this in my free time.

Most of the time board members do bond and become close because of the amount of time they spend together. That is normal.

Yes, there are PTO moms that are snobby, clique-ish and just downright nasty. See that before too many times. They are not the norm. Most want these positions to better their children's school, not to be "in charge".

We just did a "2 Hours Volunteer Challenge" at our school. We challenged each parent to volunteer just 2 hours of their time for this school year, and had a form to choose from. It ranged from one time events, to things that could be done daily, weekly, monthly. They range from taking a class to lunch, copying, library re-shelving, on and on...So far, we've had a great return on the forms and the commitments.

A Facebook page also helps when you need volunteers. People like to be "in the know". Start one and take lots of pictures to add to your posts. Parents love seeing their kids in pictures and respond well to that. Offer incentives that if you get parents to volunteer for an event, they get some type of prize - no uniform day, school water bottle, etc....

Good luck!

I think your best bet is being specific.
If your school does a monthly newsletter, ask if they can add in a message from the PTA. Make sure the message is specific (rather than "PTA needs more help!", "PTA needs volunteers to do the following in October: Bake a dessert for the teachers Thank You dinner; cashier at the book fair 2 hours a night Oct. 10-15; Help with vision screenings 1 hour a day Oct 20-25. Please call R. at ###-###-#### or email ____@____.com to volunteer!)

I think people are afraid of getting roped into something that is too BIG or time consuming for them....so I would have a hard time committing to something vague. But if you are listing exactly what you need, then parents are more likely to think, "Sure, I can spare this much time this week" or "Yeah, baking a cake is something that I can do". Then once they have had a chance to volunteer it is also more easy for them to get involved again in the future.

Our PTA is very active. Each year, they send out a newsletter describing volunteer options and that's really helpful.

Maybe offer childcare somehow? I don't know...

Personally, I enjoy doing grunt work, not sitting on committees or making decisions, so I like "we need X amount of people for shifts at the school carnival" etc. I don't feel intimidated, necessarily, but I will say this: if you can help it at all, make sure people who are delegating are *good* at it. (I say this as someone who is frightfully aware of my ineptness at this task) From my understanding, someone who ran an important event last year had problems communicating with others, delegating politely and ended up really offending a few people in that process as they decided to ensure everything was done "their" way. Parents are already compromised on time, so if it just feels like a thankless task, parents aren't as likely to help.

And maybe stress the importance of thanking volunteers in the moment, and not just at the school's Thank You tea? A sincere smile, "Thanks so much for helping us" is really enough, however, if that doesn't happen in the moment, people are less likely to want to knock themselves out. Of course, the PTA is supposed to be a selfless venture, but everyone wants to feel good when they've given up their evening with their family to make time for others.

Great, constructive question R.! And I'll just say this for the shyer, more introverted types like myself-- fake it until you can make it. Thank the other PTA volunteers when you see them, even if it's not what you are volunteering to do. People remember a warm smile and an acknowledgment. It's not always comfortable to work with new people, but volunteering at my son's school in the library has been such a wonderful experience for me, esp. because I met another fun volunteer. It does happen!:)

I too am a board member. I've had kids in school for 10 years and was the treasurer of the middle school PTA for 3 years and am now treasurer at one of the elementary schools. I've been a part of a working mothers' group for 8 years that grew out of the elementary school PTA. My experience has been overwhelmingly positive. Most of the other parents I've worked with are smart, efficient, creative and can get things done. There has been a mix of at-home parents (a minority on the boards I've been on) and parents who work full-time or part-time. Most of us have jobs with flexibility.

Anyway...I think that the biggest driver of participation is just getting people to meetings. When meetings are well run, short, with baby-sitting available and in the evening so parents who work during the day can attend but are not so late that you're interfering with bedtime, people will attend. When people attend, you can pass around a sign up sheet and people will sign up for whatever you need.

Two changes that we're implementing this year to make it easier for people to take things on are that we're trying to put together best practices binders for things that we do every year so that whoever chairs a fundraiser or project for the first time knows who to call for what, what they need to do and when, etc. That way everyone's first chair experience will be a positive one and they'll be more likely to want to do it again and will reassure other people that it really is easy. The second thing we're doing is having executive board meetings with our (verbose) principal in between our monthly larger meetings. We can discuss things like the budget or anything that needs to be voted on at these smaller meetings and not get bogged down in minutiae at the larger meetings, which makes them run too long. The larger meetings will be for brief updates on past and current projects, the budget, and then be focused on what's coming up next month, which will hopefully drive focus towards what we need help with and get people to raise their hands.

As the others have said, newsletters, an up to date website and FB page are very helpful, as is a good e-mail list. We have an e-mail list just for PTA members that is our primary source for recruiting volunteers, but we also post volunteer notes on FB and if something is really huge, the principal will e-mail the whole school community using his e-mail list, which includes parents who have not asked to be on our list.

Ask parents to complete a survey at the end of every meeting. Pose the question if they felt comfortable and welcomed to join a committee and if not, why.

This is exactly how our PTA is...we wish we could get more volunteers! We have been actively trying to recruit any interested parents. It's hard bc everyone is so busy in life. I see no "cliques" here...just friendly people trying to help out. But maybe some places are different. We sent out a letter at the beginning of the year and an email trying to recruit anyone who is interested. A couple PTO parents went and talked to the incoming Kindergarten parents during their open house as well. My experience with the PTA is it is a very nice group of mostly women and I have made some nice friends through it.

One of the mom's at our school (who is a real go-getter) started an informal Facebook page for the mothers of kids who attend our school. You could choose to include dad's too (ours just decided against it). It has blown up in less than a year's time (word of mouth). I think 1/3 of the mom's at the school are members of this FB page....and our school is NOT small! It has become a tremendous resource and also puts a little bit of pressure on us to stay involved. We discuss anything from don't forget your box tops, to we need volunteers to stuff folders on Wednesday, to who has a good dentist, to can anyone tell me what the 3rd graders homework was tonight because my child forgot hers, to who has some cardboard boxes they are looking to get rid of. It's been a wonderful resource! I can't believe how our PTA has turned into a power house in a year's time. In all honesty, it actually stresses me a little because I work and I want to do it all. I feel like I need to keep up with the stay at home mom's, but I can't. I'm so thankful for them.

Here are some ideas to get volunteers:
1. Have you considered asking them directly?
2. Have you considered putting a flyer with specific dates or reoccurring day/times volunteers are need (a sign-up)?
3.

Speaking from a lot of past experience in recruiting volunteers to help at the school. Really hone in on the new and younger grades, incoming parents especially with the little ones really want to help. Second, grandparents....we started sending out a grandparents form and I cannot even begin to tell you how many responded wanting to help. We did ensure these forms went directly to the parents and they passed the forms on.

Good luck,
DH