Rekindling that PTA Passion

This past August was a busy one! I started the month helping a local unit revamp their structure to better fit their needs and volunteers, attended another local unit's officer retreat to offer parting advice as their former president, and gathered information required for our state's compliance with the National PTA. The first task was the most time consuming and the most directly impactful. I'm hope telling it here will inspire other units and help them remember that there's no wrong way to PTA!

Getting to The Underlying Problem: Survey Time!

Sanford Pride Elementary was facing a year of uncertainty. As a relatively young PTA (split from the existing MCS Pride PTA in 2023), they were having trouble recruiting new leadership and rife with officer burnout. Having helped them build leadership to stand on their own in 2022/2023, I designed a retreat at our local library to address the problem and revamp their structure to better fit their needs. Among other things, we would reflect on whether we needed every officer set out in the bylaws, whether we needed to meet once a month to dictate what officers were doing, and how to make PTA fun again. We sent open invitation, along with a survey, to every community member on their distribution list and Facebook page-- if you want the community involved you have to involve the community!

Retreats are Supposed to be (Structured, but) Fun!

Retreats should be tailored to the needs of the group, but include fun elements where possible. They should include key stakeholders (officers, etc.) but can be open to the larger group. They can include planning for the year ahead, feedback review, and, perhaps most importantly, group bonding. They should be structured enough that the time is used productively, but unstructured enough that everyone in attendance can feel heard. Roberts Rules of Order are excellent for moving the more formal PTA meetings along, but can discourage new voices from speaking up. The group should be guided to stay on topic during the retreat, but it should be CONVERSATION.

I encourage anyone planning a retreat to start with two things: PTA Mission & Values and Introductions. The first is often forgotten-- a lot of people don't realize that PTA isn't about cliquey moms controlling the school (as portrayed in the Bad Moms movie). The mission and impact of PTA is important and worthy of reminder, especially as new leaders take up the mantle: https://www.pta.org/home/About-National-Parent-Teacher-Association/Mission-Values. The second, introductions, can include names, children's grades, years on PTA, Positions, etc., but one of the most important and insightful things I've found to bond the group and focus the conversation is "Why I PTA". And there's no wrong answer. Personally, I PTA because both of my parents were teachers and I saw how much unseen work went into the role; I wanted to support the people that were shaping my child's education.

What happens next depends on your PTA's needs, but a good place to start is SWOT analysis (Strength, Weakness, Opportunity, and Threat). This helps to identify areas that need attention (for improvement or advantage) and anticipate what your upcoming year might look like. Honest feedback (negative, positive, or neutral) is key-- this is a good place to review survey results. And there will often be Negative Nelly's... you cannot please everyone. Don't take it personally, but see if it's actionable! If all else fails, encourage those people to get involved as members and help shape the change they want to see.

Additional task can include training, role/responsibility clarification, calendar planning, etc. Note: it is appropriate to use PTA funds, within reason, to purchase snacks or a meal for this event. You want your stakeholders fed, functional, and hopefully, excited for the year ahead.

How it Shook out for SPE

The first thing we noticed was just how many people actually wanted to have a say in the future of the Sanford Pride Elementary PTA! Despite being largely carried by the four experienced officers in previous years, we received responses from over three times as many community members. We also had three new community members in attendance who were interested in taking on more prominent roles (and were given chair positions to match their interests/skills). What's more, most of the feedback was positive, but had a common theme of people not knowing how to get involved. A few responders even noted that the officer circle seemed cliquey, a common cliche of PTA moms. Officers were surprised by the response but open to its feedback, determined to change this perception.

I also noticed that some of the officers had some misconceptions about their roles (ex. thinking the President needed to be at every event, have a hand in every task, and never take a break/go on vacation). This contributed to officer burnout, but also indirectly to the idea that the officers were cliquey-- by never delegating or asking non-officer volunteers for help, they were making members feel shut out. It's important to reiterate that this is a VOLUNTEER position. No one should be sacrificing making memories with their children, having a healthy amount of sleep, or otherwise putting on their own mask first. Even as you work hard to make an event happen or raise funds, it's important to remember that you're modeling behavior for your own (and other community members') children.

We also included a question in the survey asking stakeholders to rate the impact of previous or proposed events to help prioritize-- if we needed to pare things down to the bare minimum, what were the most important things to make happen? This actually eliminated a couple of high-stress events in favor of things about which the community actually cared.

The officer structure didn't actually change as much as expected (two leaders decided to work together as co-presidents and the secretary changed to "note-taker" to avoid duplicating work on communications already handled by the co-presidents), but we did clarify roles and responsibilities. I informed the unit of the minimum responsibilities (mostly deliverables to the State PTA) to stay in good standing and how they could change their bylaws to reflect changes made. The group elected to hold formal business meetings four times a year rather than monthly and supplement with specific committee meetings and social gatherings. They committed to delegating more, and even decided to have a dedicated "information booth" at future events where people could find out more ways to be involved.

It's going to take a lot of conscious redirecting for officers to keep delegating and avoid falling into old patterns, but the SPE PTA stakeholders left their retreat feeling inspired for the upcoming year. What's more, they've already made room for future leadership. **As of October 1st, the group has already dramatically increased membership and had new blood step up to lead event committees (and the position of Treasurer). Moreover, with the pressure of holding monthly business meetings alleviated, officers are already feeling less burnt out. Kudos to the SPE PTA!