Why are you not active in your elementary school's parent organization?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand we don't live in Sweden. Dcps schools aren't funded at a level to provide the aides, social workers, specials teachers, etc that help provide the students, at all SES levels, at our school the education they deserve. so given that we have chosen to live in DC, I am happy to contribute financially to fund these things. My husband and I actually enjoy the auction (we are extraverts) so we either spend a lot there or just cut a check.

The other stuff I see as "nice to have" but not worth the time I would have to take away from either my job or my kids. And if other parents stopped volunteering for the "fluffy" stuff our school has (a million field trips, a cooking program, and lots of in school celebrations) such that those things could no longer exist, that would not bother me at all. It is not a matter of "when" these events take place. They could be during work time or during family time. Either way, I am not sacrificing that time for fluffy school stuff.

Basically, I agree with the npr piece and appreciate it seems others do too. You would never hear that directly from any parent in our school. Anonymous forums are great!

I don't disagree with your approach to PTA involvement but perhaps you are missing my point and OP's point. OP is asking why there are people who don't volunteer OR donate. If you are donating what you can afford then that's all anyone asks of you, you're doing your part. As for all of those events that you don't value, you don't have to volunteer or attend. In my case I donate as generously as I can afford and I work on some programs that I think make a meaningful difference in students' lives. I don't do "fluffy" stuff either if I don't feel like it but the point is I am involved and so are you. That's not what OP was asking about.

The problem with the NPR piece and the other article and some of the comments here is that they rely on a 1950s made-for-TV-movie version of PTAs. In that version of the universe, schools are 100% funded and PTAs are a social outlet for bored housewives. The modern PTA, as I have pointed out, is best understood as an education non-profit that supplements a school budget in providing core teaching and enrichment services. For example Janney PTO budget is $500,000/year and Janney school budget is what, maybe $7-8m/year? Someone can correct me. So the PTA is providing a decent percentage of operating revenue for the school.

Therein lies the problem. There needs to be a clear communication that it is simply a non-profit fundraising group. Explain how spending decisions are made, accountability, what financially wise choices are being made etc. Set up a trust fund for schools connected with a S&P 500 mutual fund and have all the annual profits go towards the schools budget. But PTAs PR is to pitch it as not a money-making machine.

[Anonymous]

Not committed to the school past K. I think quite a few families are like that as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The meetings are a turn off. There are new parents who are full of new ideas who are mostly white at a predominantly minority school. They volunteer for everything immediately and suggest fundraisers that would not appeal to the majority of parents. Guess what, they usually leave by K and a new set of parents come in- same thing all over again.

Yeah! I was totally wondering if anyone noticed the racial divide. The real housewives of D.C. do PTA as a hobby and the working mothers are trying to prioritize time and energy towards their loved ones and managing a household.

This does not describe our school at all, where most PTA volunteers have a full time job and, obviously, children.

[Anonymous]

An inordinate amount of PTA time is spent on planning, staffing, and follow up from fundraisers. I say just give me a $ amount at the beginning of the year and I'm happy to write a check for the year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A NPR story on the radio featuring this article:

http://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2014/12/16/54797/pasadena-schools-experiment-with-charlas-to-help-students-by-coaching-their-parents/

"“We found that most forms of parental involvement yield no benefit to children’s test scores or grades regardless of their racial or ethnic background or socioeconomic status.”
Robinson found traditional activities like attending PTA meetings didn’t help.
But he said a few things can make a difference.
“The list of what consistently works is pretty short. That would be expecting your child to go to college, regularly discussing activities that your child engages in at school and requesting a particular teacher for your child,” he said."

Really? So they extra teachers, books, resources and specialists that the PTA pays for don't help?

This! The HSA at our school does, and funds, so much. It is not just for the sake of doing things. And we need parents to volunteer to help what requests to grant, what aides to hire, and, very importantly, how to raise that money. It is a hard job and I wish more parents would volunteer. That said, I get it about not being a joiner. I wasn't involved in the HSA until someone specifically asked me to do one particular thing to help out - I am much more likely to say YES to something like that than just fill out a form or take the initiative to volunteer without any prompting (but I"m working on it).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand we don't live in Sweden. Dcps schools aren't funded at a level to provide the aides, social workers, specials teachers, etc that help provide the students, at all SES levels, at our school the education they deserve. so given that we have chosen to live in DC, I am happy to contribute financially to fund these things. My husband and I actually enjoy the auction (we are extraverts) so we either spend a lot there or just cut a check.

