Not all want to go to a school at 7 in the morning to unlock a door for a school clean-up, but they do. Not all want to roll out of bed on a cold winter's night to go to another PA meeting, but they do. Why? Because not only do they give a crap about their kids, but they also give a crap about yours--who are directly benefiting from their efforts.
I am so sick of parent apathy in DC, coupled with demands to be 'courted', 'invited' and suggestions of how to do better. If you have a better way to run a PA/PTA--join and do it. Or just pay your dues and show up for one flipping meeting or clean-up or faculty appreciation potluck every couple of months. Most of us are getting a free ride for our kids with public or PCS educations. Showing up and kicking in a little is the least we can do.

AMEN!!!!

Yes I pay taxes, good point. But I also know how little public schools and PCS's get once its all been filtered away. PTA's/PA's make a real, tangible difference. They raise money for everything from interesting classroom extras to sorts equipment to school trips. They arrange for small acknowledgments for teachers, that might contribute to low teacher turnover at your school. If you think your responsibility to your child's school ends with paying taxes, you are truly shortchanging your own child's experience. It could be MUCH better if more parents at every school kicked in. Just ONE volunteer weekend, PA meeting, donation, idea (compared to none). The difference is huge. I have seen schools where concerned parents noticed the kids had no rug in the class and scoured Craigs List to find cheery rugs to throw around. These are things teachers would/could do if they had time and money at the end of a LONG list of priorities. Parents who notice and actively HELP, rather than just sit around and point out shortcomings, are the parents who make the difference between good and great schools. If the PTA /PA is cliqueish screw-em--it just means other parents think so too. Join up like EXTROVERT and do your best to make gatherings welcoming and fun. If you don't, who will????

Did you really just call public schools a "free ride"? Don't you pay taxes?!

I have found a lot of the posts really reprehensible, though honest...I guess.
Our school has a PA (Parent Association) and all dues go to the school.
I am sure that the parents on the PA could be accused of all the above--being tight-knit, not publicizing enough, not paying enough attention to special needs etc. etc.
What people forget is that these are not paid organizers; these are PARENTS. Most of them work, maintain relationships, do household chores, cook dinner, pay bills just like you. Not all want to go to a school at 7 in the morning to unlock a door for a school clean-up, but they do. Not all want to roll out of bed on a cold winter's night to go to another PA meeting, but they do. Why? Because not only do they give a crap about their kids, but they also give a crap about yours--who are directly benefiting from their efforts.
I am so sick of parent apathy in DC, coupled with demands to be 'courted', 'invited' and suggestions of how to do better. If you have a better way to run a PA/PTA--join and do it. Or just pay your dues and show up for one flipping meeting or clean-up or faculty appreciation potluck every couple of months. Most of us are getting a free ride for our kids with public or PCS educations. Showing up and kicking in a little is the least we can do.

There's been a lot of great posts... so this is a repeat of some, but some new.

My children are not school age, but in daycare. I volunteer at the daycare for various things. We have an organization a lot like the PTA - we put on caregiver appreciation, we sponsor the child's photo days, we bring special shows to the daycare... And most of this falls into the hands of a few parents. Why?
- Most parents work. I happen to have a flexible job that allows me to volunteer.
- Many parents do not understand what good the PTA (or whatever parent organization) actually does. I remember, the first year at this daycare I would get fliers to sell cookie dough, but I had no idea what the money went for.
- Like others, I'd rather give the organization $25 then spend it on cookie dough... and I hate fundraising and asking friends for and co-workers for $$. Also, most organizations only get like 40% of the money from these fundraisers.

As an involved volunteer, sometimes it is frustrating that other parents don't do a little more. But I can understand why they don't.

As far PTA, my mother refused to join it when I was a child. Why? Because only 10% of the dues stayed in the local school, the rest went to national. I'm not sure if that is still true, but if so, I won't be a due paying memeber of the PTA.

Our schools would look completely different if instead of a few people doing everything, more people did something.

