Let's talk PTAs and participation

[Anonymous]

So due to PTA bylaws no voting can be done remotely, so yes a meeting could be livestreamed but your participation would be somewhat limited.

Also, I know at our PTA we tried having a babysitter for parents and no one used it. I would email your executive committee people and ask what help they need and volunteer to lead something. A lot of people can't make the meetings due to kids or work but leading an activity doesn't take you attending a meeting.

The first time I volunteered to do something I had never been to a meeting and still had never attended a meeting until my oldest was ending 3rd grade. It happens but just asking and helping is a good way to get started. Remember those PTA parents more likely than not work and probably just don't have the time to keep expanding PTA work without new help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks, PPs. I'm posting in part because our PTA isn't that active and there aren't a billion opportunities. I am trying to think of ways to get the ball rolling with more participation, for me in the first instance but for others as well.

You can't even go to the occasional meeting, but criticize your PTA for not being that active? You can't even go to the occasional meeting, and are trying to be the one to "get the ball rolling"?

If it is so freaking important, get a sitter once a semester or something.

NP here - I think you're missing the point. OP thinks that if there was an opportunity to participate virtually, more people would participate. I know I would be happy to see a live stream or even video.

[Anonymous]

Livestreaming PTA meetings costs money (equipment, hosting costs, etc.). For PTAs that could afford it, they will tend to offer childcare instead because it's cheaper. If your PTA can't afford to offer childcare, they probably can't afford to livestream meetings either. Also, after the meeting your PTA should be posting minutes so you can review what was discussed and email them with any questions you have so you're not totally cut out if you can't attend.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids' schools most PTA mtgs are a waste of time because they are not set up to be a discussion on a topic; they're just reading out stuff that could be communicated via email. "Here's what we raised from x fundraiser; next month we have a spirit night at y restaurant." The leads just provide short updates but it's not "let's have a discussion on a given topic to get parent feedback".

I would LOVE to attend the latter and would even get a sitter for meetings like that. But i've given up going to the "report out" meetings. They are not a good use of time.

This is how ours were at the elementary level as well. I did serve as recording secretary for 2 years, so I know that the minutes were always posted on the pta website. My particular school PTA wasn't into using FB even though I tried. They were effective at getting volunteers for events though and lots of committee meetings happened via email conversations.

As it was, the meetings often went 2 hours. I know personally, that whenever I saw a parent come in who wasn't on the Board, I thought, "Oh great, it's going to be a 3 hour meeting." Rarely if ever did people come just to listen / learn about what was planned -- they came to bitch about something or make a pitch for an event that they wanted to do.

I gave up going too after learning the format of meetings over several years. With report out meetings I can find most information from the meeting minutes. Every so often I have a follow up question and it's easy to ask someone who attended and typically their answer is that nothing was discussed about it furthering my resolve to not bother to attend. Like the opinion above, if the information or opinion doesn't come from the board or the principal, the message is very clear that the leaders don't really want to hear about it. Never mind that all the info they talk about is typically worthless drivel about themselves that goes on way too long which could all be condensed and put into an email. Your comment is what makes the meeting run too long. It requires thinking and discussing which they really would prefer to pay lip service to. Why would someone want to give up a morning or evening to hear what was planned by someone else if they had no input? That's what email is for. Isn't that pretty obvious that if someone shows up, they don't really want to just hear a list of things already planned by someone else and may want to be heard? I'm not sure why this is so mind blowing to the PP's on these boards. Just save everyone a trip to the school and stop pretending that you want to hear from anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids' schools most PTA mtgs are a waste of time because they are not set up to be a discussion on a topic; they're just reading out stuff that could be communicated via email. "Here's what we raised from x fundraiser; next month we have a spirit night at y restaurant." The leads just provide short updates but it's not "let's have a discussion on a given topic to get parent feedback".

I would LOVE to attend the latter and would even get a sitter for meetings like that. But i've given up going to the "report out" meetings. They are not a good use of time.

This is how ours were at the elementary level as well. I did serve as recording secretary for 2 years, so I know that the minutes were always posted on the pta website. My particular school PTA wasn't into using FB even though I tried. They were effective at getting volunteers for events though and lots of committee meetings happened via email conversations.

As it was, the meetings often went 2 hours. I know personally, that whenever I saw a parent come in who wasn't on the Board, I thought, "Oh great, it's going to be a 3 hour meeting." Rarely if ever did people come just to listen / learn about what was planned -- they came to bitch about something or make a pitch for an event that they wanted to do.

