APS PTA partnerships

[Anonymous]

Partnerships between South Arlington and North Arlington PTAs, how do they work? How do schools get connected? What kinds of partnership activities do they do? Our North Arlington PTA doesn't currently partner with another PTA and I'd be interested in heading one up but really don't know what's involved and would at least want a framework in mind before I approach our PTA board. Anyone have experience with one and willing to share?

[Anonymous]

Here’s a thread from a couple of years ago about ways people have helped out (or tried to help) other schools. Lots of snark, naturally, but some useful information.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/579543.page

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a thread from a couple of years ago about ways people have helped out (or tried to help) other schools. Lots of snark, naturally, but some useful information.

http://www.dcurbanmom.com/jforum/posts/list/579543.page

I'd forgotten about that thread, I was actually the OP of that one too. I did take some stuff from it at the time, but now I'm trying to think a bit bigger, get more done than just what I can do personally with my own resources.

[Anonymous]

There was a Nottingham Drew Partnership at few years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There was a Nottingham Drew Partnership at few years ago.

Why did it end? Would be helpful to avoid pitfalls from the past.

[Anonymous]

My children are in college, so it has been a while. When they were at Chesterbrook Elementary School (not an Arlington school, but close by), we had a partnership with Campbell ES through a friendship between our social worker and their social worker I believe. There were things like coat drives, supply drives, summer book drives and gift certificate drives for Thanksgiving and December holidays. It was not an official partnership between the PTAs, but our PTA was the one who organized things from our side. I think it petered out when the school closed for renovations, or changed names or the personal link no longer existed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My children are in college, so it has been a while. When they were at Chesterbrook Elementary School (not an Arlington school, but close by), we had a partnership with Campbell ES through a friendship between our social worker and their social worker I believe. There were things like coat drives, supply drives, summer book drives and gift certificate drives for Thanksgiving and December holidays. It was not an official partnership between the PTAs, but our PTA was the one who organized things from our side. I think it petered out when the school closed for renovations, or changed names or the personal link no longer existed.

This is the problem with traditional partnerships - they tend to be "charity" oriented to meet basic needs of impoverished communities. While helpful, these partnership programs merely maintain the status quo. It's time for a new approach - teams/partnerships that go beyond material goods and a donation here or there. Schools and their PTAs need to look at teaming up as a unified group and fundraise collectively, fund enrichment programs collectively, give teacher mini-grants and funding for teacher training for teachers at all the schools, hold events for all the schools to participate/attend together, establish academic exchanges, go on field trips together, etc. Getting parents and children to interact is what will start to make a real difference.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Partnerships between South Arlington and North Arlington PTAs, how do they work? How do schools get connected? What kinds of partnership activities do they do? Our North Arlington PTA doesn't currently partner with another PTA and I'd be interested in heading one up but really don't know what's involved and would at least want a framework in mind before I approach our PTA board. Anyone have experience with one and willing to share?

I've been involved with CCPTA for the past few years and I think they have tried to promote this type of thing. They've also started a grant program to help schools with less resources. CCPTA is a good way to connect with representatives from several schools at once and facilitate communication. You should consider contacting the CCPTA for ideas/help in partnering with a school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children are in college, so it has been a while. When they were at Chesterbrook Elementary School (not an Arlington school, but close by), we had a partnership with Campbell ES through a friendship between our social worker and their social worker I believe. There were things like coat drives, supply drives, summer book drives and gift certificate drives for Thanksgiving and December holidays. It was not an official partnership between the PTAs, but our PTA was the one who organized things from our side. I think it petered out when the school closed for renovations, or changed names or the personal link no longer existed.

This is the problem with traditional partnerships - they tend to be "charity" oriented to meet basic needs of impoverished communities. While helpful, these partnership programs merely maintain the status quo. It's time for a new approach - teams/partnerships that go beyond material goods and a donation here or there. Schools and their PTAs need to look at teaming up as a unified group and fundraise collectively, fund enrichment programs collectively, give teacher mini-grants and funding for teacher training for teachers at all the schools, hold events for all the schools to participate/attend together, establish academic exchanges, go on field trips together, etc. Getting parents and children to interact is what will start to make a real difference.

Even then, it still ends up being an unequal partnership with all of the money flowing from the richer school to the poorer school. I don't think there's any way to get around the charity case dynamic when you are pairing unequal communities. That doesn't mean it can't make a real difference for some kids, though.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My children are in college, so it has been a while. When they were at Chesterbrook Elementary School (not an Arlington school, but close by), we had a partnership with Campbell ES through a friendship between our social worker and their social worker I believe. There were things like coat drives, supply drives, summer book drives and gift certificate drives for Thanksgiving and December holidays. It was not an official partnership between the PTAs, but our PTA was the one who organized things from our side. I think it petered out when the school closed for renovations, or changed names or the personal link no longer existed.

