There Needs to Be Enforced Equity Among PTA's

[Anonymous]

Some schools also have an educational fund that parents give money to for things like new instruments and new microscopes. Pyle has one. Are there different rules for that? Also, where do you draw the line? Is it ok for one school to have a nice back to school picnic with a DJ and food on hand while another doesn't have any bells and whistles at their picnic?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think rice PTAs need to share info about vendors, opportunities and how to set things up for the poorer PTAs in a user-friendly manner. Mainly because while rich PTAs have a playlist and how-tos well preserved from one PTA year to the next, poorer PTAs have sporadic participation and people do not have knowledge about how to get things started at their schools. For poor PTAs, it is like starting from scratch each year and it is very overwhelming.

What I would like to see is that county PTA give a bare minimum out-of-the-box solution to poor schools for enrichment activities that is easy and idiot proof to implement. Yes, charge every single parent $10 for it.

What am I suggesting? The basic book-keeping and cultural programming in poor schools should be done by county PTA. What does it mean? It means that they provide the leadership at the school PTA and enlist volunteers to do their work,

-Collecting $10-$15 from each parent,
-Sending dues to county, state and national PTA,
- Taxes and other paper work
- Provide an online directory for each school, each paying parent.
- Provide $200 for each teacher to equip their classrooms and ask them to print directory to distribute to their students

What the parents need is ready leadership that provides the infrastructure, paperwork and bookkeeping help, so that interested parents at any school can set up the following without too much paperwork and running around
- Bookfair
- Vendor performances or demonstrations at school
- Fee-based clubs run by vendors
- Reading, Math, Science, Talent and International nights.

We must have an out-of-the box bare minimum PTA solution that every school can have. They can add as much as they want to it. The oversight should also be provided by the county PTA. Of course, it becomes a problem because the entire PTA is a volunteer organization.

Please don’t yell at me because I really don’t know but isn’t this what the Montgomery county or state PTA is for? To help at least get a baseline for a school? We have representatives from our PTA go to the Montgomery County PTA and every county school would fall under that umbrella.

PTA even at the county level is volunteer. What I find is that folks assume PTA is easy and those don’t volunteer which makes it significantly harder for those that do. If every family had to volunteer 10-20hrs per year at school things would be very different. Additionally, some of these things shouldn’t require a volunteer but instead should be a paid position. There should be an Enrichment Coordinator at every school to coordinator after school programs, cultural events, and partnership with the county and state on activities to benefit schools and students. But this has long depended on the grace of volunteers(usually stay at home parents) and so now folks don’t want to PAY for these things until that have to go without them.

It’s no different than county and states not wanting to pay for or truly respect teachers. But when they quit, suddenly everyone starts paying attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The OP's point was, it shouldn't be allowed for PTA's to provide stipends if ALL PTA's arent. MCPS should just be paying every teacher a flat $200 fee for yearly supplies. Gifts should be capped. That is it. Some of you really don't know how to read and jump to anger and indignation before even thinking things through.

spot on. MOCO has some seriously wealthy neighborhoods. it is so sad to learn that teachers either get 200 bucks or nothing - neither is representative d of the money moco gets to run the schools. No teacher should need to spend out of pocket for supplies to teach.

[Anonymous]

The National PTA clarifies that the PTA is NOT there to bridge gaps in funding. It is there to advocate for all children.

We need to fund our schools properly and challenge the culture of high budget PTAs.

https://www.pta.org/home/run-your-pta/one-voice-blog/Is-Your-PTA-an-ATM-for-Your-School

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some schools also have an educational fund that parents give money to for things like new instruments and new microscopes. Pyle has one. Are there different rules for that? Also, where do you draw the line? Is it ok for one school to have a nice back to school picnic with a DJ and food on hand while another doesn't have any bells and whistles at their picnic?

Some have booster clubs that are separate from the pta for fundraising.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No teacher should need to spend out of pocket for supplies to teach.

Teachers across the county, and across the country, spend their own money on school supplies to teach every single year. This is notn limited to Montgomery County.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No teacher should need to spend out of pocket for supplies to teach.

