Is there really a good time or should you be jumping around trying trying to see what works in your community?
Did you know that there actually is a best time to have a PTO or a PTA meeting?
Yes, really there is!
So don’t waste time experimenting on your own to find the best day and time, because I’ve got the answer for you!
But first, let’s talk about what absolutely doesn’t work.
By going through the “loser” strategies, you’ll better understand the best approach to scheduling PTO meetings.
Loser Strategy #1: Ever Changing Meeting Days and Times
Some groups find that no one is coming to their PTO meetings, so they adopt an approach that at first blush may seem like it’ll work.
But in the long-term, it’s not a workable approach.
They schedule meetings at different times and days in an attempt to please everyone, which almost never works.
One month, the meeting will be at 9 am on the first Monday of the month.
A few parents show, but not many.
There are rumblings about why no one came to the meeting.
Maybe because people are working and don’t want to take vacation time to come to a PTO meeting?
Probably, the group decides.
So the group pivots the next month and tries a little later in the day at 4 pm, so that teachers and the Principal can come.
The group is looking to boost teacher involvement, after all.
But not many more parents turn out for the meeting and although the Principal comes, the teachers don’t really attend as expected.
Frustrated, the group leaders vow to try yet another time and day the next month to get more parent involved.
Spoiler alert: the next month’s meeting attendance isn’t any better.
The group feels like parents are ghosting them!
That’s the end of the sad story.
Let’s talk about why this meeting strategy flopped.
A huge reason why this scattershot meeting scheduling approach doesn’t work is because you just can’t please everyone.
And because it’s confusing when the meetings are at different time and on different days each month.
You shouldn’t try to please everyone either.
You are neither chocolate, nor pizza, and therefore incapable of pleasing everyone!
But there’s bigger, more important and entirely serious reason for not trying to please everyone with this scattershot approach.
That’s because participation in your PTO or PTA should not be predicated on whether or not parents or teachers can come to meetings.
If the only way that someone could know what is going on in your school parent group is by coming to a PTO meeting, that’s a huge mistake (and a topic for another time).
If this is the case for your group, then you really need to dig into how to better communicate with your school community.
Here are a bunch of communication ideas to steal and use for your PTO to publicize meetings and events your own.
Loser Strategy #2: Running Multiple Meetings Per Month
Another strategy I’ve seen some PTOs use is to host multiple meetings in a day.
They’ll have one at 9 am, and another at 7 pm the same day, for example.
The thinking is similar to trying to please everyone one, and making the PTO leaders available to provide information to attendees when they can come to the meeting.
This approach makes my head hurt. A lot.
Back when I was a newer PTO President, it was enough for me to run one meeting a month.
Trying to host multiple meetings, in the same day each month?
I would’ve broken out in hives at the thought!
I know we all volunteer like it’s our real job, but seriously this is just too much.
It’s too big of an ask for the volunteers running the meetings.
But it’s a poor strategy for other reasons as well.
One being that you’re going to have fractured conversations across the meetings.
The best meetings are when all of the people are in the room at the same time so that you can fully discuss an idea.
There’s a great deal of value in not waiting for the opinion or the information that another volunteer or maybe the teacher liaison or the principal might have and being able to reach a consensus on the spot.
If you’re having multiple meetings per month to try and reach folks, then that can’t happen.
First because I’ll bet big bucks that the Principal is not going to be able to come to both meetings.
Same with the Teacher Liaison.
They’re busy with teaching and work during the day, and probably will just opt to come to one of the meetings as well.
So you’re going to miss out on that perspectives of both the Principal and Teacher Liaison at one of the meetings.
And same with the point meeting attendees raise during the meetings.
Somebody at noon could bring up one point and then somebody at the 7:00 p.m. meeting may bring up something entirely different, yet valid that the earlier meeting attendees won’t have the benefit of hearing.
The split meeting will mean that decisions can’t be made on the spot and everything will be drawn out, making for a less productive process altogether.
Group decision and community is at the heart of PTO and this approach violates both of those premises.
Unified and Consistent Meeting Scheduling Is Best: Here’s Why
The best time for a school parent group meeting may seem a little counterintuitive, but it’s by choosing the same day of the month and sticking with the same time of day.
Yes, this in fact will lead to more parents being able to attend the meetings and ultimately get involved with your PTO.
So the meeting schedule is this: First choose a day of the month, first Tuesday, Second Thursday, etc.
And then choose a time.
A start time of 7 pm works well for many school parent groups.
This set time will draw people in and boost attendance in the long run.
And that’s because a consistent meeting schedule allows people to get everything scheduled on their calendar in advance and make plans to attend.
Most organizations that meet monthly meet on the same day of the month and at the same time, consistently.
And as people become more familiar with the organization, it becomes easy to remember that meeting schedule.
Look at your school board’s meetings, for example.
They’re not randomly scheduled.
The public meetings are at the same time and day each month and occur on a regular basis.
Be a copycat and do the same for your school parent group!
Consistent meeting scheduling will allow people who are or who are involved in other organizations to fit the PTO meetings into their schedule.
It’s this regularity and the predictability that will allow parents to come to meetings on a more frequent basis.
Why 7 pm?
Having attended many PTO meetings throughout my volunteer career, I have settled on a preferred start time: 7 pm.
Why?
It’s late enough after dinner for parents to come and have like dinner taken care of, kids started on homework, and mostly have their home life squared away so they can get away for an hour or so.
And it’s also still early enough that you can have an hour-long meeting and be out of there by 8.
So the pressure is, if you don’t want to be out too late because your kids are young and they have to get to bed, well, you need to hurry up, follow that meeting agenda, and discuss everything and table leftovers to discuss next month.
Hour long meetings are best for PTOs anyway, so a 7 pm start time fits into that framework perfectly.
For parents who are working 9 to 5, I think any time earlier than 7 pm it is really hard, especially if they are working downtown and have to manage rush hour traffic.
It is not a great time for teachers and principals, admittedly.
But the bulk of the PTO’s work needs to be happening from the parents.
So that means the meeting time should work best for the school’s parents as a first consideration.
Resources You’ll Love
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Watch This!
Over to You
The bottom line when scheduling PTO meetings is to avoid the temptation to try and please everyone with the meeting time.
You’re just not going to be able to achieve that; there’s just too much going on.
It’s far better for you to be consistent in your meeting date and time for your PTO and PTA so that you actually will begin to maximize the amount of parents who can come.
When your PTO meetings are predictable, when parents know the meeting date and time, that consistency is really going to yield the higher meeting attendance you’re looking for.
