PTO Today

HI,

Sure could use as much help as possible.

We just started our PTO last March. only a handfull of parents in a small school with long history of poor parent participation.

I have taken alot of ideas from PTO Today to form our organization. I sent lay outs to the prinicpal as to what PTO could be doing. I found out at the end of last year the principal took alot of the ideas I suggested (ideas found off this sight) as her own as to school activities. When tried to talk to her about PTO activities and fundraisers, this is the response: PTO's do not do their own activities and do not run fundraisers. We have been approved to do another car wash, and another garage sale. Our job is strickly volunteer and support school based activities. I do not mind supporting school planned activities, but feel it takes away from the organization.

We have now been asked to pay for a school planned activity. We only made about 400.00 last year. If we decline to pay for these activities, then we will be stopped from putting money into promotional areas, and anything else we may want to do for the students. If we give them the money, we will run out, and have nothing to function on.

she says we can have a bake sale during one of their nights, but last year we only made 60.00. I do not think we will do a car wash again unless a miracle happens and I get strong motivated parents. Last year we had help from the high school ROTC students, but we had such a problem with them with foul language, and multiple complaints from customers and parents as to their behavior.

How do you run your PTOs without being manipulated and taken advantage of. I am wanting to do a parent volunteer recogition drawing every semester to try and motivate parents to get involved, but this will take money, and we have been instructed we can not request from local businesses, as this will burn them out, and then they will not get the donations needed for their school planned activities.

Am I being crazy? Am I looking at this all wrong? All I know is that starting a PTO is alot of work, and all I seem to do is bang my head up against a wall. My work has gone for nothing, or others have taken the credit for it. I want the school to be better for all the children, and families. I just know even without it, my son will be fine. PLease help, as I am very close to just putting up my hands and quit. My board members have the same feeling, even though they do not know all the behind problems, they stick in there because I keep pushing positive, yet that bowl is beginning to run low. please help!

I can be e-mailed at freedom4toni@yahoo.com if you would like to communicate that way.

From your description, your principal is bound and determined to undermine any efforts the PTO attempts. It sounds like it's a control issue on her part. Frankly, without her support and cooperation, your chances of growing the PTO to what it could be are slim and none. It's up to you to decide, given the circumstances, how much more time and effort you want to put into this situation.

momsways,

There are a couple of questions that we often ask when we see posts such as this...

The firstand most important... Is your school private or public?

This is very important because it defines what your options are if you can't resolve this. If private then you might just be out of luck.

Next one... is your group under the control of the school, or are you an independant organization. Often this is determined by whether you are filed as a 501(C)(3) non-profit group.

Often private schools may have a parent group, but effectively control the group. When this is the case then normally there isn't too much that you can do.

Now if you are public then you need to look at a couple of things...

If public and you are independant, then your Principal may be "overstepping" her bounds. I quote "overstepping" because in the end she is responsible for the school and you will need her buy-in to get to do the things that you will want to do. But, if public then this Principal has a boss, often a Superintendant of Schhol, as well as a City School Committee with members who define the rules and regulations for the schools within the system. This would possibly be where you would need to go if you could not get through to your Principal.

Very often a public school must rely on an independant organization such as a PTO to legally raise funds. To collect funds without being a non-profit organization could be illegal, or at least have defined rules against this. Someone else may be able to give you more guidance on that...

Now if in the end your group is an independant, 501(C)(3) organization and your school is public, then I would recommend talking with the other similar groups in your system. Find out what they do and how they do it. You may want to visit your City Hall and see if there are any rules regarding what a school can and can't do by themselves. Possibly talk with your Ward's rep on the School Committee.

Once you have everything in order then I would recommend setting up a meeting with your Principal to try to establish the proper and more independant process that you are looking for.

To try to give you some insight, a couple of years ago when we received a new Principal to the school I set up a meeting during the summer to explain to him what we do and how we do it. I explained the proper process for requests and how we define a yearly budget, with his input, but not with his approval. All of this was defined within the group's Bylaws and I used them, as well as the town's regulations, to ensure that I was providing the proper process.

The biggest thing that bothers me is that your Principal stated that "PTO's don't run fundraisers". Umm, if not the PTO then who? If her answer is the school itself then there might be some legal ramifications. Who collects the $. Is there a treasurer? Is there a bank account? Who signs the checks? etc.

Now as a last resort I might recommend using the local media. Imagine the negative P.O. of a local paper or news program reporting that a school's Principal is not following proper procedure, or not allowing parents to be involved within the school. It would be a shame for it to get to that point, but sometimes you have no choice.

I truly hope things work out,
PresidentJim

Dear President Jim,

Thank you for your reply. We are a public school. We have not filed our 501c yet, as I was informed we have to have a full year in to file how much money we made. That is in the process, but now that we are not able to fund raise, I do not know where the money will come from to file. As for our bylaws, they have been with her since last March. I am still waiting for them to get back from her to make sure they do not go against any school policies. I do not know what a problem it could be, as I took them from bylaws from schools that are off the site.
We do have a treasurer for our PTO, and very specific laws set up to protect the funds, all checks have to be double signed, and only her, myself, and the vice president has access to those funds. I had it passed during a meeting that all accounts would be verified each month with the treasurer, the principal or a staff member she appointed, and another board member. the accounts would be opened together, signed as to accuracy, and copy left at school. Our first 3 statements were opened without us, and then we never knew what happened to them, we had to call the bank to find out whywe had not received an account. Now we verify online.
Most of the schools around here are PTA, and in my experience, not very helpful. I will cont to check around and follow your suggestions. I do not want to get ugly with the paper, I think it would hurt the other schools as well, plus I have a hard time getting parents involved, I am afraid it could just make it worse.
I am trying to hang in there right now. I just keep telling my self that the more parents I have the more power I can get to make things work. I am trying to join up with other outside community clubs to help us, I do not think she would say no, if other community members are involved.
Thanks again, and keep us in your thought.