PTO Today

Have to give credit to Tennessee authorities for listening and responding to feedback about the 2007 “school support” regulations that came down last year.

Effective July 1, 2008, several clarifications and improvements have been made (Tennessee regs summarized here). The end result: common sense (and parent groupos and kids around the state) win!

In a nutshell, a needed distinction has been made between school funds and school events and parent group funds and parent group events. Parent groups aren’t required to be 501(c)(3)s and funds are not required to be run through the district. Financial best practices still encouraged. Nice.

Fresno (CA) Bee takes a look at slow, steady decline of PTAs in region and at PTA leadership’s hopes to stem the tide. Good, comprehensive piece captures both sides.

Our PTO v PTA homepage has more on the topic.

I imagine we’ll be seeing a fairly large onslaught of press over next couple of weeks, as PTA hires male CEO and prepares to install first-ever male president. It’s perfect for PR. Here’s the first feature we’ve seen on the PTA CEO hire.

For the record, a couple of clarifications for the article: 1) That 6 million in membership is actually around 5.3 million these days. But what’s three quarters of a million members (or 13%) among friends? 2) That 26,000 units is actually around 23,000 units.

We’ve got an early contender for the 2008 “article that proves people still don’t get it” award, when it comes to parent involvement.

It’s from Chattanooga (TN) and it’s worth a read.

First issue is that writer and Superintendent make the mistaken assumption that a school without a PTA is a school without a parent-teacher group, when the fact is that 75% of the parent-teacher groups in the country are no longer PTAs.  The goal isn’t to have PTAs — the goal is to have great parent involvement and community and support regardless of acronym.   

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County council of Maryland PTA goes dark for lack of leaders and activity. Move doesn’t have too strong an effect on local PTA units there, except where county support is often considered a benefit of PTA afilitation.  Seems that Maryland has had more than its share of regional/county-level intrigue and inaction in recent years.

We’ve seen this before, but the issues have really come to a head in this Connecticut town election.

PTO Council sponsoring a candidate’s forum (perfectly OK, by the way), but all Republican candidates boycotting it because the PTO president had a recent letter to the editor in favor of the Democrats.  Her biggest mistake — she signed that letter with her PTO title included. 

The real trick: will Republican parents now hesitate to join the local PTO?  Hope not, but I imagine they’re facing a real involvement challenge in that town right now.  What a good lesson in why we have to be so careful about mixing politics and PTO work.  The two can often be at odds, whether it’s an issue campaign (”support the tax levy for our schools”) or a personal campaign like this one.

Man, the fur is really flying in Utah over a high-profile effort to bring school vouchers to the state.  From the looks of it, the pros and the cons are running an ad and PR and consultants war ahead of a big upcoming vote.   Lots of passion on both sides.

But my point in covering it here at PTO Today is to take a look at what can happen when politics gets wrapped together with parent group work.  This current Utah story looks at a state PTA official opining that voucher proponents are doing Satan’s work. The proponents are, let’s just say, displeased with this assessment.

And here’s where the trouble comes in, in my opinion, if you’re a local PTA in Utah.  There are bound to be many voucher proponents in your school.  Are those parents going to be happy joining your organization, especially if vouchers are a passionate issue for them.  (more…)

This messy story just goes on and on, it seems.  You may recall that the Prince George’s County (MD) county PTA was disbanded by the Maryland state PTA last spring. County officers (a new slate had been elected just weeks earlier) were less than pleased.  So, the update today is the the state and national PTA have appointed seven “team members” to help local PTAs, though the county complaints contiue.

Doesn’t this all just seem like a whole lot of hubbub about stuff that’s a long, long way from the typical parent group’s goals and experience (and needs)? Or is that just me? Worth noting that the PTA’s in this County send roughly $32,000 per year out to state and national PTA.

So I was interviewed for this embezzle story from an Arkansas paper. Reporter did a good job of capturing most of the basics (PTA dues structure, PTA membership decline), but missed one really key element of the story. Arkansas state PTA leaders make the really bold claim that being a PTA would have prevented this PTO’s embezzle loss. All I suggested was that reporter do a google search on “PTA + Embezzle” and another on “PTO + Embezzle” The clear conclusion: embezzlement is an equal opportunity challenge for parent groups. No doubt. Related link: All of these stories make it more clear than ever that your PTO should get insurance.

Now it’s the Dallas PTA council that has its charter revoked by state PTA. Similar story in Maryland this past spring. Bureaucracy is a lovely thing.