To quit PTA committee position after 1 year?

I did PTA for years. It’s absolutely fine to resign after a year - if everyone did that much you wouldn’t be understaffed!

It’s loads of work and pretty thankless, frankly. It can also be the case that some parents on it don’t have other commitments and so see the role as part of their social life- arranging long meetings o er coffee where you can decide a few things and have a matter- and nothing wrong with that but it doesn’t work if you have lots of other commitments and just want to run the PTA efficiently.

“Given that most people don't volunteer, the answers here will encourage you to give it up, but that's people justifying their own lack of involvement.”

Actually, no.
of course I can only speak for myself but I don’t feel the need to justify anything, and certainly not lack of involvement in a PTA as I’m no longer a parent of school aged children!

@Namechangeforthis112 asked

“Is it AIBU to do this for one academic year and then quit the position?”

Some posters offered fake excuses to drop out, which didn’t sit well with OP.

my response is
“You don’t need to lie.
Just stand down at the end of the year or don’t let your name go forward for next year. No need to explain anything.”

Hope that clarifies.

PS
I agree with your advice re: muting the WhatsApp group and just checking periodically.

Our (historically very successful) PTA is on the verge of folding as we just can't get the volunteers, especially for the trustee positions which we need to continue as a registered charity and of which I am one. It's a shame but it can be a lot of work on top paid work.

I don't blame people for not wanting to come forward but it does annoy me that they'll enjoy the events and likely whinge when they're not put on. Plus the school relies on the money to plug the gaps.

You need to set boundaries as to how much time and effort you are willing/able to give. With only 4 members, it seems insane for the PTA to be organising so many events. They either need more members, less events, or both.

You are perfectly reasonable to step down at any time you want. I'm a cub leader, and I can remember when one of our scout leaders was struggling, our group leader told them that being a scout leader was a hobby, and you are supposed to enjoy a hobby. If you're not enjoying it, or it's too much like work, then it's fine to consider what to do going forward, including stepping down if need be.

It's fine to step back OP. You'd feel guilty if you did it next year or in five years, so if it's a slog and not working for you just stop, send that message and step back.

I think it sounds like they have low engagement and far too many events, which means those involved have a heavy burden.

You need to set boundaries. I am on a committee , i organise one fundraising event per year. If others organise events i will go if i can but not every time. Its best to be honest about what you are willing to do, no volunteer wants to be doing monthly fundraising , its too much.

You need more than 4 of you. I am a former PTA chair, there was me, the treasurer, secretary, deputy chair and about 6 other people who attended meetings but who didn't have a specific title on the committee. And we were still often desperate for extra help.

I mean, yes we can mute the chat but then you miss any important info

Can you have a committee what'sapp and one for wider volunteers?

Then you can ignore the wider waffle and nonsense messages. That's what we have and it works better

I do wish people would engage their brains before posting endlessly in big WhatsApp groups. when two people message backwards and forwards rather than moving to a separate chat it is just so irritating

I asked up-front if it was a part/full time job (the person I took over from didn't work!), I was told 'no, you have a committee and everyone helps out'. This was categorically a lie. Our events/initiatives overlap like yours, so there isn't really a lull, I work and simply have other priorities (not that we should have to justify this is anyway).

I appreciate what you're saying - I was Chair of our school PTA for three years. It's hard because there are so few of you. If you leave then there will only be three members. Is it just the four of you doing the work? That's not how it should be. We started with three members who took handover from the outgoing parents and we quickly recruited as you can't do it with just three people.

I would suggest recruiting class reps. One from each class would be great, two would be amazing.

Class reps could spread messages about events via class WhatsApp groups and recruit helpers for big events.

You also need to find a way to cut down comms so your WhatsApp isn't blowing up every day, but you still need to be able to give information about events, organising helpers etc. Some groups can be set so that replies are not possible - so you could do a PTA group msg with event title and details and then "meeting for X event in local pub on X date".

What did our parents do before WhatsApp? They signed up then turned up. They had in-person meetings to plan events, then they followed up on actions.

WhatsApp now seems to be a way for people to go "yeah I'll help" and then after 100s of messages flying about is swiftly followed by "I'm dropping out because excuses".

