Q&A

School District making grade level schools

Our school system is looking to redistributing elementary schools. There are currently 4 elementary schools. They are closing one, making 2 of them K-3 buildings, and making one 4th and 5th building. I am currently PTO president with a third grader. My son will go to the 4th and 5th school wich happens to be the building we are in now. How can we make a successful PTO at a school with only two grades?
- Yakumithis

You certainly can do it. For one thing, you'll have experienced PTO leaders coming in from four different schools the first year (and two after that) to help get things off the ground. Start by connecting this spring with the PTOs in the other schools to find out which leaders have children moving up. Get everybody together over coffee and start making plans. One thing about having only two grades is that your activities can be more focused. For example, for Family Movie Night it can be hard to find a movie that is appropriate for both kindergartners and 5th graders. Likewise, you can hold a math night and really zero in on the things that most of the kids are learning rather than finding something appropriate for grad 1 and grade 5. Also, I'd recommend working on building school spirit at the beginning of the year, or even before the year starts. When people are coming from different schools, especially one that's closed, it helps a lot to get them thinking about the possibilities of their new school rather than regretting leaving their old school. Good luck, and please post more if we can offer any more thoughts to help out.
- Craig
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