PTO Today

I attend a school that the PTO is run by the teachers and principal, this way the principal can have money spent her way and it is riduculus. they do not even follow the bylaws, they do what they want. A teacher ran against a parent for president and the teacher is not even a member of PTO, not eligible to run for office, and the Principal at the school overrode the ballots. The parents want to form another parent orgainization on campus, can this be done? So can the parents form another PTO or PTA that is run by the parents even though there is an active PTO ran by all teachers?

I am very interested to hear any replies to your question as there is a similar situation in our school!

There was another Thread going that said something I think is important...

The Teachers and Principal should be on the PTO... but not as exec board!

SOMEONE needs to speak for the parents and students!

I would approach the Principal about this... tell her that the parents of the school would like to start a PTO/A to speak for that part of the school

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Holley Richardson
Taneytown Elementary School
PTO - Welcome and Hospitility Chair
Taneytown, Maryland

I think creating a PTA is ok, but you need to get approval from the Board of Education. They may veto this based on the fact that a PTO is already in existence. To reply to this (would present this at a board of ed meeting so its in the minutes) you should have concrete facts on when the bylaws have not been followed, how monies are being used, how they could be used if parents were allowed on the board, etc. You will be asking the boss of your Principal to step on his/her toes. So you will need hard facts & examples. Suggest doing this after you have a private conversation with the Principal voiceing these concerns and asking that Exec. Bd positions return to parents with active roles by teacher liaison's & Principal. You may suggest that parents may not be as supportive if they are continually excluded from the decision making process on the funds that were raised through parent purchases! Also, If you have another parent or two there with you, it may present a stronger case & it's not viewed as just your opinion. Be professional and prepared. It will be difficult, but try not to get emotional. Know that you have a plan B by going to the board about creating a PTA, but don't let on about it.

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Making a positive difference one project at a time

I can't agree with this as a blanket statement. Sometimes Principals and Teacher reps are full voting members of the Board, sometimes non-voting members, and sometimes not considered part of the Board. It varies from organization to organization.

Thing about this is that your struggle here has nothing to do with the acronym.

If you were a PTA where the teachers and principals were exerting too much influence and stifling parent involvement, then forming a new PTO to sit aside the PTA wouldn't be the solution.

Same thing if you were a PTO where the teachers and principals were exerting too much influence.

Your struggle is what I call a "balance problem", where the ratio of influence isn't in agood spot. Granted, yours is more out of whack than most, but...

You've got to try and tackle that basic problem. How has it developed? Maybe parents dropped the ball a long time ago? Maybe the staff doesn't understand the proven value of parent involvement.

Even in the best working groups there's a balance -- the parents don't do whatever they want whenever they want; just as the staff doesn't do whatever it wants whenever it wants without parent input.

No matter the acronym, if you don't have that balance/understanding, you'll face your current struggles.

Tim