It isn't an easy task being on the PTA. People love to slag it off as being cliquey but they don't see the half of what goes into organising stuff - they see "the same people" doing everything and assume it's a clique. It not! It's because nobody else steps in to help, or people offer and then pull out last minute so it falls back on the core team to take on more tasks.

I was lucky as Chair, we had a fantastic team who all pulled together to run events. It was the most successful PTA the school has ever had and we still laugh about some of the behind-the-scenes antics now. Every one of us had a job and children but we made it work. We were also lucky to have a group of helpful dads so it didn't just feel like more work for mums!

Good luck - have a chat with your other members about spreading the load and being more efficient with comms.

I’m a co-chair of PTA, also just about to step down after a year, agree the velocity of events and comms from school (often delivered in a shirty tone) are verging on a part time job. Unsurprisingly no one wants to help out and now neither do I. I don’t think OP should feel bad about stepping down, if anyone is aghast - they could always offer to step up.

It is the steepest learning curve when you start these things, but most rewarding when you know what you are doing and have friends to do it with. Given that most people don't volunteer, the answers here will encourage you to give it up, but that's people justifying their own lack of involvement.

It's better to be involved in a way that works for you than to pull out altogether, so talk to the other volunteers about how to make changes.

For example, you can focus on one or two events only, mute the WA group and look at it twice a week, ask to organise things face to face instead of by message or whatever suits you.

If you keep taking on the work, others will expect you to keep taking on the work.

Now, I just resign politely and walk away.

I had a similar experience with the PTA.

What I did was explain that I was just struggling to keep up with everything but that I did want to help. I suggested a few quite discrete tasks that I could do - they were v happy with me doing the accounts which I find easy due to my work but they found hard. So I left all the WhatsApp groups and stress and they just email me things I need for the accounts and I go to the AGM.

Doesn't have to be the accounts, could be doing one event a year or something but the general principle of doing one thing might work for you

I feel the same. Me and DH are on a committee and the relentless emails and WhatsApp messages are overwhelming. We've both said we didn't get this many emails when we were both working! I'm very much minded to step down and just say I'll help out at certain events.

It definitely sounds like it's time for a recruitment drive.
I think there should be at least one person from each year group - so at least 7 people , 8 if you have a nursery class.
Are you having a Christmas fair? Have a big "Join Us" stall there.

Agree with this. I'm a SAHM but have been doing voluntary work for a few years.

I realised just before the summer holidays this year that I was desperately looking forward to having those six weeks 'off' as I had the children at home which gave me pause for thought... it had basically become an almost full time job, with as much expectation, stress and pressure as paid employment and none of the pay!

I haven't been able to scale back, because I'm one of the old hands now so I've had to walk away entirely. Time to find something else to do but with some firmer boundaries around my time/energy.

OP I did the PTA for just 3 months, I tried it and it was a cliquey bunch of horror. No thank you, not for me!! A year is more than enough if it's too much for you. You could still be a volunteer to help out at events if you want to help without being involved in the day to day admin of it all.

I would raise the issue that your committee needs a few extra members - IME committees of 4 are very stretched, 6 is better, 7 or 8 means you have everything covered, more than that and each meeting descends into chaos without a strong chair. And I would look to recruit your replacement.
I recently resigned from a voluntary role having recruited my replacement and put in place effectively a manual of how to run each aspect I was responsible for. Made stepping in very easy.

You don’t need to lie.

Just stand down at the end of the year or don’t let your name go forward for next year. No need to explain anything.

What you are doing is voluntary work. If that comes at the expense of your paid work, or your family, then consider which are your priorities.

We all feel guilty about the impact that leaving something may have on others, but it isn’t your fault that there aren’t enough people to cover the jobs.

I’ve volunteered for a few different things, including PTA and school governor. When it starts being a proper job, but without pay and it becomes onerous it’s time to stop.

You don’t need to lie. Just say your work commitments have increased, which is true and you can’t commit the time to it now.

Sounds like you are doing too much with too little.
Our PTA had around 8 members and we only did a couple of events a year.
See if you can scale it back, people will complain and when they do you tell them that if they want to come to the next meeting and suggest ways of doing things differently they would be very welcome - they won't