Teachers across the county, and across the country, spend their own money on school supplies to teach every single year. This is notn limited to Montgomery County.

Everyone here knows that. We are trying to fix the problem in Montgomery County… the place we live. Try and keep up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some schools also have an educational fund that parents give money to for things like new instruments and new microscopes. Pyle has one. Are there different rules for that? Also, where do you draw the line? Is it ok for one school to have a nice back to school picnic with a DJ and food on hand while another doesn't have any bells and whistles at their picnic?

Now add the wrinkle that many/most lower-income schools have a higher percentage of kids who practice a religion that doesn’t permit certain celebrations (think: no Halloween).

[Anonymous]

Schools where some people decide not to get involved in PTAs, do so for a reason. I'd respect their choice and stay out of it. I used to join the PTA at my kid's school but found them to be so pushy and obnoxious that I stopped to send a message. Not everyone values this nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Well the logical conclusion is that we should take all the money that we have that isn’t needed for our basic necessities and send it to poor schools in Third World countries. Because of equity, right?

I know you think this was an edgy response, but it's just proving your stupidity and misunderstanding of the most basic things. Congratulations!

Ah, the ad hominem argument. Classy.

My comment is relevant because we all have an intrinsic motivation to make things better for our offspring. That includes our local schools. When we start talking about equity, we start talking about making things better for everyone. If you extend that to the fullest degree, you end up arguing for sending all of your money outside of your family to the most needy. Now one could argue that making things better for the needy in your county will benefit your offspring more than helping those in Third World countries. But it’s important to recognize that fighting our intrinsic motivation to make things better for our kids will not lead to success because humans are not wired for that. When you look at why the rape is becoming infuriated by the progressive left, it is arguments like this that lead the way. We have to be able to feel that we are in control of the outcomes of ourselves and our children to some extent. It’s sad that some people are poor and their schools have less money. But I’m not sure equalizing everything is the answer.

[Anonymous]

*why the right

[Anonymous]

I don’t think teachers should pay anything out-of-pocket for supplies or class materials. I think it’s a shame that the county doesn’t provide a stipend for every single classroom teacher.

However I don’t think PTA should be limited or capped If they want to reimburse teachers for bells and whistles. Our school pta adopted A less fortunate school and we fund raise and give them supplies. It’s telling that the original author only cares about this now that her school does not have the resources or strong pta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I don’t think teachers should pay anything out-of-pocket for supplies or class materials. I think it’s a shame that the county doesn’t provide a stipend for every single classroom teacher.

However I don’t think PTA should be limited or capped If they want to reimburse teachers for bells and whistles. Our school pta adopted A less fortunate school and we fund raise and give them supplies. It’s telling that the original author only cares about this now that her school does not have the resources or strong pta.

Mcps and pta are two separate organizations.

[Anonymous]

PTA President here at a middle school with a FARMS rate of over 55% and parent engagement is very little (despite the PTA trying). We have a small budget, are overworked (all officers have full-time jobs), and we have a small membership. Two miles away is another MS which has an entirely opposite profile- teachers have a $150 stipend, PTA budget over $25K, totally engaged parent community with a lot of volunteers. It's the classic story of the Haves vs the Have-Nots. I would love to see a PTA organization at a pre-defined regional level where a good amount of the funds raised are split evenly across the schools within the same region. Notice I didn't say cluster level since even amongst the clusters, SES can still be very segregated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PTA President here at a middle school with a FARMS rate of over 55% and parent engagement is very little (despite the PTA trying). We have a small budget, are overworked (all officers have full-time jobs), and we have a small membership. Two miles away is another MS which has an entirely opposite profile- teachers have a $150 stipend, PTA budget over $25K, totally engaged parent community with a lot of volunteers. It's the classic story of the Haves vs the Have-Nots. I would love to see a PTA organization at a pre-defined regional level where a good amount of the funds raised are split evenly across the schools within the same region. Notice I didn't say cluster level since even amongst the clusters, SES can still be very segregated.

I think if you want everything to be equal then that should be the county’s job and not PTA’s. What would be the role of a PTA?