I gave up going too after learning the format of meetings over several years. With report out meetings I can find most information from the meeting minutes. Every so often I have a follow up question and it's easy to ask someone who attended and typically their answer is that nothing was discussed about it furthering my resolve to not bother to attend. Like the opinion above, if the information or opinion doesn't come from the board or the principal, the message is very clear that the leaders don't really want to hear about it. Never mind that all the info they talk about is typically worthless drivel about themselves that goes on way too long which could all be condensed and put into an email. Your comment is what makes the meeting run too long. It requires thinking and discussing which they really would prefer to pay lip service to. Why would someone want to give up a morning or evening to hear what was planned by someone else if they had no input? That's what email is for. Isn't that pretty obvious that if someone shows up, they don't really want to just hear a list of things already planned by someone else and may want to be heard? I'm not sure why this is so mind blowing to the PP's on these boards. Just save everyone a trip to the school and stop pretending that you want to hear from anyone else.

DP. The point to showing up is so that you can learn more about how the PTA operates (and thus how it squares with whatever you want to do) and so that the PTA leadership can get to know you as someone who is engaged and invested in the PTA and thus likely to actually follow through in whatever you say you’re going to do rather than flaking once it’s not new and exciting anymore.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids' schools most PTA mtgs are a waste of time because they are not set up to be a discussion on a topic; they're just reading out stuff that could be communicated via email. "Here's what we raised from x fundraiser; next month we have a spirit night at y restaurant." The leads just provide short updates but it's not "let's have a discussion on a given topic to get parent feedback".

I would LOVE to attend the latter and would even get a sitter for meetings like that. But i've given up going to the "report out" meetings. They are not a good use of time.

This is how ours were at the elementary level as well. I did serve as recording secretary for 2 years, so I know that the minutes were always posted on the pta website. My particular school PTA wasn't into using FB even though I tried. They were effective at getting volunteers for events though and lots of committee meetings happened via email conversations.

As it was, the meetings often went 2 hours. I know personally, that whenever I saw a parent come in who wasn't on the Board, I thought, "Oh great, it's going to be a 3 hour meeting." Rarely if ever did people come just to listen / learn about what was planned -- they came to bitch about something or make a pitch for an event that they wanted to do.

That's an absurdly dismissive attitude. You think anyone not on the board should simply sit there and listen, rather than try to contribute? No wonder people are hesitant to waste their time at meetings or trying to get involved more broadly. Could a parent go too far and try to monopolize the meeting, sure. And that wouldn't be appropriate. But it absolutely is appropriate for parents to offer their ideas and constructive criticism. PTA isn't your little fiefdom where the serfs simply do what they are told without contribution or complaint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids' schools most PTA mtgs are a waste of time because they are not set up to be a discussion on a topic; they're just reading out stuff that could be communicated via email. "Here's what we raised from x fundraiser; next month we have a spirit night at y restaurant." The leads just provide short updates but it's not "let's have a discussion on a given topic to get parent feedback".

I would LOVE to attend the latter and would even get a sitter for meetings like that. But i've given up going to the "report out" meetings. They are not a good use of time.

This is how ours were at the elementary level as well. I did serve as recording secretary for 2 years, so I know that the minutes were always posted on the pta website. My particular school PTA wasn't into using FB even though I tried. They were effective at getting volunteers for events though and lots of committee meetings happened via email conversations.

As it was, the meetings often went 2 hours. I know personally, that whenever I saw a parent come in who wasn't on the Board, I thought, "Oh great, it's going to be a 3 hour meeting." Rarely if ever did people come just to listen / learn about what was planned -- they came to bitch about something or make a pitch for an event that they wanted to do.

That's an absurdly dismissive attitude. You think anyone not on the board should simply sit there and listen, rather than try to contribute? No wonder people are hesitant to waste their time at meetings or trying to get involved more broadly. Could a parent go too far and try to monopolize the meeting, sure. And that wouldn't be appropriate. But it absolutely is appropriate for parents to offer their ideas and constructive criticism. PTA isn't your little fiefdom where the serfs simply do what they are told without contribution or complaint.

No, but I'd like for them to at least meet the current leadership and understand how things work before they come in with a half-baked idea that they don't really want to take the lead on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids' schools most PTA mtgs are a waste of time because they are not set up to be a discussion on a topic; they're just reading out stuff that could be communicated via email. "Here's what we raised from x fundraiser; next month we have a spirit night at y restaurant." The leads just provide short updates but it's not "let's have a discussion on a given topic to get parent feedback".

I would LOVE to attend the latter and would even get a sitter for meetings like that. But i've given up going to the "report out" meetings. They are not a good use of time.

This is how ours were at the elementary level as well. I did serve as recording secretary for 2 years, so I know that the minutes were always posted on the pta website. My particular school PTA wasn't into using FB even though I tried. They were effective at getting volunteers for events though and lots of committee meetings happened via email conversations.

