I think it would depend on the participation ratio of the 2 schools. If the participation is not the same in both schools this will lead to burn out and maybe a bit of resentment on the group that does more.

We have a similiar situation in my district, 2 schools in the same building. The smaller school (1/3 of the building) does much more and has more involved parents. In order to be involved with the PTO, a parent has to agree to running a program for both schools. This makes it even harder to get volunteers, not just because of triple the work load, but of other politics with our setup. Luckily we do have 2 PTO bank accounts, which only happened because many, many parents of the smaller school came to the meeting in which we voted on how to handle the accounts.

You are welcome to contact me directly if you would like more details of what we go through and it could be harder for a district solution since it is more than one building.
Hope that helps.

This is very interesting. what are the pro's and con's of this? We considered this so that a parent who starts with us when there kid is in first grade will be well skilled and resourceful with all the extra years with one PTO.

To Mary S --- When all of the PTO's in the district get together, what is on the agenda? We have thought about getting the district PTO's in an effort to help share ideas with each other. Each elementary school has a PTO or PTA present in their school and they each work independently of each other.

Just bumping this discussion up now that everyone is back from holiday break : )

~Lisa

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Our school district combined middle school and HS a few years back and it has worked very well. We still have point people for both schools but our co-chairs, secretaries and treasurer are for both schools.

I can't imagine our elementary schools being pulled into the fold -- their needs are too different. We do how ever all (PTOs in district) meet 2 x a year.

[reposted for Francie for Q & A]
Isthere any experience in combining PTOs in the same school district? For example, elementary, middle and high school become one PTO.