Parent & Teacher Feedback
Q: What do you feel should be the PTO's primary goals in fundraising?
The survey results showed a desire to support students’ educational enrichment at Bethany. Almost half of the votes went to “Experiences, field trips, and guest speakers,” and the “Classroom.”
Comparing this data to how the budget was divided over the past year, the areas to consider increasing in the budget are Student Experiences, Library, and Staff Appreciation. We’ll explore these ideas further in future meetings, and as requests arise.
Part of organizing our future spending has been gathering a list of requested future items and projects from teachers, admin, and parents. You can see this list online here. Please note, these items are not in priority order. Please send any additional ideas or suggestions to vice-president(at)bspto.org.
Q: Where do you currently hear BSPTO news?
By far the majority of respondents learn their PTO news from either the Bobcat Blast weekly newsletter or ParentSquare announcements.
Based on this feedback, it is clear we should consider the Bobcast Blast the primary channel for all PTO news and alerts. This is also the school’s primary communication channel, so it’s simpler for our audience to consolidate school and PTO the news here.
Q: Do you usually attend PTO meetings?
Since the PTO meetings are not the primary source of information, it makes sense to focus the PTO meeting time to things that must be done in a live forum such as discussion and voting on RFFs, the budget, and other votable directives.
Since the majority of parents and teachers do not attend PTO meetings, we ought to consider implementing regular surveys or finding other ways to gather feedback.
Q: What would encourage you to attend more PTO meetings?
We will focus the meeting time by eliminating status updates from committees - news can be posted in the Bobcat Blast. Discussion or critical updates that require feedback or are needed for full transparency (i.e. the Treasurer's Report) will continue to be a part of the agenda. Hopefully this will make meetings feel more efficient and interactive, with more time to focus on discussion and hearing from the teachers and the administration.
We are deeply appreciative of our involved and passionate school community! We realize that not everyone is able to attend our regular PTO meetings, and we feel strongly that the best decisions are informed ones. So in the late fall of 2022, we asked Bethany parents and teachers to take a short survey to provide high-level feedback, which could help shape future decisions.
We received over 180 responses - thank you! - so we feel confident moving forward with your input to help guide our choices in the coming year.