This is the problem with traditional partnerships - they tend to be "charity" oriented to meet basic needs of impoverished communities. While helpful, these partnership programs merely maintain the status quo. It's time for a new approach - teams/partnerships that go beyond material goods and a donation here or there. Schools and their PTAs need to look at teaming up as a unified group and fundraise collectively, fund enrichment programs collectively, give teacher mini-grants and funding for teacher training for teachers at all the schools, hold events for all the schools to participate/attend together, establish academic exchanges, go on field trips together, etc. Getting parents and children to interact is what will start to make a real difference.

This touches on some of the stuff I've been thinking over. I have a whole bunch of ideas for things that could be done collaboratively, but I'm concerned geography may be a significant impediment. Let's say we were talking about Taylor (which we're not) partnering with Randolph, for instance. If there were a joint 5K held near Taylor, how many Randolph families are likely to trek across the county to participate? And what if it were a fun fair held at Randolph, would Taylor families make the trip in the other direction? And will people be interested in socializing across the schools when they live no where near each other and their kids aren't ever going to be at the same neighborhood schools? If were were talking about Ashlawn and Carlin Springs, I think joint events could be a very promising idea, but my school doesn't have that kind of proximity.

[Anonymous]

To layout the kinds of stuff I have been brainstorming about, yes, a bunch of it does fall into the category of charity/direct donation, but I was also envisioning things like if we had a volunteer-run enrichment program the other school would be interested in implementing as well, linking up our coordinators with some volunteers from their school to share materials we've developed and other resources to help them get up and running more efficiently. I'm happy to do joint projects, but would also like to do things that could be sustainable so that if the partnership did end at some point, all benefit would end with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To layout the kinds of stuff I have been brainstorming about, yes, a bunch of it does fall into the category of charity/direct donation, but I was also envisioning things like if we had a volunteer-run enrichment program the other school would be interested in implementing as well, linking up our coordinators with some volunteers from their school to share materials we've developed and other resources to help them get up and running more efficiently. I'm happy to do joint projects, but would also like to do things that could be sustainable so that if the partnership did end at some point, all benefit would end with it.

I know you mesn well, but you are coming at it in an elitist way. You are assuming your way is better. If this is to be a joint partnership you need to change your assumptions and go in thinking you don’t know better than they do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To layout the kinds of stuff I have been brainstorming about, yes, a bunch of it does fall into the category of charity/direct donation, but I was also envisioning things like if we had a volunteer-run enrichment program the other school would be interested in implementing as well, linking up our coordinators with some volunteers from their school to share materials we've developed and other resources to help them get up and running more efficiently. I'm happy to do joint projects, but would also like to do things that could be sustainable so that if the partnership did end at some point, all benefit would end with it.

I know you mesn well, but you are coming at it in an elitist way. You are assuming your way is better. If this is to be a joint partnership you need to change your assumptions and go in thinking you don’t know better than they do.

I'm not following you here. I'm not talking about replacing what they've done with our own stuff, I'm saying, by way of example, that if we've developed a program that they would like to develop in their own school, we could share resources for them to use as a jumping off point rather than them having to start from scratch. Let's say we had a STEM enrichment program where once a month, a parent volunteer came into each classroom and gave an introduction to a STEM topic the kids wouldn't otherwise cover in the curriculum and then did some kind of experiment/activity with them where the kids got to see the concept in action and interact with it. We've been running this program for years and have activities designed for all of the grade levels, created handouts to go with it, etc. A good amount of PTA funds and resources were spent over the years developing it, but now it's in a place where it can be run each year on a very low-cost basis. If the other school didn't have such a program but wanted to implement one, we could share with them our plans and materials so that if they wanted, they could start their own program without having to invest time and money creating it all over again. If they wanted to change or modify it, of course they could do so, it would be their program to run as they saw fit.

But again, I started this thread to find out what I don't know. If there is a reason why this kind of sharing of resources would be unwelcome, I do want to understand why.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To layout the kinds of stuff I have been brainstorming about, yes, a bunch of it does fall into the category of charity/direct donation, but I was also envisioning things like if we had a volunteer-run enrichment program the other school would be interested in implementing as well, linking up our coordinators with some volunteers from their school to share materials we've developed and other resources to help them get up and running more efficiently. I'm happy to do joint projects, but would also like to do things that could be sustainable so that if the partnership did end at some point, all benefit would end with it.

