Pta? - Page 2

[3boys4us]

It's funny you guys have PTOs and PTAs, we have a PTG and I have no idea why.

I have to agree that it is kind of cliquish but I do volunteer a lot and I don't live in one of the "approved" neighborhoods. I found it was the only way I could keep track of what was happening at the school.

Our school does fundraisers but they are mostly things like Science Night or Math Night etc... I do hate the other stuff gift wraps. I usually boycott.

[miriam]

I tried to start a PTA in my school when my dc's were little. We had so much trouble trying to raise $ - most of the parents came to the "fund raisers" and expected everything to be free.

We also had no help from the principal who would veto all of our festivals or carnival plans we had and replaced them with her own brand of school activities.

It has been eleven years and there is no PTA there to this day.

[mommy22]

It is important to have the support of the school's principal. We started our PTO just this year and it has been a huge success. We get alot of support from the principal and staff. Without that, we would not have been able to accomplish anything this year.

We are still evolving, though. We spent much of our time this year forming the PTO and making sure it was running properly. But we only sponsored two fundraising events this year, and managed to raise over $23,000! And we only have 49 students in our school. Each year we will be adding a grade, and this next year we will have 4th grade until we reach 8th grade.

A PTO is not easy. We have only 6 members, and have each probably donated at least 200-300 hours of our time. We take the PTO seriously. But each year it will get easier, and I believe we will also continue to get growing support from staff and parents.

So those of you out there that want to start a PTO, the best way is to form the first group with truely committed parents. Good luck to all of you and keep trying!!!!