PTA Moms

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You mean the volunteers who organize and staff all the fun things at your kids school?

There are great PTA parents and there are the exclusive, snooty ones who treat this like their job and other volunteers like their employees. I will never volunteer for my child's PTA again after the way some woman tried to micromanage me like I was her employee! Sorry lady, I already have one of those in my actual job. I'm doing this to help the children at my kids school for free. You don't get to treat me like crap. Nope, make your own damn sign up genius this year.

This. You can't generalize about PTA parents anymore than you can generalize about "coworkers" or "neighbors." A few are amazing, most are okay, some are horrible. Unfortunately, because of the way you interact with them (thrown together due to your kid attending that school), if you happen upon a horrible one, it can really negatively impact your life. Just like a totally miserable coworker or a really obnoxious neighbor.

Anyway, I've had a bad experience with our PTA, though mostly due to two specific members who are extremely clique-y and rude. Everyone else is fine or even great, but I minimize how much stuff I do with the PTA in order to avoid these two women. They both have kids in my kid's grade, too. It sucks! I wish they could be more chill and slightly less unpleasant, but this is the path they've chosen.

I came to say this. Organizing a well run PTA is a tough ask. By well-run, I mean sufficiently able organize and put on events and fundraise, not to mention advocate for families and the community. You have the population available, plus their other life demands and season (are they a new K parent and you can get them for six years or 4th grade and its their last kid). In a workplace you have the luxury of building a team with possibly unlimited time to do it.

I never imagined I'd ever even participate in the PTA because my understanding and impression from growing up that it was a bunch of cliquey parents that didn't want other folks involved. I somehow have ended up as our president. I wasn't seeking the role, but was asked, because some of the more involved parents/families were matriculating out. I have seen some hints of the issues people talk about, but I am fairly convinced (less than half way through the year) that these are generally unchecked attitudes and actions of some toxic people. That sets the tone for acceptable behaviors, especially to others involved in PTA, which then isolates those people. I've decided that I will be committed to not letting these behaviors perpetuate and cause harm. We take the issues head-on and so far (???) it seems to be working.

That's great you are aware this can be a problem and work to address it. It really does come down to individual personality.

Something that I think has been reference on this thread but not directly addressed is that sometimes PTAs can be really tough on parents who want to volunteer some but can't commit to being on the board or taking on a formal leadership role. This is me, and sometimes I think it would be better to be one of those parents who doesn't volunteer at all, because I feel like I constantly get guilt tripped for not doing more. But I'm offering what I can offer, you know? I know my limits. If I tried to do more, I'd wind up doing a bad job or flaking, because it's just more than I can handle.

It's one of the tricky things about volunteer organizations. You need to be open to the idea of people giving what they can, even if it's just volunteering at one event and writing a check during the fundraising drive. Or doing a lot one year and nothing the next. When you expect everyone to show up to every single thing, you inevitably shrink the pool of people who are willing to volunteer at all, because it's really a small group of people who have that ability, and they are probably the people already on the PTA board.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA does so much for our school. It's a few volunteers taking on the burden of time, money, and effort for everyone else. God bless them. If that leads to them acting like a click or someone insular, who cares.

Walk in their shoes and then you'll get it. I started to get involved in the PTA before my health took a turn. I didn't get a chance to do much. But I did help out with picture day. And calling parents and trying to get issues resolved, I was treated so rudely, as if I was working for the photo company and I get a commission or something. It's ridiculous. So many thankless tasks.

My friend ran a program where they collect used instruments, get them refurbished by a music school in town, and the kids write an essay to have a chance to win the instrument. One of the winners families complained that the (totally functional clarinet) was not good enough and the PTA should buy them a brand new one, which they can't afford. The list goes on.

My friend is such a sweet person and worked so hard, there were so many steps to this process and for someone to be nasty to her at the end, which this parent was... It's just awful.

What in the world? PTA should have anything to do with organizing instrument rentals and picture day. Stay in your lane. This is a case of too many hands that want to be in the pot

DP. Of course they organize picture day. They also organize book fairs, back to school events, after school clubs, yearbooks, multicultural fairs, steam fairs, spelling bees, read a thons, school stores, school directories, student supply kits, staff appreciation days, various fundraising events/spirit days and much much more. If they didn’t, these events would not happen in most schools.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA does so much for our school. It's a few volunteers taking on the burden of time, money, and effort for everyone else. God bless them. If that leads to them acting like a click or someone insular, who cares.