As it was, the meetings often went 2 hours. I know personally, that whenever I saw a parent come in who wasn't on the Board, I thought, "Oh great, it's going to be a 3 hour meeting." Rarely if ever did people come just to listen / learn about what was planned -- they came to bitch about something or make a pitch for an event that they wanted to do.

I gave up going too after learning the format of meetings over several years. With report out meetings I can find most information from the meeting minutes. Every so often I have a follow up question and it's easy to ask someone who attended and typically their answer is that nothing was discussed about it furthering my resolve to not bother to attend. Like the opinion above, if the information or opinion doesn't come from the board or the principal, the message is very clear that the leaders don't really want to hear about it. Never mind that all the info they talk about is typically worthless drivel about themselves that goes on way too long which could all be condensed and put into an email. Your comment is what makes the meeting run too long. It requires thinking and discussing which they really would prefer to pay lip service to. Why would someone want to give up a morning or evening to hear what was planned by someone else if they had no input? That's what email is for. Isn't that pretty obvious that if someone shows up, they don't really want to just hear a list of things already planned by someone else and may want to be heard? I'm not sure why this is so mind blowing to the PP's on these boards. Just save everyone a trip to the school and stop pretending that you want to hear from anyone else.

DP. The point to showing up is so that you can learn more about how the PTA operates (and thus how it squares with whatever you want to do) and so that the PTA leadership can get to know you as someone who is engaged and invested in the PTA and thus likely to actually follow through in whatever you say you’re going to do rather than flaking once it’s not new and exciting anymore.

You sound like the 2nd grade parent at our school who is now on the board and thinks she knows everything. She has no understanding that half the parents have kids older than she and already understand the PTA process. It's not rocket science to understand the PTA.

[Anonymous]

The ideal formula for a PTA meeting would be:

1) written report of anything that needs reported out
2) call for volunteers for a specific thing along with DETAILS on what volunteering entails.
3) discussion by PTA and with principal there or participating on a topic of interest.

That’s it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids' schools most PTA mtgs are a waste of time because they are not set up to be a discussion on a topic; they're just reading out stuff that could be communicated via email. "Here's what we raised from x fundraiser; next month we have a spirit night at y restaurant." The leads just provide short updates but it's not "let's have a discussion on a given topic to get parent feedback".

I would LOVE to attend the latter and would even get a sitter for meetings like that. But i've given up going to the "report out" meetings. They are not a good use of time.

This is how ours were at the elementary level as well. I did serve as recording secretary for 2 years, so I know that the minutes were always posted on the pta website. My particular school PTA wasn't into using FB even though I tried. They were effective at getting volunteers for events though and lots of committee meetings happened via email conversations.

As it was, the meetings often went 2 hours. I know personally, that whenever I saw a parent come in who wasn't on the Board, I thought, "Oh great, it's going to be a 3 hour meeting." Rarely if ever did people come just to listen / learn about what was planned -- they came to bitch about something or make a pitch for an event that they wanted to do.

That's an absurdly dismissive attitude. You think anyone not on the board should simply sit there and listen, rather than try to contribute? No wonder people are hesitant to waste their time at meetings or trying to get involved more broadly. Could a parent go too far and try to monopolize the meeting, sure. And that wouldn't be appropriate. But it absolutely is appropriate for parents to offer their ideas and constructive criticism. PTA isn't your little fiefdom where the serfs simply do what they are told without contribution or complaint.

No, but I'd like for them to at least meet the current leadership and understand how things work before they come in with a half-baked idea that they don't really want to take the lead on.

As another example, one of our board decided to make a change to an event that is highly unpopular and somewhat offensive to many parents. She's basically unapproachable and takes offense to any comments. Meanwhile there's a several page thread on how annoying it is when a PTA does this type of activity on this forum. Someone could complain as you say even if they didn't want to run it, but that person is not willing to listen to suggestions on reform so it's just easier to ignore the PTA. You seem to think the annoyance is only one-sided. It's likely people are just as annoyed by the PTA's speeches as you are annoyed by them. What makes a great leader is someone who can handle these tensions as they arise with grace and compassion.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids' schools most PTA mtgs are a waste of time because they are not set up to be a discussion on a topic; they're just reading out stuff that could be communicated via email. "Here's what we raised from x fundraiser; next month we have a spirit night at y restaurant." The leads just provide short updates but it's not "let's have a discussion on a given topic to get parent feedback".

I would LOVE to attend the latter and would even get a sitter for meetings like that. But i've given up going to the "report out" meetings. They are not a good use of time.

This is how ours were at the elementary level as well. I did serve as recording secretary for 2 years, so I know that the minutes were always posted on the pta website. My particular school PTA wasn't into using FB even though I tried. They were effective at getting volunteers for events though and lots of committee meetings happened via email conversations.

