Being a Parent Teacher Organization (PTO) President is one of the biggest jobs out there for school parent volunteer organizations.
This school parent group leadership role can really consume your life, especially during the busiest times of the year (like back to school, mid year holiday and end of the school year times).
To stay sane, you need to balance both home, work and family responsibilities with PTO duties too.
It can be a lot.
Smart leaders (that’s you!) don’t try to manage the role on their own- they leverage tools to make their job easier and more enjoyable.
We’re going to cover some key PTO President resources and how you can start taking advantage of them today!
Support Network
The first resources you need as PTO President is a good support network.
The job of PTO President is pretty taxing and at times can be pretty overwhelming.
Having other people who are dealing with similar issues at the ready to go to with questions and concerns is invaluable.
You’ll find no better resource for this than the PTA/PTO Super Star Leaders Facebook Group!
It’s filled with thousands of other leaders who are just like you- trying to be a better leader and run a stronger PTO.
Membership is free, so don’t wait to join.
Schedule
The next resource crucial for PTO Presidents is a schedule.
You’re probably already using a calendar to schedule out your time, but dialing into what time you actually have available when you’re PTO President becomes that much more important.
Because without a schedule (even a loose one) can mean you’ll get sucked into the volunteer black hole.
Use a schedule to create some time limits for how much time you’ll spend on PTO tasks, whether it’s in the school building or at home.
Balance how much time you’ll spend doing PTO stuff so it doesn’t take up all of your time and leave you scrambling for everything else in your life.
Look at your calendar and schedule for the week and decide how much time you can realistically devote to PTO work, while getting everything else you’re juggling done too.
The fastest way to end up burnt out and overwhelmed is to spend all week at school doing PTO stuff, and then come home to a disaster of a home!
That’s no way to be now, so make a plan for when you’ll do PTO work and stick to it.
The other truth is that there is pretty much always something to do to improve your PTO and it’ll never been 100% done.
So pace yourself and keep up with the other parts of your life!
Sounding Board
The third recommended PTO President resource is a sounding board.
If you don’t have someone in your life like this already, you need to get one ASAP.
It’s important to be able to vent to someone who knows and loves you no matter what because being in a leadership position can bring out the mean girls and open up criticism.
And chances are, it won’t be your husband!
Because I’ll bet his answer to most of your complaints will be to suggest you quit.
And that’s not really what you need or want.
You just need to get stuff off of your chest.
So find a good friend that you can share your woes with.
The Super Star Leaders Facebook Group is a fantastic place to both commiserate and celebrate PTO things with others!
Full Board and Committee Chairs
This next must have for all PTO Presidents is a no-brainer really.
Since it eases the pressure on the group leader a great deal.
All Presidents must have a fully staffed PTO Board and Committee Chairs.
It is very tempting to try to fill in the gaps by taking on the vacant roles yourself.
But that’s the wrong decision since that’s not the role of President, at all!
Remember, you are not the doer of all things. Not only is it impossible, but it will lead to burn out.
You will be so much happier at the end of the year if you work to fill any vacant roles with other volunteers.
If you have trouble filling to role, break the job into smaller parts.
Take the Fundraising Chair position.
This is a HUGE role and really hard to fill most times.
But the role doesn’t have to be filled by just one person.
You could have a committee take on the job or you could also break the position up into a few smaller roles.
One person could take on restaurant nights, another the Fall Fundraiser and the other the Spring fundraiser.
If you absolutely cannot find someone to take on the role, then consider if the role is actually needed.
Case in point, years ago, my PTA couldn’t fill the role of the school garden coordinator.
So we decided to let the garden to return to nature for the time being.
It made the most sense since no volunteers were willing to take on the task and the focus of the group shifted a bit.
PTO President’s Binder
The very last PTO President resource that all leaders must have is an organized President’s Binder.
I’ve already talked about how much time is involved with running a PTO, so the last thing you need to deal with is not having resources right at your fingertips!
Throughout my years as President, I enjoyed having an organized place for all of my PTO paperwork.
It helped me organize and collect my thoughts and helped me simultaneously juggle multiple PTO projects and programs.
The binder helped me reduce wasting time looking for a committee chair’s home address when I need to drop off event supplies or the custodian’s phone number when I needed to get into the school after hours.
Recommended PTO President Resource
Looking for a DIY PTO President’s Binder?
Picture this: you, the PTO/PTA President, taking charge like a boss, armed with a treasure trove of resources that will make everyone else wondering exactly how you manage it.
Your secret weapon? The President’s Success Kit!
This isn’t a bunch of busywork templates that look really pretty, but don’t actually amount to anything.
This kit is a collection of game-changing, mind-blowing arsenal of systems, tools, and templates designed to make your life easier and turn your dreams of doing fantastic things for your school community into reality.
The President’s Success Kit is jam-packed with bite-sized nuggets of guidance that will empower you to lead with confidence.
Get your copy today!
Watch this!
Check out this video for a complete rundown of what resources PTO Presidents personally need for themselves as well as to help them with their PTO role:
Over to you!
Leading a PTO / PTA school parent group as President can be a really fulfilling and enjoyable experience as long as you have what you need.
But trying to go it alone or making it up as you go can ultimately lead to a lot of frustration and wasted time.
So if you’re finding that you don’t have any of these specific PTO President resources at your fingertips, be sure to change that and get them today!
