Is your elementary school PTA out of control?
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Anonymous
| Agreed. No school needs the leadership OP is describing, but the most active PTA I know of has about 15 members show up for it's meetings on a regular basis. I've seen meetings as low as 5 members including the board. I think most PTA's are well intentioned. If people volunteering do make a mistake or don't communicate enough, they are probably just overloaded and trying to do the best they can. We are in FCPS and obviously from the schools email blasts the schools are not able to provide everything for our kids like most parents would like. Parents need to step off the sidelines and help out more and donate if they want the PTA programs to continue and expand. I've seen comments on this board regarding the cuts like "why doesn't FCPS cut field trips?" They already have. PTA's sponsor those and a lot of other things like this all year. |
Anonymous
OK this is one of the issues at hand. THE PTA DOESN'T SPONSOR THESE FIELD TRIPS!!! THE PARENTS PAY FOR THEM. THE PTA ONLY COORDINATES GETTING THE FUNDS TO THEM. In our school they put out a flyer asking for volunteers to serve on the board but no one wants to work with these crazies so of course noone steps up. The process of eliminating them would have to be a complete clearing of the house with a "coordinated" take over effort. Ya know they really just need a lesson in being nice, respectful and working together. |
Anonymous
| Even a take over wouldn't work because they would still be at the school. They will graduate sooner or later. Thank goodness. |
Anonymous
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OP here, I looked into how our PTA board is elected and below is how members are nominated at our school. No wonder this dictatorship has gone on for years. We can't get these imbeciles out they just keep nominating their friends. I was wondering why this tyrannical atmosphere never goes away!!
Nominating committee: a. There shall be a nominating committee convened when deemed necessary by the Executive Board composed of three (3) members who shall be elected by this PTA/PTSA at a regular meeting at least two (2) months prior to the election of officers. The committee shall elect its chairman. b. The nominating committee shall nominate an eligible person for each office to be filled and report its nominees at a regular meeting no less than thirty (30) days prior to the election meeting. At the election meeting, additional nominations may be made from the floor. c. Only those persons who have signified their consent to serve if elected shall be nominated for or elected to such office. |
Anonymous
This. +1. |
Anonymous
At your school. At ours, it's the opposite--the teacher coordinates the trip, parents pay a nominal fee, and the PTA fills in the rest as needed from the field trip fund. That's why I hate blanket statements about the PTA. These organizations vary tremendously from school to school. Ours is quiet, unassuming, and works their asses off--always the same people doing all the crap work. If you don't like yours, ignore them. Membership is not mandatory. |
Anonymous
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The comment about the field trips in the PTA was to mean that taxes by themselves don't pay for the field trips. It wasn't to say the PTA ran them or raised money without other parent's help. The PTA does raise the money for them though and raises and organizes a lot of other programs that wouldn't be as easily funded otherwise. Yes, its the parent's funds, but the PTA is the parents too. I'm not sure why it's such an us verses them at OP's school. I think it's abnormal and rare to have parents who don't think they can get involved with the PTA. I'm not sure why clearing a slate of about 4 board members would be all that hard considering that parents leave the school when their kids graduate too, so more than likely 2-4 of them would be off the board each year. When there are a lot of ungrateful parents, I would guess they'd all want to be off the board within a year. At our school its very clear that the PTA is the parents of the children at the school, including parents who don't even bother to pay their dues. If it was just the class collecting dues for library books, field trips, etc, it's probable that not all children would pay and therefore there would be no field trip. With the PTA, it's all anonymous and the dues are used for all children at the school regardless how much the parents contributed. Sometimes parents come in and see a bunch of 5th and 6th grade parents and think it's some inner circle, but really it isn't. Some parent left with some of their friends and another person stepped up this year and asked a friend or two of hers to run for a position as well. The following year it will be a different group and so on.