As it was, the meetings often went 2 hours. I know personally, that whenever I saw a parent come in who wasn't on the Board, I thought, "Oh great, it's going to be a 3 hour meeting." Rarely if ever did people come just to listen / learn about what was planned -- they came to bitch about something or make a pitch for an event that they wanted to do.

That's an absurdly dismissive attitude. You think anyone not on the board should simply sit there and listen, rather than try to contribute? No wonder people are hesitant to waste their time at meetings or trying to get involved more broadly. Could a parent go too far and try to monopolize the meeting, sure. And that wouldn't be appropriate. But it absolutely is appropriate for parents to offer their ideas and constructive criticism. PTA isn't your little fiefdom where the serfs simply do what they are told without contribution or complaint.

No, but I'd like for them to at least meet the current leadership and understand how things work before they come in with a half-baked idea that they don't really want to take the lead on.

As another example, one of our board decided to make a change to an event that is highly unpopular and somewhat offensive to many parents. She's basically unapproachable and takes offense to any comments. Meanwhile there's a several page thread on how annoying it is when a PTA does this type of activity on this forum. Someone could complain as you say even if they didn't want to run it, but that person is not willing to listen to suggestions on reform so it's just easier to ignore the PTA. You seem to think the annoyance is only one-sided. It's likely people are just as annoyed by the PTA's speeches as you are annoyed by them. What makes a great leader is someone who can handle these tensions as they arise with grace and compassion.

Sounds like you've attended enough meetings to know how the PTA works, or doesn't work, in your case.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At my kids' schools most PTA mtgs are a waste of time because they are not set up to be a discussion on a topic; they're just reading out stuff that could be communicated via email. "Here's what we raised from x fundraiser; next month we have a spirit night at y restaurant." The leads just provide short updates but it's not "let's have a discussion on a given topic to get parent feedback".

I would LOVE to attend the latter and would even get a sitter for meetings like that. But i've given up going to the "report out" meetings. They are not a good use of time.

This is how ours were at the elementary level as well. I did serve as recording secretary for 2 years, so I know that the minutes were always posted on the pta website. My particular school PTA wasn't into using FB even though I tried. They were effective at getting volunteers for events though and lots of committee meetings happened via email conversations.

As it was, the meetings often went 2 hours. I know personally, that whenever I saw a parent come in who wasn't on the Board, I thought, "Oh great, it's going to be a 3 hour meeting." Rarely if ever did people come just to listen / learn about what was planned -- they came to bitch about something or make a pitch for an event that they wanted to do.

I gave up going too after learning the format of meetings over several years. With report out meetings I can find most information from the meeting minutes. Every so often I have a follow up question and it's easy to ask someone who attended and typically their answer is that nothing was discussed about it furthering my resolve to not bother to attend. Like the opinion above, if the information or opinion doesn't come from the board or the principal, the message is very clear that the leaders don't really want to hear about it. Never mind that all the info they talk about is typically worthless drivel about themselves that goes on way too long which could all be condensed and put into an email. Your comment is what makes the meeting run too long. It requires thinking and discussing which they really would prefer to pay lip service to. Why would someone want to give up a morning or evening to hear what was planned by someone else if they had no input? That's what email is for. Isn't that pretty obvious that if someone shows up, they don't really want to just hear a list of things already planned by someone else and may want to be heard? I'm not sure why this is so mind blowing to the PP's on these boards. Just save everyone a trip to the school and stop pretending that you want to hear from anyone else.

DP. The point to showing up is so that you can learn more about how the PTA operates (and thus how it squares with whatever you want to do) and so that the PTA leadership can get to know you as someone who is engaged and invested in the PTA and thus likely to actually follow through in whatever you say you’re going to do rather than flaking once it’s not new and exciting anymore.

You sound like the 2nd grade parent at our school who is now on the board and thinks she knows everything. She has no understanding that half the parents have kids older than she and already understand the PTA process. It's not rocket science to understand the PTA.

None of which addresses the trust/flakiness issue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Livestreaming PTA meetings costs money (equipment, hosting costs, etc.). For PTAs that could afford it, they will tend to offer childcare instead because it's cheaper. If your PTA can't afford to offer childcare, they probably can't afford to livestream meetings either. Also, after the meeting your PTA should be posting minutes so you can review what was discussed and email them with any questions you have so you're not totally cut out if you can't attend.

Facebook live costs nothing if you have a smart phone. I would guess that most PTA leaders have a smart phone.

[Anonymous]

The point of showing up is to get good grades for your kids even when they are disrespectful to other kids and they do the bare minimum to learn. The system is quite rotten.

[Anonymous]

The PTA usually meets 1x/mos on scheduled days. I would think you could arrange for DH to be home or a sitter if it’s that important to you.