"I Got a Feeling....."

Although this post is written after the night of the great event, I must say the Black Eyed Peas song, truly fits the occasion. I am taking off my teacher hat for a moment and putting on  my PTO president hat. We had our Open House on Tuesday night...and it was a great one. We go a little over the top at my school with ways to get parents, students, faculty, and staff excited about coming to our school. But last night we really put on a show and you know what.....families showed up! This year our theme was "Rolling out the Red Carpet for our VIP families." Yes, we really did have "makeshift" red carpets. We gave children "swag bags" as they came in. Teachers took pictures as the paparazzi of students and their families in front of our Hollywood backdrop. We had giveaways. Students could sign their "autographs" to go on our Famous Families bulletin board. Students were given the star treatment with stickers. We decorated our lobby area with balloons, and red, gold, and black decorations to give the front of our auditorium the look of a Hollywood movie premier.  All this while also having a fundraising hot dog and bake sale. The school staff really showed their spirit by dressing up in their "star styles" that night.

The aim for me is to get students and families excited about coming to school so that they feel welcome at anytime to share the good as well as the challenges that may come along their way during their child's school career. We have also beefed up our efforts to stay in contact with families, using the technologies that a lot of our younger and even more seasoned parents use such as Facebook, text messaging services, and direct emails. Judging from the responses from parents and students that night, I am hopeful that our next events are just as successful.

 I really believe in developing a positive school-home-student connection. This morning as I walked around the school tidying up any areas that weren't cleared from the event, I could hear students ask each other...."Did you go to PTO? I went to PTO it was awesome....." It is great to hear students excited and talking about their school with pride and joy. By the way, it wasn't all glitz and glamor. We did discuss school safety, fundraising, reading goals, and other important school items. The difference is the way we did it. I believe if you can get someone to feel good about something, they are more likely to respond positively. Tuesday night at my school, I think we gave a lot of families a good feeling to go home with.

Here is a little more about the nuts and bolts. We aren't a fancy school. We are located in a small town. Our student population peeks at about 600. We have pre-k to 5th grade. We have a diverse mix of students including Black, White, and Hispanic. We have a large population of free-and reduced lunch students. The event itself wasn't costly. Decorations and all the things that gave it a "movie star feel" costs less than $100. We used our cafeteria to order the hot dogs that we sold and our teachers and PTO board volunteered to bake the items we sold. It wasn't the size of the dog in this fight to win over our families, but the fight in the dog. We are a school that follows The Leader In Me and we really proved that synergizing, and beginning with the end in mind can outweigh a lot of the factors that people usually say are the reasons why parents don't show up. Parents want to feel welcomed and special. Last night we aimed to do that with style.....Hooray for Hollywood!