I know you mesn well, but you are coming at it in an elitist way. You are assuming your way is better. If this is to be a joint partnership you need to change your assumptions and go in thinking you don’t know better than they do.

I'm not following you here. I'm not talking about replacing what they've done with our own stuff, I'm saying, by way of example, that if we've developed a program that they would like to develop in their own school, we could share resources for them to use as a jumping off point rather than them having to start from scratch. Let's say we had a STEM enrichment program where once a month, a parent volunteer came into each classroom and gave an introduction to a STEM topic the kids wouldn't otherwise cover in the curriculum and then did some kind of experiment/activity with them where the kids got to see the concept in action and interact with it. We've been running this program for years and have activities designed for all of the grade levels, created handouts to go with it, etc. A good amount of PTA funds and resources were spent over the years developing it, but now it's in a place where it can be run each year on a very low-cost basis. If the other school didn't have such a program but wanted to implement one, we could share with them our plans and materials so that if they wanted, they could start their own program without having to invest time and money creating it all over again. If they wanted to change or modify it, of course they could do so, it would be their program to run as they saw fit.

But again, I started this thread to find out what I don't know. If there is a reason why this kind of sharing of resources would be unwelcome, I do want to understand why.

You are only talking about transferring your “superior “ knowledge about something to them. You are not talking about the other school doing things differently and perhaps something that your school could do too. I only see you talking about it as a one way street. For it to work, you need to go into it thinking ‘I will learn more from them than they will learn from me.’ You need to stop thinking you can help the other school’s PTA be more efficient. That tells me you think they are inefficient and need your help.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To layout the kinds of stuff I have been brainstorming about, yes, a bunch of it does fall into the category of charity/direct donation, but I was also envisioning things like if we had a volunteer-run enrichment program the other school would be interested in implementing as well, linking up our coordinators with some volunteers from their school to share materials we've developed and other resources to help them get up and running more efficiently. I'm happy to do joint projects, but would also like to do things that could be sustainable so that if the partnership did end at some point, all benefit would end with it.

I know you mesn well, but you are coming at it in an elitist way. You are assuming your way is better. If this is to be a joint partnership you need to change your assumptions and go in thinking you don’t know better than they do.

I'm not following you here. I'm not talking about replacing what they've done with our own stuff, I'm saying, by way of example, that if we've developed a program that they would like to develop in their own school, we could share resources for them to use as a jumping off point rather than them having to start from scratch. Let's say we had a STEM enrichment program where once a month, a parent volunteer came into each classroom and gave an introduction to a STEM topic the kids wouldn't otherwise cover in the curriculum and then did some kind of experiment/activity with them where the kids got to see the concept in action and interact with it. We've been running this program for years and have activities designed for all of the grade levels, created handouts to go with it, etc. A good amount of PTA funds and resources were spent over the years developing it, but now it's in a place where it can be run each year on a very low-cost basis. If the other school didn't have such a program but wanted to implement one, we could share with them our plans and materials so that if they wanted, they could start their own program without having to invest time and money creating it all over again. If they wanted to change or modify it, of course they could do so, it would be their program to run as they saw fit.

But again, I started this thread to find out what I don't know. If there is a reason why this kind of sharing of resources would be unwelcome, I do want to understand why.

You are only talking about transferring your “superior “ knowledge about something to them. You are not talking about the other school doing things differently and perhaps something that your school could do too. I only see you talking about it as a one way street. For it to work, you need to go into it thinking ‘I will learn more from them than they will learn from me.’ You need to stop thinking you can help the other school’s PTA be more efficient. That tells me you think they are inefficient and need your help.

For petesake, it was an example of one possibility I'd thought of, not the beginning and end of what the partnership could be. In the other PTA thread, people mentioned over and over again the enrichment programs North Arlington schools like mine have that certain South Arlington schools don't, which is why enrichment programs came to my mind here as a specific example of creating something more lasting than just sending over some coats. And my point with that example was not that I think the other PTAs are inefficient, but that there are things we currently do that were expensive to get started but not to continue, and sharing our resources might help the other PTA, if they were interested, implement these programs as well without having to spend their own money on start-up expenses. Let them, if they are interested, leverage off the investments we've already made. I also asked in another post here about overcoming geographic challenges to joint events so those could be part of it too, because I'm interested in exploring all sorts of ideas for what we could create. If this were to go forward, it would be a partnership with both PTAs working together to decide what it should be, not our PTA dictating to theirs. But before I can approach our PTA to see if they'd be interested in pursuing this, I need to be able to provide some sense of what it might look like. That's why I started a thread to ask about people's experiences, what those partnerships have looked like, any pitfalls people encountered, etc.