involvement

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involvement
By anne

We have had the same problem with getting parents involved in our PTA. One thing that has actually gotten parents in the door (whether they actually volunteered to "help out" in any way with our upcoming events-I can't really
say.., but I think that the first step is getting parents in the door....) is having a certain grade put on a little "show." For example, one time the second graders sang a few songs, etc. Of course, it was important for us to place the students' acts towards the end of the meeting because otherwise, many of the parents would have left after the kids performed.
Something that

I did (solo) was to have a workshop for my parents BEFORE the PTA meeting. I had sent out a survey asking the parents what their concerns were. Almost all of my parents responded and said that they were concerned about how they could help their child with reading-thus, before the PTA meeting I held a 30-45 minute reading workshop for the parents. Almost all of the parents who came to the workshop stayed for the PTA meeting following. Heck, they had to walk by the gym to get to their cars.
I don't know if any of these ideas are what you are looking for, or if they would work for your certain situation. I know how you feel, we have a VERY hard time getting parents involved.
Good Luck!
anne

ps. another thing that has worked before-parents signed in when they came. each homeroom teacher had a sign in sheet and the parents signed under their child's teacher's name. the class with the most parents present got a pizza party.