How To Increase Participation / To Charge or Not To Charge

I hope all of you have been enjoying this summer break so far.  I read an article that sparked my interest titled, “Should You Charge Membership Dues?” and decided to bring a question to this forum:  How do you get increased participation in PTAs/PTOs?  I will go into my second year as PTA President at Minnieville Elementary, second year as PTO President at Woodbridge Middle, and Advisory Board Chairman at Minnieville Elementary, with the most difficult thing I currently see is participation.  One of the issues is, unfortunately, that most people feel that PTAs/PTOs are a parent-only group, but the strange thing is, the “T” stands for teachers.  The group has a more difficult time being successful (or maybe I should say could be MORE successful) if the teachers could be more involved.  Last year I had the pledge of 100% teacher participation from the Woodbridge Middle School Principal, but we were lucky to edge close to 50%, and I have the same pledge (100% teacher participation) from the new Minnieville Elementary School Principal.  Can a principal “force” or “coerce” a staff member to participate?  That is a question to be answered in another forum.

The first question that should be answered (and this is what I took in from the PTO Today article); what IS Participation?  Our two school groups charge $5 for membership and many feel that is participation.  To those that do not have the time (or patience) to be involved with school groups (that are often cliquish) or they have had bad experiences (or heard stories) with previous/current groups, this may be acceptable/understandable.  I attempt to encourage parents, which have paid, to be involved with the board’s decision-making process, so that they can feel involved with what their child’s school to trying to do.  Should that invitation be extended to the parents that have decided not to pay?  Maybe they can not pay, but can they trade time for money?  Maybe parents have vital skills that could be utilized at the school and become involved with the community without a financial commitment.

This is where I go back to the “T” of our group, the teachers.  Would a teacher be allowed to participate if they did not pay their membership dues?  Even though they are salaried to be with our children, they do a lot extra for them, all the way from planning sessions to research on their own time to make our kids better students.  That is a slippery slope that could be a disadvantage for not only the school, the community, but the entire county ($$$).  What many do not think about is that those teachers are the front line of encouraging parent participation/involvement, all the way from paying their dues, event chairperson, and board participation.

At Minnieville Elementary, the principal has set forth the goal of volunteer hours given to the school from parents.  I believe it was set at about 750 hours and IF a parent gave an hour a school year, it would be easily accomplished.  The tricky task is the accurate monitoring of those hours, which is why he has created a Parent Volunteer Coordinator.  Typically, schools that have a multitude of volunteer hours have this office to control what tasks need to be done and what they could do, so he is being very ambitious in his full first year.

At the end of the day, what I feel needs to be done, is to provide a clear goal to the board on what we are trying to accomplish, then, in turn, notify all parents what the decision is.  We will have our initial membership drives during Open Houses and Back-To-School Nights, but have smaller ones at school events, and leave it open to teachers throughout the year (even though we have some “incentives” for Woodbridge Middle teachers).  Making contact with parents that may not have had the “opportunity” to join or contribute, and let them know what we are doing and encourage their participation.  Additionally, have events that are for the entire community can gain the attention of future parents and may even persuade more families to move into the neighborhood.

I desire comments and discussions on this forum, since I will never be one to say I know it all or know best.  I look forward to hearing from you.