By Shereen Walter, California State PTA President
It’s that time again, time to welcome students and their families back to school for the year! How are you and your PTA board going to make the families in your community feel valued and welcome? Here are a few tips that may be helpful!
Create a welcoming meeting atmosphere: Assign an officer or two (or your entire PTA board) to greet newcomers at each meeting. Wear name tags so that everyone can get to know everyone’s name. To keep newcomers from feeling like outsiders, avoid using acronyms or jargon and explain the programs and events you put on at the school so everyone knows what they are. Have meeting attendees raise their hands to be called on to speak.. This keeps one or two members from dominating the discussion. Use a sign-in sheet so you know who attended. Follow up after the meeting to thank new families for coming and ask if they have any questions or would like to become involved.
Recruit everyone: Consider every interaction with a new family as a chance to talk about what your PTA does and to invite them to get involved. Set up simple ways for everyone to get involved. Offer volunteer opportunities with varying levels of commitment so that everyone can give of their time and energy in a way that works for them. Try an online volunteer sign-up or management system. Follow up after asking for input or help. Consider having a volunteer coordinator on your board.
Be available: Update your PTA website frequently. Make contact information for your PTA officers and committee chairs easy to find so members can reach out with questions or to get involved. Link your PTA info to the school website. Hang welcome signs and post notices about PTA events where they are easily seen.
Welcome new volunteers and fresh ideas: Use committee roles to allow volunteers to ease into learning about your PTA. Provide job descriptions where they can easily be found and read. Provide members a timeline of when new board members and committee chair people are selected so they know when these opportunities for involvement are available. Reach out to and encourage transitional kindergarten (TK) and kindergarten parents and guardians to become involved in the PTA.
Build diversity: Listen to your community. Do not assume you know what they need from PTA. Survey families in their home language, if possible, to see what kinds of programs they are interested in and how PTA can support them. Include new voices in the planning and execution of events. Fresh feedback and input are a gift! Reach out for wide representation from your community. Ask people to invite their friends. Call new families to personally invite them to events or meetings. On forms and paperwork, remember to be inclusive in your language, ask for the names of parents, caregivers, or guardians. Bring meetings and interactions out into your community. Do not always expect families to come to you.
Use every day as your chance to make somebody feel welcome in your school’s PTA!