Walk in their shoes and then you'll get it. I started to get involved in the PTA before my health took a turn. I didn't get a chance to do much. But I did help out with picture day. And calling parents and trying to get issues resolved, I was treated so rudely, as if I was working for the photo company and I get a commission or something. It's ridiculous. So many thankless tasks.

My friend ran a program where they collect used instruments, get them refurbished by a music school in town, and the kids write an essay to have a chance to win the instrument. One of the winners families complained that the (totally functional clarinet) was not good enough and the PTA should buy them a brand new one, which they can't afford. The list goes on.

My friend is such a sweet person and worked so hard, there were so many steps to this process and for someone to be nasty to her at the end, which this parent was... It's just awful.

What in the world? PTA should have anything to do with organizing instrument rentals and picture day. Stay in your lane. This is a case of too many hands that want to be in the pot

DP. Of course they organize picture day. They also organize book fairs, back to school events, after school clubs, yearbooks, multicultural fairs, steam fairs, spelling bees, read a thons, school stores, school directories, student supply kits, staff appreciation days, various fundraising events/spirit days and much much more. If they didn’t, these events would not happen in most schools.

Some people would prefer that some of these events NOT happen. Like fundraising that is linked to actual school funding -- yes. But a lot of parents dislike the million spirit days and seasonal fairs. Elementary schools do not need yearbooks, and by the time kids are ready for yearbooks, they are old enough to do it themselves. They also don't need "school directories", assuming you are referring to a directory of families -- you can just do class lists. If you're referring to staff directories, of course the school can do that themselves (though some would likely prefer not too!).

Our school does sponsor its own picture days, all academic fairs, and spelling bees, as well as readathons and other academically-focused events. Those work much better when they are tied to curriculum and classroom activities anyway -- a PTA-run spelling bee sounds like a bad idea, in all honesty. The school also organizes Back to School night, and most after school clubs are organized by teachers or staff -- sometimes parents volunteer to help with them (often actually) but the clubs have to have teacher/staff sponsors for legal reasons, so this is organized through the school and not the PTA. The PTA doesn't have to do anything except sometimes say "Ms. Smith is looking for parent volunteers to help with Lego Club, if anyone would like to volunteer please contact Ms. Smith."

I would be perfectly happy with a PTA that just organized fundraising events, maybe one per trimester and any ongoing virtual fundraising (like selling school branded gear online). At the elementary level, I truly do not need the other stuff and neither does my kid. A lot of it is busywork that doesn't add much to the school experience for kids and can cause a lot of headaches and stress for parents.

[Anonymous]

They is nasty!!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The PTA at our school feels really cliquish. I tried volunteering for a while but felt very unwelcome. Now I do things for them occasionally out of obligation to the school and because I think it's important to demonstrate what community involvement is to my kid. But I don't jt enjoy it at all because I find the other PTA parents bizarrely unfriendly and I just kind of smile my way through it but when it's over I always tell my husband "remind me not to do this again."

I just don't get their behavior. They constantly ask for volunteers and want more people involved, but they clearly mostly just want people who they already know (because their kids are friends, are in the same activities, or they're neighbors or whatever) and they view me as an outsider. It often feels like they are like "We desperately need volunteers! No, not you." It's feels pretty bad.

Very similar experience with PTA in the Vienna area.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA does so much for our school. It's a few volunteers taking on the burden of time, money, and effort for everyone else. God bless them. If that leads to them acting like a click or someone insular, who cares.

Walk in their shoes and then you'll get it. I started to get involved in the PTA before my health took a turn. I didn't get a chance to do much. But I did help out with picture day. And calling parents and trying to get issues resolved, I was treated so rudely, as if I was working for the photo company and I get a commission or something. It's ridiculous. So many thankless tasks.

My friend ran a program where they collect used instruments, get them refurbished by a music school in town, and the kids write an essay to have a chance to win the instrument. One of the winners families complained that the (totally functional clarinet) was not good enough and the PTA should buy them a brand new one, which they can't afford. The list goes on.