The other stuff I see as "nice to have" but not worth the time I would have to take away from either my job or my kids. And if other parents stopped volunteering for the "fluffy" stuff our school has (a million field trips, a cooking program, and lots of in school celebrations) such that those things could no longer exist, that would not bother me at all. It is not a matter of "when" these events take place. They could be during work time or during family time. Either way, I am not sacrificing that time for fluffy school stuff.

Basically, I agree with the npr piece and appreciate it seems others do too. You would never hear that directly from any parent in our school. Anonymous forums are great!

I don't disagree with your approach to PTA involvement but perhaps you are missing my point and OP's point. OP is asking why there are people who don't volunteer OR donate. If you are donating what you can afford then that's all anyone asks of you, you're doing your part. As for all of those events that you don't value, you don't have to volunteer or attend. In my case I donate as generously as I can afford and I work on some programs that I think make a meaningful difference in students' lives. I don't do "fluffy" stuff either if I don't feel like it but the point is I am involved and so are you. That's not what OP was asking about.

The problem with the NPR piece and the other article and some of the comments here is that they rely on a 1950s made-for-TV-movie version of PTAs. In that version of the universe, schools are 100% funded and PTAs are a social outlet for bored housewives. The modern PTA, as I have pointed out, is best understood as an education non-profit that supplements a school budget in providing core teaching and enrichment services. For example Janney PTO budget is $500,000/year and Janney school budget is what, maybe $7-8m/year? Someone can correct me. So the PTA is providing a decent percentage of operating revenue for the school.

Therein lies the problem. There needs to be a clear communication that it is simply a non-profit fundraising group. Explain how spending decisions are made, accountability, what financially wise choices are being made etc. Set up a trust fund for schools connected with a S&P 500 mutual fund and have all the annual profits go towards the schools budget. But PTAs PR is to pitch it as not a money-making machine.

Yes I agree the communication could always be better, although the larger PTAs do typically post their budgets and other info online so it's pretty much all out there for anyone who wants to see how money is spent. But yes this thread is evidence that some people have an outdated view of things. Or maybe they attend a school where the PTA is all bored gossipy parents, who knows, every school is different.

And it's a shame about the posters not getting involved because they're not staying past K. I hope those parents at least donate money if you can afford it, make a contribution before you move on.

Your proposal about the mutual fund may raise taxation issues for a non-profit (unrelated business income) and government agencies like DCPS cannot accept private funds in the way you describe, but yes we are on the same page, the idea is to support programming. Everything or almost everything you do on PTA should be supported by the principal and consistent with her or his strategic plan for the school. Again this is exactly how it works at the well-established PTAs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A NPR story on the radio featuring this article:

http://www.houstonpublicmedia.org/articles/news/2014/12/16/54797/pasadena-schools-experiment-with-charlas-to-help-students-by-coaching-their-parents/

"“We found that most forms of parental involvement yield no benefit to children’s test scores or grades regardless of their racial or ethnic background or socioeconomic status.”
Robinson found traditional activities like attending PTA meetings didn’t help.
But he said a few things can make a difference.
“The list of what consistently works is pretty short. That would be expecting your child to go to college, regularly discussing activities that your child engages in at school and requesting a particular teacher for your child,” he said."

This is not surprising. Our school has a PTA funded program that doesn't appear to be audited or measured for performance in any way. Everyone loves to talk about our unique "XXXX" program but nobody can answer basics questions about how the program is measured for effectiveness and impact or why the PTA continues to fund it year after year. So we will keep paying $00 because everybody thinks the program is so great and some of us are wondering why we don't consider other programs.

[Anonymous]

I am not involved because it is boring & fluffy.

[Anonymous]

I'm not involved because I'm introverted, and also because because I'm exhausted from the other things I'm doing (single parenting and working full time).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand we don't live in Sweden. Dcps schools aren't funded at a level to provide the aides, social workers, specials teachers, etc that help provide the students, at all SES levels, at our school the education they deserve. so given that we have chosen to live in DC, I am happy to contribute financially to fund these things. My husband and I actually enjoy the auction (we are extraverts) so we either spend a lot there or just cut a check.

The other stuff I see as "nice to have" but not worth the time I would have to take away from either my job or my kids. And if other parents stopped volunteering for the "fluffy" stuff our school has (a million field trips, a cooking program, and lots of in school celebrations) such that those things could no longer exist, that would not bother me at all. It is not a matter of "when" these events take place. They could be during work time or during family time. Either way, I am not sacrificing that time for fluffy school stuff.

