This week has been the week from HELL where PTO is concerned. We just finished a VERY BIG fundraiser and I had to tally, total, and collect money and orders for 600+ students. Imagine with me for a moment how many checks that is that I have to keep track of which checks came from which kid and who's class they are in and what grade. It's been MADDENING. (More on that below)
I don't know if I've told you this or not but we have the SMALLEST PTO EVER in history. There are 4 of us. There's me, Denise, Tammy and Lisa.(names have been changed to protect the innocent)
Lisa is SUPPOSED to be our Secretary. We elected her at the end of the year last year because the teacher that was on PTO as our Secretary was moving out of state and we had to find someone to fill the job. Little did we know that Lisa is a MAJOR alcoholic. She does not own a computer or typewriter, nor can she spell. She has been pretty useless to us ALL YEAR because she's either too hungover or doesn't know how to DO the stuff she is supposed to be doing. So her job as Secretary has been absorbed into my job as Treasurer. (Can you sense that I have a little bit of anger over this?? WHY ON EARTH would you nominate yourself for a position on the PTO that you KNOW you can't do?)
Tammy is the Vice President. She hasn't been useful to us all year due to extenuating circumstances with her health so her job as Vice President has been absorbed into Denise's job as President.
Denise and I don't WANT to be the only two moms on PTO but we have no choice. We tried to hold new elections and nobody even showed up let alone nominated themselves for a position. It's sad really, but not surprising. The area we live in is pretty rural and parents just don't get involved. Last year we actually had parents drop their kids off at music programs and leave them and not even stay to watch the program. It really makes me sad.
So the two of us are doing the work that normally 20 or more moms would do.
I spend more time at the school than I do at home. The upshot to that is that I am always able to see the boys at school.
I don't mind helping out, really I don't. I bitch all the time to Bart about all the stuff I have to do but deep down inside I kinda love it. I love being involved with the kids school. I think MORE parents should be more involved. I know people that NEVER set foot inside their kids schools except to register them. That's just sad.
Here's all the stuff that TWO PTO moms are doing this year:
*Organizing and running any fundraisers we have during the school year. (we are doing 4 this year) The fundraiser I just finished lasted 3 weeks. Two weeks for sales and one to collect the orders. Today I submitted all of the orders to the fundraiser company and now I have the daunting task of counting and tallying and entering checks, cash, and change into spreadsheets to prepare a deposit. I have over 600 checks and I have no idea how much cash and change to count and tally. You should see my bed right now. It looks like a bank threw up on it. I asked Bart today.. "Do you think it would be wrong of me to dump all the cash in a pile and roll around on it before I count it?" He just laughed... I'm still undecided on whether I'll do it or not, I'm thinking it would be "frowned" on by the principal, not that she would have to know..
*Putting together and submitting the Yearbook.. Let's just say here I have NEVER put together a Yearbook before. Our treasurer last year handled that and I have NO idea what I'm doing...I just hope I don't screw it up.
*Organizing and planning the annual Fall Festival that is coming up on October 17th. Booths, Concessions, and advertising. I got this one! I LOVE festivals and I LOVE food! We're doing hot dogs, nachos, and snow cones. There will be a cake walk, a booth where people can pay to throw whipped cream pies at the teachers and a dunking booth for the principal. Moonwalks, face painting and all sorts of stuff. We've been planning this since the beginning of the year so it's really not as stressful as it sounds.
Organizing, arranging for donations, and putting together themed baskets for annual Silent Auction. Did this one last year so it's not a big deal either. Basically I go to local businesses and ask them to donate a service or item to the school. I give them a list of the themed baskets we're doing and they always have something to offer us. Last year we did 24 baskets. They cost us basically NOTHING and we made almost 7 grand for the school. It was pretty awesome.
Organizing and planning the annual Kids Christmas Shoppe. Yep did this one too last year. Denise and I go to the dollar store and snatch up all the "gift" items we can find that we think will sell well. Bring them back to the school and the kids can come and "shop" for their parents. We buy items for a dollar tax exempt. Then turn around and sell them for 2.00 each and make a profit for the school. Last year we spent 800.00 and only had about 20 items left. Which means we sold 780 items for 1560.00. It was pretty easy and made a good bit of cash for the school.
Putting together a weekly, monthly and quarterly as well as annual Treasurer's report and Financial Statement. I can balance a checkbook and I have last years reports to go off of as to how to format them so I think I'm good on this one too.
I'm also the school Photographer for the yearbook. I'll be taking all of the photos that aren't actual "school" pictures. I took a LOT of the pics for the yearbook last year so this isn't a big deal either..I also take Grandparent's Day Pictures and sell them for 5.00 each on Grandparent's day when the kids are having lunch with the Grandparents. We set up a cutesy bench with a fall type setting around it and I take photos. Then have them printed and return them to the students by the end of the week. It's been a HUGE hit. I donate my time to the school, and the photo editing. Print them off at walmart and we make at least a 4.00 profit on each photo. Last year I think we took about 300 pictures.
Putting together the Grade Level slideshows from said photos that will be shown at awards ceremonies at the end of the year, THEN submitting them to the company that makes the DVD's that we will sell after awards ceremonies. Easy. These are just done in Powerpoint and set to music. They're a big hit.
Video taping the music programs and editing and preparing them for the company that makes the DVD's that we will sell after the music programs. Also easy. I use Adobe Premiere to edit the videos and add effects then send it off to the company for burning to DVDs.
Also PTO is in charge of all of the Field Day stuff. We set up our Snow Cone and Popcorn Machine outside the Gym during field days and sell Snow Cones and Popcorn. I am officially the Queen of running the Popcorn Machine. That Snow Cone machine kinda scares me. I'd rather burn the hell out of myself than have my hand chewed off in that thing any day..
This will be my LAST year on PTO for this particular school.(I turned in my resignation to the Principal already this year just to be sure she understood that she would need to fill my position with someone new for next year) Next year two of my boys will be in Middle School and I'll just have one in Elementary, so it only seems fair that I spend more time at the school where the majority of my kids are. Besides I'll get to go and be Band mom next year. Being as how I was the biggest Band Geek you will ever know this excites me more than you will ever understand. When I was in Junior High and High School I played the Flute, Clarinet and Bass Clarinet in the Marching Band. I LOVED football games, and after school practices. I'll get to live vicariously all over again through Austin. It's going to SO ROCK.
Anyways, just wanted to write a short update so you wouldn't all think I had abandoned my blog again, I've just been buried in fundraiser crap. I'm going to get all this money and checks tallied over the weekend so I can get it all in the bank where it belongs. Then I'll have a few days to relax before we start running like crazy women again prepping for Fall Festival.
Hope everyone has a great weekend!!
Recent Comments