PTA/PTO meetings - suggest topics

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our PTO is all about selling junk and collecting boxtops so they can buy things parents don't really care about. What I'd like to see is more actual communication - many parents in my school are very unhappy with some of the behavior management strategies in place and would like to see that change, and would also like some changes in teacher attitude (some of them really suck). These are serious issues at our school, and I wish we could address things that actually matter instead of just raising funds for more crap the school doesn't really need.

Do they not let you vote on what to spend the money on? Do you attend the meetings? Typically the principal has a say in what is bought. Could it be that this is where the decisions are coming from? The PTO isn't going to talk about teachers sucking. That is a principal issue.

I'm on the board, actually. I feel like we work for the principal. She pretty much directs everything. Why is bad teachers a principal issue? Shouldn't it be a parent issue? After all, it doesn't affect her at all. It affects our children.

[Anonymous]

I'm on the board, actually. I feel like we work for the principal. She pretty much directs everything. Why is bad teachers a principal issue? Shouldn't it be a parent issue? After all, it doesn't affect her at all. It affects our children.

Actually, the teachers do work for you--but they answer to the principal.

As far as changing things, this is probably not going to do it. However, I think that raising communication is an important part of the process and should be a goal of the organization. Suggestion, how about a topic on Behavior-- at home and at school. Something like, "How the school addresses behavior issues." I think that is valid. Just don't present it as an attack on teachers. The next month, bring in someone to give a workshop on discipline, etc. in the home.