PTO Today

Ouch. Boston Herald opinion piece pulls no punches in questioning the effectiveness and political role of Massachusetts (and national) PTA.

Just can’t seem to shake this trend. Big ($50,000+) story from a Texas PTA is outlined here. And this Virginia piece talks about another plus some tips for avoiding the problem at your group. And for good measure, here’s our more comprehensive piece on the same topic.

Kind of excited about this development. Check out the beginning steps of our new PTO Today Parent Group Store. Watch over the next few months as this thing develops in full. lots of great stuff on the way.

Interesting model. Arkansas group partnering with Barnes & Noble for a store-based Book Fair.

San Francisco columnist takes good look at high number of theft cases in volunteer-run organizations.

Two alleged big-$$ thefts right in San Ramon, California. Methinks these guys could use our Treasurer training. Good thing we have a conference coming up – with both Treasurer Basics and Loss-Prevention seminars — right in San Ramon. (And Nashville. And Chicago. And Philadelphia. And Boston. OK — you get the point.)

Connecticut PTO sharing money lessons through school bank program.

(Free Registration Required) Local school board considering ban on candy fundraisers as part of school nutrition effort. Says here that parents and parent groups are perfectly capable of looking out for kids’ health. The last thing we need is regulation of parent groups.

New treasurer + few controls = $14,000 embezzle story for this New Jersey PTO.

Here’s an idea. This California parent group reaches out to local businesses with Adopt-a-Classroom program.