Basically, I agree with the npr piece and appreciate it seems others do too. You would never hear that directly from any parent in our school. Anonymous forums are great!

I don't disagree with your approach to PTA involvement but perhaps you are missing my point and OP's point. OP is asking why there are people who don't volunteer OR donate. If you are donating what you can afford then that's all anyone asks of you, you're doing your part. As for all of those events that you don't value, you don't have to volunteer or attend. In my case I donate as generously as I can afford and I work on some programs that I think make a meaningful difference in students' lives. I don't do "fluffy" stuff either if I don't feel like it but the point is I am involved and so are you. That's not what OP was asking about.

The problem with the NPR piece and the other article and some of the comments here is that they rely on a 1950s made-for-TV-movie version of PTAs. In that version of the universe, schools are 100% funded and PTAs are a social outlet for bored housewives. The modern PTA, as I have pointed out, is best understood as an education non-profit that supplements a school budget in providing core teaching and enrichment services. For example Janney PTO budget is $500,000/year and Janney school budget is what, maybe $7-8m/year? Someone can correct me. So the PTA is providing a decent percentage of operating revenue for the school.

Therein lies the problem. There needs to be a clear communication that it is simply a non-profit fundraising group. Explain how spending decisions are made, accountability, what financially wise choices are being made etc. Set up a trust fund for schools connected with a S&P 500 mutual fund and have all the annual profits go towards the schools budget. But PTAs PR is to pitch it as not a money-making machine.

Yes I agree the communication could always be better, although the larger PTAs do typically post their budgets and other info online so it's pretty much all out there for anyone who wants to see how money is spent. But yes this thread is evidence that some people have an outdated view of things. Or maybe they attend a school where the PTA is all bored gossipy parents, who knows, every school is different.

And it's a shame about the posters not getting involved because they're not staying past K. I hope those parents at least donate money if you can afford it, make a contribution before you move on.

Your proposal about the mutual fund may raise taxation issues for a non-profit (unrelated business income) and government agencies like DCPS cannot accept private funds in the way you describe, but yes we are on the same page, the idea is to support programming. Everything or almost everything you do on PTA should be supported by the principal and consistent with her or his strategic plan for the school. Again this is exactly how it works at the well-established PTAs.

Good point.

[Anonymous]

Frugal philosophical reasons connected to consumption and buying things just to because they are new and the thought that money to buy out of problems detracts from creativity and problem solving. I do not think a 50k new playground is a valuable goal and I do not think selling junk food or trashy toys to kids and standing in the middle of the hall hustling junk food so that there is no way a parent can walk around without discussing with their kids they already have food at home as their kids whine to buy the junk.

Balls, jump ropes, are fine and good ways to exercise.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am not involved because it is boring & fluffy.

Makes sense.

Now, you donate you due, correct?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My parents weren't joiners, I am not a joiner. I see the school's job as educating the kids. My responsibility is to make sure my kid is doing what is expecting of them, behaving etc.

I hate auctions etc., all the other nonsense. I will write a check if necessary but really I don't think the parents should have to pay beyond what they do through the tax system.

That "nonsense" pays for lots of things that your kids benefit from. If you don't want to participate that's fine, but please don't be so condescending about the hard work that other parents do that directly benefit your children.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Frugal philosophical reasons connected to consumption and buying things just to because they are new and the thought that money to buy out of problems detracts from creativity and problem solving. I do not think a 50k new playground is a valuable goal and I do not think selling junk food or trashy toys to kids and standing in the middle of the hall hustling junk food so that there is no way a parent can walk around without discussing with their kids they already have food at home as their kids whine to buy the junk.

Balls, jump ropes, are fine and good ways to exercise.

Right! Because you never participated in bake sales back when you were a kid. Oh wait! Maybe you were never a kid. That's it!

[Anonymous]

Example: I used to be a girl scout and know how hard it is to hustle cookies so when I see girls out there hawking cookies I might not want a box in the house (two cookies is about 10 lbs on me) so I give give the a cash donation instead. Keep the cookies.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My parents weren't joiners, I am not a joiner. I see the school's job as educating the kids. My responsibility is to make sure my kid is doing what is expecting of them, behaving etc.

I hate auctions etc., all the other nonsense. I will write a check if necessary but really I don't think the parents should have to pay beyond what they do through the tax system.

That "nonsense" pays for lots of things that your kids benefit from. If you don't want to participate that's fine, but please don't be so condescending about the hard work that other parents do that directly benefit your children.