My friend is such a sweet person and worked so hard, there were so many steps to this process and for someone to be nasty to her at the end, which this parent was... It's just awful.

What in the world? PTA should have anything to do with organizing instrument rentals and picture day. Stay in your lane. This is a case of too many hands that want to be in the pot

DP. Of course they organize picture day. They also organize book fairs, back to school events, after school clubs, yearbooks, multicultural fairs, steam fairs, spelling bees, read a thons, school stores, school directories, student supply kits, staff appreciation days, various fundraising events/spirit days and much much more. If they didn’t, these events would not happen in most schools.

Some people would prefer that some of these events NOT happen. Like fundraising that is linked to actual school funding -- yes. But a lot of parents dislike the million spirit days and seasonal fairs. Elementary schools do not need yearbooks, and by the time kids are ready for yearbooks, they are old enough to do it themselves. They also don't need "school directories", assuming you are referring to a directory of families -- you can just do class lists. If you're referring to staff directories, of course the school can do that themselves (though some would likely prefer not too!).

Our school does sponsor its own picture days, all academic fairs, and spelling bees, as well as readathons and other academically-focused events. Those work much better when they are tied to curriculum and classroom activities anyway -- a PTA-run spelling bee sounds like a bad idea, in all honesty. The school also organizes Back to School night, and most after school clubs are organized by teachers or staff -- sometimes parents volunteer to help with them (often actually) but the clubs have to have teacher/staff sponsors for legal reasons, so this is organized through the school and not the PTA. The PTA doesn't have to do anything except sometimes say "Ms. Smith is looking for parent volunteers to help with Lego Club, if anyone would like to volunteer please contact Ms. Smith."

I would be perfectly happy with a PTA that just organized fundraising events, maybe one per trimester and any ongoing virtual fundraising (like selling school branded gear online). At the elementary level, I truly do not need the other stuff and neither does my kid. A lot of it is busywork that doesn't add much to the school experience for kids and can cause a lot of headaches and stress for parents.

Ms. Smith is tired and doesn’t really want to run Lego club. Instead she wants to spend this time grading papers before going home to her own family.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA at our school feels really cliquish. I tried volunteering for a while but felt very unwelcome. Now I do things for them occasionally out of obligation to the school and because I think it's important to demonstrate what community involvement is to my kid. But I don't jt enjoy it at all because I find the other PTA parents bizarrely unfriendly and I just kind of smile my way through it but when it's over I always tell my husband "remind me not to do this again."

I just don't get their behavior. They constantly ask for volunteers and want more people involved, but they clearly mostly just want people who they already know (because their kids are friends, are in the same activities, or they're neighbors or whatever) and they view me as an outsider. It often feels like they are like "We desperately need volunteers! No, not you." It's feels pretty bad.

Very similar experience with PTA in the Vienna area.

Dude, I would not give these c&nts 2 cents. Don’t feel obligated to give money or to volunteer if they act like all snotty and nasty. F that. Someone should post the link about the PTA lady from VA that was stealing money. You don’t know where the money is going. Many of their events are stupid and overpriced. Don’t waste your time or cash.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA does so much for our school. It's a few volunteers taking on the burden of time, money, and effort for everyone else. God bless them. If that leads to them acting like a click or someone insular, who cares.

Walk in their shoes and then you'll get it. I started to get involved in the PTA before my health took a turn. I didn't get a chance to do much. But I did help out with picture day. And calling parents and trying to get issues resolved, I was treated so rudely, as if I was working for the photo company and I get a commission or something. It's ridiculous. So many thankless tasks.

My friend ran a program where they collect used instruments, get them refurbished by a music school in town, and the kids write an essay to have a chance to win the instrument. One of the winners families complained that the (totally functional clarinet) was not good enough and the PTA should buy them a brand new one, which they can't afford. The list goes on.

My friend is such a sweet person and worked so hard, there were so many steps to this process and for someone to be nasty to her at the end, which this parent was... It's just awful.

What in the world? PTA should have anything to do with organizing instrument rentals and picture day. Stay in your lane. This is a case of too many hands that want to be in the pot

DP. Of course they organize picture day. They also organize book fairs, back to school events, after school clubs, yearbooks, multicultural fairs, steam fairs, spelling bees, read a thons, school stores, school directories, student supply kits, staff appreciation days, various fundraising events/spirit days and much much more. If they didn’t, these events would not happen in most schools.

