PTO Today

I am currently PTO President and have been informend that our school district superintendent wants to force all PTO's to become PTA's. Our school has been set up at a PTO for at least 13 years. We have By-laws, EIN, and 501c3 status. We comply with all federal, state and school district reporting requirements.
It is my understanding that PTO's are seperate legal entities from the school and the school district. So, what authority does the superintendent have, if any, to force this type of change?

he probably has no direct say in that matter, but then (you can check your board policies) he probabaly has the authority to prevent your group from doing any activity/busineess/meeting etc, on school grounds, if he so chooses.

Hi Needin--

Yeah, beignets has it. Super has no authority to force you to shut down an independent 501c3, but super has lots of influence in school district (officially and politically). Super can certainly put policies in place, for example, to have principals only deal with (attend meetings of, allow fliers from) a certain parent group.

Key will be education. Many supers make these assessments based on wrong information or wrong or outdated assessments of the relative merits of PTOs or PTAs. Often that information is provided by PTA staffers who are having no luck getting units themselves to stay PTA. Educating your super on how great you are doing independently is key. And alos learning what concerns are leading the super to this conclusion. In most cases, the super doesn't realize that those concerns are easily handled by PTOs, too.

Tim

Stand up for what you believe is the right way to go. But ultimately it is all for the children. Sometimes you can't fight city hall. I have been a PTA member for 5 years. I do it for the kids., Not only mine but to see and to get to know the other kids in the school. To familiarize myself with the community. We are not always going to agree with the higher ups, don't be afraid to have your voice heard! Maybe others will voice their opinion and bring the side together for a compromise!
GOOD LUCK!

Have a group of parents that are concerned about this attend your next board of education meeting. If you have more than one school in the district, have all of them representated.

Ask the question and make it a part of record and on the minutes. Ask what the reasoning and justification is for making such a request and what the consequences are for not abiding by the request is.

__________________
Doing it for my one and only ~~ my son!

I agree with OneandOnly. You may want to find out who the representative is for your school's Ward on the cities' School Committee. Contact that person and explain the issues/concerns.

As I am looking to run for City School Committee in 2 years I have learned a few things. The main job of a City School Committee is selection, and if necessary, firing of the Superintendant of Schools. Almost everything related to the schools needs to be approved by the town's School Committee. For example, recently I pushed the idea of my PTO paying for an upgrade for our school to the Online Accelerated Reading program. This was around a $1700 effort, or so. I had to actually, once it was discussed and agreed upon by the coimmittee and then the Principal, write up a letter for the School Committee. They had to discuss it and approve it before we could proceed.

The point is that the Superintendant's "boss", which should be the School Committee, is the correct place to bring up this issue. Have your facts straight before attempting this though. Questions such as insurance, differences between PTO and PTA, the good things your group has done, etc.

In fact, if it was me I would be contacting all of the cities' PTO Presidents and working together on this, in order to present a united front.

Good luck, PresidentJim

I would like to know if this was resolved, were you actually forced to change or were you able to fight it?