Our bylaws are for parents and guardians and staff at the school.
This is my last year as a MS parent and really enjoy the school atmosphere, but there comes a time to hand things down.

It is often difficult to find officers and volunteers, but we keep plugging along trying to have fun.

Those who no longer have children at the school could always go to the next level with their child.

Our district has a CSO program. Community Service that includes involving the vast talents and knowledge of our Del Webb community.

We sometimes need to let go to find what is in store for us next.


regards

Debbie,

With today's security issues it is necessary to keep a watchful eye on the people who visit the schools.

At our school, the only door available for entry is by the front office. Once you enter that door, to go any further you must present your Driver's license and be checked in.

This is for every one - including parents who are having lunch with their children. And if you are a volunteer at our school you have had to fill out a Background check each year to make sure it is current and up to date.

At our school the Attendance Clerk and/or the Secretary keep up with making sure everyone is checked before entering the building to be with the kids. I personally am glad that our school does it, due to the risks that are out there.

I am not sure if you have ever gone to the website "Family Watchdog", but it is a free site that helps us parents know about the dangers in the area where we live. After visiting that site, I was even more glad that our school does require background checks on all our volunteers and does make a point of documenting every one's driver's license who enters the building.

If your school is wanting to do that but afraid of cost - it needs to see about having the service "donated" to the school as part of the "community reinvestment act". When business donate services to schools, and other areas that "give back to the community as a whole" improving the community and reaching out to the growth and development of such community, that is a benefit for all, which is a tax deduction for that business.

I wish you and your school the very best. Be sure to check out that website to see how safe your area is.

sincerely, Kim
Bayshore PTO

OneandOnly;135459 wrote: Debbie--did you approach school administration & your district about this issue. Although you are a PTO and have your own bylaws, they must be in line with school policy. If they only wish to have people on school grounds that have children that attend the school, then that will have an impact on how your membership is created.
More and more schools are adopting strict security policies and although a member does not have to volunteer; they can. Allowing the general public to be members is inviting them into your school without question. As long as they can say they have PTO business there, that means no background checks, full access to the school and full access to students. And as you can see by reading the events & issues in some posts on this site--not everyone follows the rules or school policy and takes it upon themselves to conduct their own agenda.

I have been very surprised that our district has NOTHING in their rules, regs, or bylaws concerning volunteers. There's never been an issue with any volunteer that couldn't be dealt with at the building admin level, so I think it's never been addressed. Part of me knows that we should have a policy in place, including a background check and fingerprinting BUT reality is that if that was required, we would loose a HUGE chunk of our volunteers. It costs $70 to do and our district cannot afford to absorb that cost and most of our volunteers could not either. When holiday parties are scheduled, there can be 200 parents in the one building, all helping out somewhere. Someone would have to be hired just to check out volunteers at the door to make sure they were "legal" to be there. What about parents who come to eat lunch with their kids and go to the playground?
OK, I think I'm opening a can of worms here! How do schools with these kinds of volunteer requirements do it?

Debbie--did you approach school administration & your district about this issue. Although you are a PTO and have your own bylaws, they must be in line with school policy. If they only wish to have people on school grounds that have children that attend the school, then that will have an impact on how your membership is created.
More and more schools are adopting strict security policies and although a member does not have to volunteer; they can. Allowing the general public to be members is inviting them into your school without question. As long as they can say they have PTO business there, that means no background checks, full access to the school and full access to students. And as you can see by reading the events & issues in some posts on this site--not everyone follows the rules or school policy and takes it upon themselves to conduct their own agenda.

I like Shawn's suggestion of two "levels" of membership/volunteers. At one of my previous schools, membership was defined as parent/guardian of a student and all staff members. We also had so many wonderful grandparents volunteer for library, reading buddies, etc. during the day. With so many working parents, grandparents with time during the day fill a very important role.

I would support bylaws allowing membership to extended family members as well.

Unrelated adults would worry me. If volunteering is their thing, there are many other opportunities within a community that don't involve schools and children.

Relating to another post regarding a teenager, I would support this membership if a mentor/sponsor program was available. A PTO provides many wonderful learning opportunities. The minor could be pared with an adult member and learn so much: The ins and outs of parliamentary procedure; Small scale government practices; People/time/resource management skills, etc.

I guess that truly it doesn't matter, IMHO, who are members because being a member certainly does not equate to being an active volunteer. We are hoping to encourage our very large senior population in this town to share themselves in our school. Technically, they would not have to be members of the PTO to volunteer in our district, as we have no rules from the district concerning that.