Anonymous wrote:Don't assume that everybody thinks/knows what the pta does. Or that your fliers cut through the clutter of everything else they see in the course of a day. You want real results/change? Look at it in the same way you would a business. Determine your goals and figure out how you are going to achieve them. Don't just do what has always been done--from the sounds of your initial post that doesn't seem to be working.

My suggestion: find a few parents who are in marketing to help you develop a plan for the year. First, survey your constituents (ie the other parents) to find out what you want to know...what do they like or not like re the pta? Wwhat do they even know about the org? Why aren't they active and what would motvvate them to do more? Then, you can decide your plan for the year based on what other parental at the school want. Not what you think they wantt. Figure out what you want to accomplish, and what you are going to do in order to do so. Develop a project plan for the year that includes your target audiences and messages.

waste of time, people are just busy, or not interested. Instead of sending out MORE paperwork for parents to fill out on how to get them involved, just condense info as much as possible in the beginning of the year so parents will know what is needed for the year and can plan accordingly. There will always be a core group of parents doing most of the work. I am in that core but I stay at home so easier for me than my friends who work or cannot get away easily. They support in other ways and as long as they have some advance notice they will also participate, just how it goes.

Don't assume that everybody thinks/knows what the pta does. Or that your fliers cut through the clutter of everything else they see in the course of a day. You want real results/change? Look at it in the same way you would a business. Determine your goals and figure out how you are going to achieve them. Don't just do what has always been done--from the sounds of your initial post that doesn't seem to be working.

My suggestion: find a few parents who are in marketing to help you develop a plan for the year. First, survey your constituents (ie the other parents) to find out what you want to know...what do they like or not like re the pta? Wwhat do they even know about the org? Why aren't they active and what would motvvate them to do more? Then, you can decide your plan for the year based on what other parental at the school want. Not what you think they wantt. Figure out what you want to accomplish, and what you are going to do in order to do so. Develop a project plan for the year that includes your target audiences and messages.

Anonymous wrote:Special needs child at home.
PTA doesn't seem to focus on the outliers.

OP here. Do you have any suggestions as to what you'd like the PTA to do for SN kids if you had your drothers? The PTA at another school my kids attended had an "inclusion committee", though I'm not quite sure what they did. That would seem like a nice idea if there were concrete implementations, not just for SN kids but for any child who is an outlier for any reason.
One of my kids has SN too, but since I've mostly done fundraising I've never thought of PTA activities from that angle.

Because I hate fundraising. I'll be happy to write a check anytime but if someone asks me to stand in front of a store peddling XYZ, forget it. Ain't gonna happen.

We're struggling with this in our PTA now. I'm a dues paying member and attend meetings/volunteer when I can but like the PPs, our PTA is very cliquish and down right unwelcoming to newcomers. In fact, I'm the only one who will greet people walking into the meeting room. I've been able to break into the group only because I'm an extrovert. There are a core group of PTA people who volunteer but that's because they're so disorganized and don't let people know what needs to be done - until it's too late. Or, they ignore you altogether. There have been at least two people volunteer to update the PTA website but they can't get the website password to do it. The officers listed have been out of office for over a year!


I also agree with the PP with SN kids that they're treated as outliers and the PTA doesn't care about them. There are 10 special needs preschool classes at our school and there's no outreach to their parents at all (this is the school SN kids throughout the cluster attend). There's also very little outreach to the Spanish speaking community other than translating the PTA notices into Spanish. They dismiss them as not being interested or they don't understand what PTA since they don't have them wherever they're from. There are plenty of parents volunteering in classrooms that have just given up on PTA and I don't blame them.

I think a lot of folks avoid PTA because it feels like an open ended commitment and that is scary. I find a lot more folks will volunteer for discrete tasks. I have found too many of the moms in PTA are terrible at delegating and perfectionists about what others do and it turns people off.

Anonymous wrote:Special needs child at home.
PTA doesn't seem to focus on the outliers.

pp. And that is fine, but I have my hands full.

Special needs child at home.
PTA doesn't seem to focus on the outliers.

we coach our kids soccer teams and run the brownie troop