Have you even nominated yourself for any position? It doesn't even have to be the board to start. It can be chair or co-chair of International Day, the 5K run, teacher appreciation day, book fair, pizza bingo, talent show, etc. Those positions don't work with the board beyond a couple of emails and then you have experience with something that you can use to be nominated for the board the following year. Sign up for one with a friend if you want to be sure you don't have to work with a crazy mom or dad. |
Anonymous
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At your school. At ours, it's the opposite--the teacher coordinates the trip, parents pay a nominal fee, and the PTA fills in the rest as needed from the field trip fund.
That's why I hate blanket statements about the PTA. These organizations vary tremendously from school to school. Ours is quiet, unassuming, and works their asses off--always the same people doing all the crap work. If you don't like yours, ignore them. Membership is not mandatory. Yes but where does your PTA get their money to "fill in the gaps" Wow, uh..."wild guess" uh..., uh...YOU and all the other parents that support the fundraisers they "choose" coordinate. So why does the PTA (you included) view these funds as theirs? The are not "theirs" PTA's are mearly facilitators of "our" money. So...PTA's get off your high horse and work with the parents and stop spewing your "we do everthing" crap cause, guess what, you don't! |
Anonymous
| So what do you do except complain? Many jobs sound easy until it's actually your job to do it. Someone has to be the treasurer of these funds and make sure they are spent properly. Bet it isn't you. First OP was upset because the PTA acted entitled and never let anyone else do the work except their friends. It appeared there were no PTA jobs for anyone to do who wasn't in the in crowd with the leadership. Now she's upset because they complain they have to do everything and no one will step up. Which is it? If they do everything and feel overwhelmed, they should accept help from anyone. If people are upset that they don't like the leadership, want to get new leadership, and there are jobs to fill, they should sign up for the lower jobs and then run for an office position this spring to replace the old leadership. Why make this more difficult than it is? |
Anonymous
| And OP what does "work with the parents" mean to you? If no one shows up for a PTA meeting, I don't think the PTA parents need to work more with other parents just to do their jobs. They already advertise their meetings. It's the parent's responsibility to show up for the meetings and get involved. These aren't paid employees. They are volunteers who typically only have a set number of hours they can devote to a volunteer position. |
Anonymous
| Sometimes the administration, perhaps, likes to keep the PTA sniping at each other over peanuts. Best to keep them away from discussions of more substantive issues (like the curriculum) |
Anonymous
Yes but where does your PTA get their money to "fill in the gaps" Wow, uh..."wild guess" uh..., uh...YOU and all the other parents that support the fundraisers they "choose" coordinate. So why does the PTA (you included) view these funds as theirs? The are not "theirs" PTA's are mearly facilitators of "our" money. So...PTA's get off your high horse and work with the parents and stop spewing your "we do everthing" crap cause, guess what, you don't! -------------------------- a) Find me the quote that says the PTA views PTA funds as "theirs." b) Work with the parents? How about the parents work with the PTA? That's all most PTAs are asking! At our school, we beg and beg for helpers and STILL end up being the race marshals at freezing-cold fun runs and cleaning up all the trash after parties...after we were the ones who organized the damn things. And we do the same set of events every year, far predating any current members, so it's not like we're imposing our own tastes and desires on these events. c) How about you get off your PC or phone and, instead of complaining to DCUM, offer to help out? Such a better use of time for all. |
Anonymous
Me, too! We didn't have a listserve issue, but it's the same b.s. year after year. You can't do it without me, but I'm not going to do it anymore because I'm so overcommitted, but I'm a control freak so I'm not going to give you any of the tips from previous years, I'm just going to dramatically quit and then not participate in anything and wait for you to fail. Buh-bye, drama queens, amazingly the world and the PTA carry on without you. |
Anonymous
So, I guess you got a friend to nominate you but lost the election? No? If you didn't try to join the board, what are you complaining about? |
Anonymous
| The other issue I see at schools is the feeling that the people on the PTA aren't my best friends, therefore I won't participate. I see this a lot more than certain PTA members prohibiting other parents. Wish they would just think of their own child and not think about the PTA as giving them a social circle. |