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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You mean the volunteers who organize and staff all the fun things at your kids school?[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.[/quote]

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