PTO Today

Sounds like these folks are making strong involvement progress bringing lessons from statewide training program back to their school.

Love this quote:

“There are four levels of community and school relationships,” Tyree said.

“There are closed doors where no one is welcome, doors open but no one is invited, only invited if asked, and then the partnership school, which is what we want to be.”

That’s dead-on perfect.  Good luck!

This heated debate about a PTOs role in a local education vote from a Connecticut website is interesting on several levels.

First, it’s a real look into the passions that are so much a part of local politics, especially around schools. I give credits to both sides here for their engagement.  Much better than the opposite (apathy).

But the debate captures very well what almost inevitably happens when the local PTO or PTA gets actively involved on one side or the other of a political issue. Politics by definition are divisive.  And groups that take political stands need to do so expecting acrimony.

The PTO critic in the linked debate captures the danger:

I did not know that my children were being used to raise money for an organization that can advocate for anything. I would be happy to have my kids raise money for the WEF, since they have it in their by-laws that they can not advocate for any political issue. Whether we like it or not, and I don’t, this has become a political issue.

I’ve been saying for a long time that the vast majority of parents/members of local PTOs and PTAs don’t think of the parent group as a political organization. They think of it as a parent involvement and community-building and support organization.  This debate captures that fairly well.

For the record, I don’t have a problem with this Connecticut PTO.  Sounds like they have a very active, successful group and they were above board in their work here.  We’ve worked with many groups (PTAs obviosulsy and also many PTOs) who do feel like politics is part of their function, especially on school issues.

But it’s my observation that political work and “grow community/build involvement at school” goials are often in direct conflict with one another.  Good for PTOs to be fully aware of that before heading down the political path. 

This issue is creeping its way across the country.  Here, a PA district and its parent groups deal with after-effects of a lawsuit-driven ban on backpack express announcements.

My take on why these backpack express bans are nonsense was posted a few weeks back.

What was once a very minor annoyance is becoming a more common challenge for many PTOs and PTAs. We’ve tracked several communities where school parent-teacher groups (PTOs and PTAs) have been banned from using the backpack express to communicate with parents.  I’ll explain below, but cutting to the chase — this is horrible policy that does harm to schools.  And it doesn’t have to be this way.  Nuance and a backbone are both wonderful things.

For background, here’s a post on our message boards about this topic.  And here’s a story from Minnesota about one school board making this poor decision.  And a follow-up from same paper on the after-effects to date.

The real failing here is equating the local school PTO with the local karate school or the Church down the street from the school. That’s hogwash.

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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?  

Yup, in the world of what PTOs and PTAs can and can’t do in the political realm, this one is definitely a no-no.  Neither schools nor any 501c3 non-profit is allowed to specifically endorse candidates for public office.  This Idaho group did and is now on the hot seat.

As an FYI, it *is* OK for a non-profit to be involved with politics, but only in approved ways.  Example:  it is OK for a non-profit to try to help educate voters on an issue.  Additionally, OK for a non-profit to hold, say,  a “meet the candidates” night.  Big difference, too, between supporting a particular candidate and supporting a cause.  OK, for example, for the cancer society, to advocate for more cancer research funding.  Wouldn’t be OK for cancer society to promote a particular candidate by name, even if that candidate was loudly for increased research funding.  Subtle but key difference.

Trouble (legal trouble or just ill will within a group) often starts when school staff or district officials push the parent groups to endorse a bond levy or tax override vote.  Has your group been in this position? 

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.

Wow — this is the harshest sentence we’ve seen yet for a PTO or PTA embezzle case.  This Arkansas treasurer convicted of taking $23,000 (and that’s just what they can prove).

We do like the fact that this case was prosecuted and taken seriously. Too often, groups or schools try to sweep these cases under the rug or prosecutors downplay the damage.  Make no mistake — this is stealing from kids and violating a trust.  There’s also often even further damage to the support and involvement at a a particular school for years.

More than worth it to use smart, basic money hanbling procedures.  And to get insured.

Love it when districts “get it” when it comes to honoring and valuing volunteer efforts in schools.  Here’s a recent parent-focused release from the Anoka-Hennepin district in Minnesota that captures that well.

Two more cool things about the release: 

1. All that data on volunteer hours was captured because the district uses our PTO Manager “Volunteer Builder” software to help encourage volunteering and to track volunteer efforts.  Neat to see such nice end results.

2. We’re goig to be in Anoka-Hennepin Tuesday for our PTO Expo.  I’ll be presenting a “best habits of successful PTOs and PTAs” keynote in the morning.  If you’re in the area, i hope you’ll come by.

On the heels of the Go Green Night announcement last weekend, we’re equally excited to be working with the folks at Symantec to introduce an annual Internet Safety Week for schools.  For 2009, ISW is next week, April 27 – May 1.

Couple of relevant pieces to this story for you:

1. We’ve created a great set of resources for parents over on SchoolFamily.com.  Check out our Internet Safety Week section for all kinds of insight and tools.  I hope you’ll share the link in your emails (you are using the new, free Parent Express Email service, aren’t you?), your websites and even your print newsletters to home.

2. We created a flyer to help you participate in Internet Safety Week at your school.  It has great tips for helping your parents engage with their kids online, which is the first step to all of this. You can download the photocopy-ready flyer there (from our File Exchange) and share with all of your parents.

3. Symantec just launched its new, free OnlineFamily.Norton service for families.  I’ve been an Advisory Board member for the product’s development, and I must say — pretty darn cool. I think the big switch these days has to be from parents thinking of Internet Safety and Parenting as two different things to parents realizing that — with the ‘Net being such a central part of kids lives — Internet Safety and Parenting are one in the same.  The good news is that the new Norton tool helps make that a reality.  USA Today agrees in a review of the product today.

More to come next week on this exciting devlopment….