When does your elementary school PTA/O meet?

[Anonymous]

7 PM Mondays. Elementaries are 1st Monday, Middle school 3rd Monday, and High School on the 4th Monday. Some schools alternate in-person and Zoom meetings. It does not seem to matter to attendance whether it is Zoom or in-person. Attendance is better at the elementary level.

[Anonymous]

We switched from a PTA school last year to a PTO school this year and it's like night and day. Literally night and day. The PTA met monthly in the evenings (with a Zoom option) while the PTO only meets three times in the entire school year and two of those are mid-morning on weekdays. It has been very disappointing because there is also not much communication from the school itself.

[Anonymous]

7pm on the first Tuesday of the month.

[Anonymous]

7 pm once a month zoom. 3 times a year in person.
Board meets one extra time per month.

[Anonymous]

Morning is common. I’ve been in a lot of parent groups. The reality is that the people who have time to do a lot usually are SAHM or have PT or very flex schedules and daytime availability.

We sometimes held meetings in the evening to include those who couldn’t attend during the day, but they were often poorly attended—often worse than daytime. Because people are busy in the evenings too.

Am currently a HSA prez and our meetings are all evenings, but it’s quite different than elementary. Not social at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Morning is common. I’ve been in a lot of parent groups. The reality is that the people who have time to do a lot usually are SAHM or have PT or very flex schedules and daytime availability.

We sometimes held meetings in the evening to include those who couldn’t attend during the day, but they were often poorly attended—often worse than daytime. Because people are busy in the evenings too.

Am currently a HSA prez and our meetings are all evenings, but it’s quite different than elementary. Not social at all.

That's the difference between SAHMs and working parents. I don't look to the PTA as a social outlet for me to make SAH friends. I look to the PTA as a way to fundraise for the school and build a larger community - full of both SAH and working parents.

[Anonymous]

Our PTO meets during the day and the board members are all current SAHMs who previously had jobs like marketing, event management, project manager, and they treat it like their job, and they treat volunteers like their employees. I volunteered once, was treated like crap by a woman who thought that because she had previously been a conference organizer, she was the CEO of the spring fair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our PTO meets during the day and the board members are all current SAHMs who previously had jobs like marketing, event management, project manager, and they treat it like their job, and they treat volunteers like their employees. I volunteered once, was treated like crap by a woman who thought that because she had previously been a conference organizer, she was the CEO of the spring fair.

Yup some people don’t know how to dial it back, possibly due to insecurities about their value now that they don’t have a title and a paycheck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Morning is common. I’ve been in a lot of parent groups. The reality is that the people who have time to do a lot usually are SAHM or have PT or very flex schedules and daytime availability.

We sometimes held meetings in the evening to include those who couldn’t attend during the day, but they were often poorly attended—often worse than daytime. Because people are busy in the evenings too.

Am currently a HSA prez and our meetings are all evenings, but it’s quite different than elementary. Not social at all.

Our kids have been out of Kent Gardens ES for a few years, but yes: PTA met mid-mornings.

That meant it was effectively SAHMs only, though theoretically it was open to anyone.

Just use up a few hours of your precious annual leave for a PTA meeting lol.

[Anonymous]

Was just going to add similar about KGES, drives me bonkers that they meet in the morning! And then we get an email saying “to accommodate everyone please come to our twice a year evening meeting” no, that doesn’t accomplish what you say it does.

Zoom and an agenda, or at least an agenda so I know what I’m leaving work for potentially would be really useful.

[Anonymous]

During Covid our school went to 4:30 meetings which worked well when everyone was at home. It no longer works for me.

[Anonymous]

Do people's PTOs share meeting minutes and/or the budget? Ours does not share either of those things, and it makes me not want to donate or participate in fund raisers. There is no transparency whatsoever. What goes on in these mid-morning Board meetings? Where is all the money they raise being spent? I have no idea, and I can't ask anyone because their rare open to the public meetings are also in the middle of the day.

[Anonymous]

Ours is the first Tuesday of the month from 6-7:30 (but almost always actually ends closer to 7) on zoom.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do people's PTOs share meeting minutes and/or the budget? Ours does not share either of those things, and it makes me not want to donate or participate in fund raisers. There is no transparency whatsoever. What goes on in these mid-morning Board meetings? Where is all the money they raise being spent? I have no idea, and I can't ask anyone because their rare open to the public meetings are also in the middle of the day.

Yes. Our PTO shares the general membership meeting minutes on their website and the budget is shared at the meetings. You can access it online as well, but you must be signed in to see it.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone successfully convinced their PTO to move the meeting time from morning to evening? If so, how?