To be upset about other parents apathy could cause our pre-school to close for good

[Ripeberry]

Got back from our Pre-school AGM last night.
Cheese and Wine was on the table and the parents had been invited and REMINDED for the last 3 weeks that they should attend for the good of the school and also to talk about their child's progress.
We were expecting about 12 parents, would have been happy with just half that.
Guess how many turned up..... NONE!
It was just us, the original committee members from last year, except one so we only had 4 and only one was a parent...me!
Because there were only 4 of us we could not make any decisions (must be at least 5) so the meeting was disolved.
Our secretary is in the process of sending out letter to basically tell these "selfish" parents that if they do not attend the EGM then the pre-school will close...end of.
I know some people are busy and don't have time, BUT they only need to attend for 1hr a month, we can always go to soemone's house if they can't leave due to babysitting, we are very flexible and friendly group.
Very upsetting if it does close as it has been running for over 20yrs in our village and it's in a beautifull purpose built building.
The other thing is, that if it closes then the out of school club will have to close and they can't survive without the pre-school and a vital resourse will be lost.
Rant over
AB

I think it's reasonable to feel annoyed and upset but unreasonable to call the parents selfish - if the pre-school isn't important to them, then it's not important to them. It's only the parents who say 'oh I don't want it to close' and then do sweet FA about it who are selfish IMO.

How upsetting for you.

Once a month is quite a commitment though.

Especially if people also have children at school, and need to attend meeting re those issues.

Could you make the meeting less frequent?

And maybe show off some of the children's work/crafts etc to draw in more of a crowd at the next AGM?

Hopefully the letter that is being sent out will spur people on to get more involved.

This is a regular occurence with pre schools I think. Hey, they can't be arsed, they'll have to live with the consequences. I think if you need t be sure you'll have enough people to vote/whatever thne you need definite commitments in advance otherwise everyone assumes someone else is going and they don't need to.

So either
a) let it close
b) re arrange and get agreement from people that they're coming

You can't make people interested really!

We have our pre-school AGM at lunch time in the pre-school so that parents just stay for a bit when they pick the kids up, and the kids stay and have free lunch club.
It is very difficult to get people back in the evenings for any event I find especially if they need babysitters.
Can you arrange the EGM for a similar time so that you get the maximum number attending?
Do you have a speaker - maybe a local headmaster / reception teacher - that sometimes helps attract parents to stay as they can find out how the pre-school links with other organisations.
As for the meetings can you do them less frequently? maybe use e-mail a bit more to get discussions started?
Good Luck!

Why do you have to meet once a month? our constitution only says once a term, although we try to meet every half term. Agree once a month is hard with small children whatever time of day.

Agree monthly meetings seems a bit ott. Once a term should be plenty I'd have thought, and second zubb's comments that it should be during the day as it makes it much easier for parents to come. If you can't have it over lunch perhaps straight after drop off? either at the pre-school itself or over coffee and cake in someone's house?

Once a month?! I don't spend that much time out with dh!!

While I think it's a shame you don't feel you're getting support for you pre-school, I do think it's a little unrealistic. Agree with others that you should either move the time or make it once termly.

(feeling rather relieved my dses went to a sessional term-time only nursery paid for with vouchers but required no volunteering/involvement other than that you fancied doing)

We have our pre-school agm in November and I've just drafted and sent out a letter to the parents in the hope that we will get at least one parent to turn up because we don't usually. It's very frustrating and we also have the same apathy when it comes to fundraising.
We only have meetings once every half-term, but I don't think once a month is too much.
We hold our pre-school in our village hall and I'm the pre-school rep on the village hall committee which does meet once a month. It does take a bit of juggling sometimes because dh gets home late but it's only once a month.
I get sick and tired of hearing that people are too busy. It's not a lot of time.

Thank you all for your replies. Problem is that the evenings are the only time suitable for meeting, as a lot of the parents work during the day and it's grandparents and childminders who pick up the kids at 12.30pm.
Just such a waste, hope the letter does get them thinking.
AB

i started at my sons PTA committy in september (he has just gone to hight school) there are 1000 pupils at the school and 5 people inc me in the PTA (and 3 of them have roles)