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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]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.[/quote]

Very similar experience with PTA in the Vienna area.[/quote]
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.[/quote]

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