PTO Today

For those of you who have been involved with a playground fundraising effort, you know that it’s an ambitious and rewarding project. Just look at the faces of the children at a new playground grand opening and all your efforts are instantly rewarded.

The tenacity of the elementary school PTA featured in this recent article is admirable. To date they have raised 37K and secured matching grant funding.But what makes it even better is that they are holding a barbecue and silent auction to raise even more money. Why? To replace the gravel on the playground with compressed wood chips — a wheelchair-friendly product that will let their special-needs preschoolers enjoy the playground. That’s going to be one awesome playground.

Always love it when a PTO project gets completed successfully.   In this case — thanks to the PTO — this school backyard no longer looks directly into an active cemetary.

Love it even more when a Lowe’s Toolbox for Education grant is a big part of the reason why the project worked.. 

Nice.

I honestly don’t think Lowe’s support of parent involvement and of PTOs and PTAs gets near enough credit.  These guys really walk the walk when it comes to supporting schools in the communities where they do business.  I may be missing a program, but I’m fairly certain that the Lowe’s Toolbox for Education program is by far the largest and most generous grant program focused primarily on school PTOs and PTAs in the whole country.

Thanks Lowe’s!

The 2nd cycle of the 2008-09 school year was just completed.  The totals — more than $4,000,000 shared with more than 900 local parent groups across the country.  And that’s just this year.  The Toolbox program is now well over $10 million in total.  Double thanks, Lowe’s!

PTO Today is proud of the modest role we play as the communications and administrative team behind the scenes of Toolbox. None of this would happen without the generosity of the Lowe’s Charitable & Educational Foundation. Hundreds of playgrounds, hundreds of school grounds upgrades, hundreds of school signs, and innumerable creative building projects that don’t fit squarely in a common category (but which all are making schools better places…) — awesome.

Let’s Build Something Together is the Lowe’s tag line.  With this program, they’re really making that a reality.  Can your group gear up now to get involved next year?  

Congrats to this PTA mom from Maryland who’s up for a statewide parent involvement honor.  Her achievement?  Securing a $300,000 grant for a new handicapped-accessible playground for her school.  Sounds like it’s going to be amazing.

Local PTO, principal and a local church group looking for a project team up in a big way to transform a school. Very cool. We’re talking, painting, murals, moving fences, landscaping — the whole enchilada. Great casue. Great effort.

Wow, this is really the week for honoring PTOs. First it was the school throwing the nice party for its PTO. And now Ellen Degeneres is giving away brand new playgrounds to two deserving groups.

Side note: looks like our friends at Playworld Systems were heavily involved in this program with Ellen. That new NEOS playground system of theirs looks cool.

Yup, turtle races. Love the creativity of these PTOers in Massachusetts, who are planning a ton of activities centered on a man-made river (in the schoolyard) with plastic turtles floating downstream. The article contains really good detail on the build-up and plans for the turtle race event, which is a big fundraiser for a new playground project. Nice job.

Story is a great example of the “doing fewer things but doing those things better” philosophy that we’ve written about in the magazine for years. This is the kind of event that — done well — can change the reputation of a PTO for the better.

We can’t let our schools become factories. I’m all for accountability, but one of the first questions with accountability is: “what are you counting?” And for me, when it comes to school, SAT scores are not all that we should be counting. It’s why I love playgrounds at schools and schools that realize that extra-curriculars matter and schools that realize the atmosphere and discipline and caring matter, too. These are many of the things that PTOs and PTAs are so good about bringing into and keeping at school.

And it’s why this LA Times story on significant declines in school field trips is so disconcerting. Thank God for the parent groups doing what they can to stem this tide. Also worthwhile to give credit (as the story does) to the good work of one of our favorite partners, Target, on this issue. Their field trip grant program is a step in the right direction.

We couldn’t be more proud of our affiliation with Lowe’s and the Toolbox for Education program or more thankful for Lowe’s support of PTOs and PTAs nationwide. It’s the only comprehensive grant program focused exclusively on the work of school PTO sand PTAs — and Lowe’s has now given millions to groups through this effort.

Here’s just one great Lowe’s giving story from Lynn, MA. These guys built wooden easels for all their teachers thanks to their grant.

Similarly, I was lucky enough to attend a ribbon-cutting for a local playground recently. Lowe’s generously contributed nearly half the funds needed for the build. So great to see a couple of hundred little faces as they surged toward their new school backyard. Very cool.

Love the smiling faces on these Mississippi PTO leaders, as they celebrate receipt of dollars to complete their playground pavilion. 

Group received grant from the Lowe’s Toolbox for Education program, which PTO Today is proud to be a part of.  Next application deadline is coming up soon, actually.  Complete details here.