Some people would prefer that some of these events NOT happen. Like fundraising that is linked to actual school funding -- yes. But a lot of parents dislike the million spirit days and seasonal fairs. Elementary schools do not need yearbooks, and by the time kids are ready for yearbooks, they are old enough to do it themselves. They also don't need "school directories", assuming you are referring to a directory of families -- you can just do class lists. If you're referring to staff directories, of course the school can do that themselves (though some would likely prefer not too!).

Our school does sponsor its own picture days, all academic fairs, and spelling bees, as well as readathons and other academically-focused events. Those work much better when they are tied to curriculum and classroom activities anyway -- a PTA-run spelling bee sounds like a bad idea, in all honesty. The school also organizes Back to School night, and most after school clubs are organized by teachers or staff -- sometimes parents volunteer to help with them (often actually) but the clubs have to have teacher/staff sponsors for legal reasons, so this is organized through the school and not the PTA. The PTA doesn't have to do anything except sometimes say "Ms. Smith is looking for parent volunteers to help with Lego Club, if anyone would like to volunteer please contact Ms. Smith."

I would be perfectly happy with a PTA that just organized fundraising events, maybe one per trimester and any ongoing virtual fundraising (like selling school branded gear online). At the elementary level, I truly do not need the other stuff and neither does my kid. A lot of it is busywork that doesn't add much to the school experience for kids and can cause a lot of headaches and stress for parents.

Ms. Smith is tired and doesn’t really want to run Lego club. Instead she wants to spend this time grading papers before going home to her own family.

Well then they have to cancel Lego club because the school legally cannot sponsor a club without a staff sponsor because of rules about who is allowed to supervise kids on school grounds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA does so much for our school. It's a few volunteers taking on the burden of time, money, and effort for everyone else. God bless them. If that leads to them acting like a click or someone insular, who cares.

Walk in their shoes and then you'll get it. I started to get involved in the PTA before my health took a turn. I didn't get a chance to do much. But I did help out with picture day. And calling parents and trying to get issues resolved, I was treated so rudely, as if I was working for the photo company and I get a commission or something. It's ridiculous. So many thankless tasks.

My friend ran a program where they collect used instruments, get them refurbished by a music school in town, and the kids write an essay to have a chance to win the instrument. One of the winners families complained that the (totally functional clarinet) was not good enough and the PTA should buy them a brand new one, which they can't afford. The list goes on.

My friend is such a sweet person and worked so hard, there were so many steps to this process and for someone to be nasty to her at the end, which this parent was... It's just awful.

What in the world? PTA should have anything to do with organizing instrument rentals and picture day. Stay in your lane. This is a case of too many hands that want to be in the pot

DP. Of course they organize picture day. They also organize book fairs, back to school events, after school clubs, yearbooks, multicultural fairs, steam fairs, spelling bees, read a thons, school stores, school directories, student supply kits, staff appreciation days, various fundraising events/spirit days and much much more. If they didn’t, these events would not happen in most schools.

Some people would prefer that some of these events NOT happen. Like fundraising that is linked to actual school funding -- yes. But a lot of parents dislike the million spirit days and seasonal fairs. Elementary schools do not need yearbooks, and by the time kids are ready for yearbooks, they are old enough to do it themselves. They also don't need "school directories", assuming you are referring to a directory of families -- you can just do class lists. If you're referring to staff directories, of course the school can do that themselves (though some would likely prefer not too!).

Our school does sponsor its own picture days, all academic fairs, and spelling bees, as well as readathons and other academically-focused events. Those work much better when they are tied to curriculum and classroom activities anyway -- a PTA-run spelling bee sounds like a bad idea, in all honesty. The school also organizes Back to School night, and most after school clubs are organized by teachers or staff -- sometimes parents volunteer to help with them (often actually) but the clubs have to have teacher/staff sponsors for legal reasons, so this is organized through the school and not the PTA. The PTA doesn't have to do anything except sometimes say "Ms. Smith is looking for parent volunteers to help with Lego Club, if anyone would like to volunteer please contact Ms. Smith."

