Ya know, I joined the PTA at my daughter's school 'cause I got tired of complaining about them. I thought, "Quit yer bitchin' and get in there and help them, instead
( Read more... )
Well...it sounds like four disorganized people with a lack of technology skills are running everything. So, to help them, I would get an online, shared calendar that everyone can access. This might solve many problems. Also...try to bring in several of your friends, so that they can vote with you.
...no, Scouts will have similar problems...same people skills needed.
We have a calendar. Not an electronic one, but one that we went through and agreed upon in the first part of the year. But they keep changing things at the drop of a hat. Then email it out.
We also have a Facebook that has a very decent following. But the president rarely uses it! Drives me up a wall.
We don't actually hold any general meetings. I know that has to be a violation of some rule or another, but without those meetings, I can't bring in any other people to vote on stuff. Hell, the one time they advertised a general meeting, I went and I was the only non-board member there. And they just went about planning things without really explaining what they were talking about. I should have known the mess went deeper than I thought.
Seriously! If I only phoned it in, I couldn't do worse. Which, of course, makes me want to whip that group into shape. But I almost feel as if it's a black hole of wasted time and effort. It'll only end with me climbing to the top of the school with a flamethrower and nailing every parent that breaks one more freakin' school rule or whines about how their special little snowflake deserves to be above everyone else.
Or just crying into my pillow at night. Whichever.
As I was reading this I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I think there is a sitcom that could be made out of this. : ) You must have the patience of a saint. I would have hurt someone by now or been taking away in a strait jacket. Unlike you the 4 women you refer to are obviouly volunteers in name only. They obviously are not really interested in getting to work and really accomplishing something.
I think the sitcom would be called PiTA ala CHiPs.
Actually, these four ladies work. A lot. The problem is that they bitch they don't have enough help, but then don't communicate with their volunteers, or leave them hanging. Maybe it's a form of self-induced martyrdom. "Look at us. We work so hard. All by ourselves. Because we think of the children!!" Or, more like, they are so busy trying to get everything done, they don't bother to let other people know what they can do to help. Like those people in the kitchen who are scrambling around but ignore those who are asking, "What can I do to help?" I mean, I'm a board member and I am rarely in the loop most times. Like this Santa's Workshop I'll be looking for tomorrow. Ugh. Makes me want to stay home.
Oh. Oh, you describe a dream. A beautiful dream! I have been trying to get them to do committees, but no. It's just the three to four of them running everything, but not really getting things done. They want to do everything, promise everything, but barely get it done in a half-ass way.
If I were to take on presidency, I'd totally do everything you described. I mean, even if it were a committee of two, at least you'd know who was in charge and they would have their focus on their project. Instead of trying to spread their attention over everything for an entire year.
Our teachers run and hide when they see our president coming. I thought that was mean, at first. Now I know why. So we have no T in our PTA.
Committees just make sense. You can't do it with three or four people. Yeah, there are three or four people at our school who might be more involved than others. Our school has I think 650 students. Even the school where I teach has committees for everything. (And we have grade-level events along with school-wide events and each class has an go-to parent, if not a room parent.) We don't have a PTA, but we have a hybrid school board thing. (Smaller private school. What can I say?)
That's the thing, the Fall Festival is a HUGE event, there's only one chair for it, but there's probably 30 volunteers each year, at least. Plus various students and teachers. (The sixth graders help run it, and former students come back each year and help out because it's a blast.) It's probably the biggest fundraiser each year. I don't know how much the president actually oversees on that one, the committee chair does everything except possibly getting paperwork signed.
But like I said, our school has actually won awards for how well-run it is.
Comments 17
...no, Scouts will have similar problems...same people skills needed.
Reply
We also have a Facebook that has a very decent following. But the president rarely uses it! Drives me up a wall.
We don't actually hold any general meetings. I know that has to be a violation of some rule or another, but without those meetings, I can't bring in any other people to vote on stuff. Hell, the one time they advertised a general meeting, I went and I was the only non-board member there. And they just went about planning things without really explaining what they were talking about. I should have known the mess went deeper than I thought.
Reply
Reply
Reply
Or just crying into my pillow at night. Whichever.
Reply
Reply
Reply
I think there is a sitcom that could be made out of this. : )
You must have the patience of a saint. I would have hurt someone by
now or been taking away in a strait jacket. Unlike you the 4 women
you refer to are obviouly volunteers in name only. They obviously
are not really interested in getting to work and really accomplishing
something.
Reply
Actually, these four ladies work. A lot. The problem is that they bitch they don't have enough help, but then don't communicate with their volunteers, or leave them hanging. Maybe it's a form of self-induced martyrdom. "Look at us. We work so hard. All by ourselves. Because we think of the children!!" Or, more like, they are so busy trying to get everything done, they don't bother to let other people know what they can do to help. Like those people in the kitchen who are scrambling around but ignore those who are asking, "What can I do to help?" I mean, I'm a board member and I am rarely in the loop most times. Like this Santa's Workshop I'll be looking for tomorrow. Ugh. Makes me want to stay home.
Reply
Reply
If I were to take on presidency, I'd totally do everything you described. I mean, even if it were a committee of two, at least you'd know who was in charge and they would have their focus on their project. Instead of trying to spread their attention over everything for an entire year.
Our teachers run and hide when they see our president coming. I thought that was mean, at first. Now I know why. So we have no T in our PTA.
Reply
That's the thing, the Fall Festival is a HUGE event, there's only one chair for it, but there's probably 30 volunteers each year, at least. Plus various students and teachers. (The sixth graders help run it, and former students come back each year and help out because it's a blast.) It's probably the biggest fundraiser each year. I don't know how much the president actually oversees on that one, the committee chair does everything except possibly getting paperwork signed.
But like I said, our school has actually won awards for how well-run it is.
Reply
Leave a comment