PTO Mom Archive

Since the early days of PTO Today magazine, Sharron Kahn Luttrell has been sharing her perspectives on parent involvement through her amusing personal columns; we've compiled them all here. Find highlights and featured stories on the PTO Mom resources page.

• Are You Right for the PTO? - Take our simple test to see whether your personality type makes a good PTO parent.
• When It's Time To Change - This time, Dad has to volunteer.
• One Last Dance - A mom who got involved says thanks for the memories.
• No News Is Good News - A look at some unusual PTO news—very unusual.
• If I Knew Then... - What would kids vote on if they ran the PTO—and controlled the budget?
• Back to Where It All Began - Even 10 years later, returning to her first PTO family feels like coming home.
• Surviving 3rd Grade Graduation - A rite of passage comes earlier.
• Catch the PTO Snowball - Parent group involvement starts small, but as it gathers momentum it leaves you with more than you could have imagined.
• Too Many Product Sales! - An overabundance of fundraisers doesn't necessarily bring in more money—and draws the attention away from where it really counts.
• Getting To Know the Teachers - Parents who cultivate relationships with teachers show their kids that the person standing in front of the blackboard is more than just a classroom figurehead.
• What I Learned in School - 10 hard-earned lessons from almost a decade of volunteering.
• My Foolproof Escape Route - Nothing gets you out of your own head faster than spending time with children.
• PTOs Lead in Times of Need - When it comes to organizing in response to a crisis or tragedy, parent groups have the skills and resources to provide the help that's needed.
• The Long Goodbye - What happens when the kids grow up and there's no more PTO?
• Taking Aim at the Head Table - It's time to update the old meeting model where officers sit at the front of the room and everybody else makes up the audience.
• PTO Headlines of the Future - The influence of parent groups on every part of life and culture has never been clearer than in these predictions.
• Helping Locally for a Common Cause - Hurricane Katrina's aftermath created an instinctive need to act.
• Is It Really Worth It? - Leading a parent group is a lesson in delayed gratification—you work hard now for results that emerge sometimes years down the road.
• To Serve or Not To Serve? - Sometimes, the only answer is no.
• My Daughter the Tycoon - Though they might not comment on it directly, your children see—and remember—the example you set being involved at their school.
• Two Kids, Two Parent Groups - With the kids going to different schools, giving equal time to each PTO was an impossible equation...until both parents got involved.
• Welcoming a New Parent Group - A first experience with the PTO is enlightening—and not at all scary.
• Move It! It's PTO Boot Camp - Forget abs of steel—you need a board of steel! Don't even think about jumping back into the school year without trying our patented shape-up plan first.
• Worth a Thousand Words - Sharing school achievements and news with the greater community serves as a very public way to invite their participation.
• Breaking Up Our PTO - The break-up of a districtwide PTO into smaller, school-based groups provided a lesson in viewing change as an opportunity rather than a setback.
• Keep Up With District-Level Issues - For a greater understanding of the issues facing your school, have a delegate regularly attend meetings of the school board.