I would be perfectly happy with a PTA that just organized fundraising events, maybe one per trimester and any ongoing virtual fundraising (like selling school branded gear online). At the elementary level, I truly do not need the other stuff and neither does my kid. A lot of it is busywork that doesn't add much to the school experience for kids and can cause a lot of headaches and stress for parents.

Ms. Smith is tired and doesn’t really want to run Lego club. Instead she wants to spend this time grading papers before going home to her own family.

Well then they have to cancel Lego club because the school legally cannot sponsor a club without a staff sponsor because of rules about who is allowed to supervise kids on school grounds.

A volunteer parent can run such a club at school through the PTA. I believe that is PP’s point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA does so much for our school. It's a few volunteers taking on the burden of time, money, and effort for everyone else. God bless them. If that leads to them acting like a click or someone insular, who cares.

Walk in their shoes and then you'll get it. I started to get involved in the PTA before my health took a turn. I didn't get a chance to do much. But I did help out with picture day. And calling parents and trying to get issues resolved, I was treated so rudely, as if I was working for the photo company and I get a commission or something. It's ridiculous. So many thankless tasks.

My friend ran a program where they collect used instruments, get them refurbished by a music school in town, and the kids write an essay to have a chance to win the instrument. One of the winners families complained that the (totally functional clarinet) was not good enough and the PTA should buy them a brand new one, which they can't afford. The list goes on.

My friend is such a sweet person and worked so hard, there were so many steps to this process and for someone to be nasty to her at the end, which this parent was... It's just awful.

What in the world? PTA should have anything to do with organizing instrument rentals and picture day. Stay in your lane. This is a case of too many hands that want to be in the pot

DP. Of course they organize picture day. They also organize book fairs, back to school events, after school clubs, yearbooks, multicultural fairs, steam fairs, spelling bees, read a thons, school stores, school directories, student supply kits, staff appreciation days, various fundraising events/spirit days and much much more. If they didn’t, these events would not happen in most schools.

Some people would prefer that some of these events NOT happen. Like fundraising that is linked to actual school funding -- yes. But a lot of parents dislike the million spirit days and seasonal fairs. Elementary schools do not need yearbooks, and by the time kids are ready for yearbooks, they are old enough to do it themselves. They also don't need "school directories", assuming you are referring to a directory of families -- you can just do class lists. If you're referring to staff directories, of course the school can do that themselves (though some would likely prefer not too!).

Our school does sponsor its own picture days, all academic fairs, and spelling bees, as well as readathons and other academically-focused events. Those work much better when they are tied to curriculum and classroom activities anyway -- a PTA-run spelling bee sounds like a bad idea, in all honesty. The school also organizes Back to School night, and most after school clubs are organized by teachers or staff -- sometimes parents volunteer to help with them (often actually) but the clubs have to have teacher/staff sponsors for legal reasons, so this is organized through the school and not the PTA. The PTA doesn't have to do anything except sometimes say "Ms. Smith is looking for parent volunteers to help with Lego Club, if anyone would like to volunteer please contact Ms. Smith."

I would be perfectly happy with a PTA that just organized fundraising events, maybe one per trimester and any ongoing virtual fundraising (like selling school branded gear online). At the elementary level, I truly do not need the other stuff and neither does my kid. A lot of it is busywork that doesn't add much to the school experience for kids and can cause a lot of headaches and stress for parents.

Ms. Smith is tired and doesn’t really want to run Lego club. Instead she wants to spend this time grading papers before going home to her own family.

Well then they have to cancel Lego club because the school legally cannot sponsor a club without a staff sponsor because of rules about who is allowed to supervise kids on school grounds.

A volunteer parent can run such a club at school through the PTA. I believe that is PP’s point.

Many schools require all on-campus activities to have a staff member sponsor. Two reasons: (1) student safety, since school staff have passed background checks and have experience working with kids, and (2) continuity, since a club run by a permanent staff member is not reliant on a parent's availability or having a kid at the school.

But in any case, even if such a club was run by a parent, it's not necessary for the PTA to be involved. Other than raising money for the club, what does the PTA as an org do? It will be the individual parent's effort.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA does so much for our school. It's a few volunteers taking on the burden of time, money, and effort for everyone else. God bless them. If that leads to them acting like a click or someone insular, who cares.

