Glad you found the site. You're in for a great and rewarding challenge.
Two things:
1. The site -- and all the folks in this Fourm -- should be helpful.
2. You'll love this! If you can wait until Summer, we'll have a "Starting a PTO for Dummies" (or a similar title since I'm sure the dummies folks wouldn't appreicate us using their trademark ) kit ready. It will be comprehensive. Stay tuned....
I must say, I was frustrated...I posted first, and explored this site after that. I have found a wealth of information to get me started...and I also found, that I'm not the only one in the dark! Thanks to PTOtoday.com for the operation of this helpful site, and thanks to all of you that take the time to reply to my frustration!
Congrats on taking that first big step! It's not an easy one, but well worth it as the pay is great - all the hugs and smiles you can handle! My suggestion (if you've read my postings they usually start it's not necessarily the right way - certainly not the only way . . . ) is to be sure you let everyone know what you are planning so they can't come back and say "I didn't know you were having these meetings . . .", set a date for a meeting and with those who show up work out the by-laws first. Once you (collective) decide on the nomination/election procedure in you by-laws have nominations in the second meeting, elections in your third and you are on your way. To determine by-laws get a few together either from this site or from surrounding schools and do a cut and paste of what works for you. The tax stuff - while it can seem scary - isn't that difficult. Keep your principal informed and as involved as he/she wants to be and you (collectively - not necessarily personally) are comfortable with. Hope this is helpful - feel free to email if there's additional info I can provide.
Welcome to the world of PTO! You might want to wade around this site a bit, there are several links to bylaws and lots of information about the various tax forms you need. Once you get that into place, you can set up the rest just like any other organization with officers, committees, etc. Good luck!
We live in a rural area in Oklahoma. There is no PTO/PTA for our school and some of the parents have shown an interest in creating one...I was dumb enough to volunteer to do the research. At the time, I thought the Internet was a great place to find all that valuable information. Boy, was I wrong! There's a snippet here and a small bit of info there, but there is not a manual out there titled, "STARTING A PTO, FOR DUMBIES!"
I have about convinced myself that a PTO is the way to go, rather than PTA. We are a very small school in a small rural area and we need the focus here, not anywhere else. I found some info about the non-profit thing...but then where do we go from there? There are by-laws, but where? We need to elect, or appoint officers? Who is responsible for what? Is my principal responsible for the tax info?
Is there anybody out there that can explain all of this to me??? I have a meeting on Tuesday night about building a new grade school, and I promised I'd have this info available then. But, MAN, I'm having a hard time finding the steps we need to take.
) kit ready. It will be comprehensive. Stay tuned....