Walk in their shoes and then you'll get it. I started to get involved in the PTA before my health took a turn. I didn't get a chance to do much. But I did help out with picture day. And calling parents and trying to get issues resolved, I was treated so rudely, as if I was working for the photo company and I get a commission or something. It's ridiculous. So many thankless tasks.

My friend ran a program where they collect used instruments, get them refurbished by a music school in town, and the kids write an essay to have a chance to win the instrument. One of the winners families complained that the (totally functional clarinet) was not good enough and the PTA should buy them a brand new one, which they can't afford. The list goes on.

My friend is such a sweet person and worked so hard, there were so many steps to this process and for someone to be nasty to her at the end, which this parent was... It's just awful.

What in the world? PTA should have anything to do with organizing instrument rentals and picture day. Stay in your lane. This is a case of too many hands that want to be in the pot

DP. Of course they organize picture day. They also organize book fairs, back to school events, after school clubs, yearbooks, multicultural fairs, steam fairs, spelling bees, read a thons, school stores, school directories, student supply kits, staff appreciation days, various fundraising events/spirit days and much much more. If they didn’t, these events would not happen in most schools.

I would actually be fine with that. PTA should have zero role in picture day. I promise you every school has a picture day, even without PTA. Everyone else you listed is a waste or done without PTA involvement at many schools.

[Anonymous]

Our PTA is always asking for people to plan/run events and I am simply not an event planner. I'm a scientist and it's not in my skill set. I also like to attend the meetings because the principal is there and we get a lot of interesting information early. But I feel like the head women are like "why are YOU here? You never plan anything." I offered to take over the candy fundraiser because it seemed easy (take the orders and package and distribute the candy) and they decided to cancel it!
There are of course roles that many parents enjoy (class parties and field trips) and our principal wants those roles to be first offered to underrepresented parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I found this a little at our private but the worst had been summer swim team. Those moms are martyrs but so unfriendly to anyone that offers to help out.

Omg yes! I used to be sad that my kids never wanted to do swim team but after observing the drama that friends have with the swim team, I’m happy to just be a pool member and enjoy. Our PTAs aren’t perfect (and I say this as a former pta President) but it’s nothing like the catty drama the swim team stirs up.

[Anonymous]

Give me a school directory. Done by the school. It should be a school responsibility. If the school system-wide does a book fair, it should be planned system-wide. If the PTA wants to promote and fund 1 or 2 events during the school year, that's the right amount. Imho, that's it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The PTA at our school feels really cliquish. I tried volunteering for a while but felt very unwelcome. Now I do things for them occasionally out of obligation to the school and because I think it's important to demonstrate what community involvement is to my kid. But I don't jt enjoy it at all because I find the other PTA parents bizarrely unfriendly and I just kind of smile my way through it but when it's over I always tell my husband "remind me not to do this again."

I just don't get their behavior. They constantly ask for volunteers and want more people involved, but they clearly mostly just want people who they already know (because their kids are friends, are in the same activities, or they're neighbors or whatever) and they view me as an outsider. It often feels like they are like "We desperately need volunteers! No, not you." It's feels pretty bad.

Very similar experience with PTA in the Vienna area.

Similar experience too (is this the new “me too” movement) in a high income zone. I know it is unpaid, important, and yet can be thankless to be in the PTA. Maybe it’s because it’s unpaid that you sometimes get people who don’t know how to lead well.

I volunteered, but leadership didn’t show me how to do the job the way they wanted me to do it apparently, and they didn’t seem to know how to delegate or relinquish control, and so I ended up being a passive viewer. Then the job was tossed onto me, so I did it the best way I could. Then I got weird vibes from that group like they were talking bad about me, leadership took over again my role, and so I excused myself. I have better things to do with my time than to deal with drama.

That PTA is always sending emails asking for volunteers, but I will never volunteer again based on that experience, and avoid being around those people. It’s a shame, because had they known how to train new volunteers, been more communicative, and been more professionally run and not tribal and nasty, I would have gladly been a dependable regular volunteer. Honestly now, if most or all of the programs go away because of a lack of volunteers, I would say it is the unfortunate but inevitable outcome of that group.