There Needs to Be Enforced Equity Among PTA's

[Anonymous]

Maybe it’s time to start charging mcps students a token fee at the beginning of the school year like lots of other school districts do?

How about $10-20 per kid collected at the beginning of the year that would go into a pool for classroom teachers for supplies, etc.?

Even a FARMs family should have skin in the game. $10-20 per family won’t break them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still find it crazy that teachers don’t consider personal gifts from students/parents to be an ethical violation.

I'll trade it for overtime pay that other public servants get.

We work way more than 40 hrs a week, folks...

Fed here. I also work more than 40 hours a week, especially during our busy season. We do not get overtime or comp time. Our management would tell us we should get the work done within our 40 hours and not to work late. You have to have overtime approved ahead of time.

I'm sure your pay scale is much higher than MCPS.

NP, also a Fed, the GS pay scale is generally commensurate with education and experience. Most teachers aren’t paid the same as a GS-13, but most teachers don’t have PhDs or masters degrees in hard sciences plus 15+ years of experience. But, no, we don’t get overtime or comp time, even when we travel to academic conferences on weekends, are expected to work roughly 8am - 8pm while there, etc. It’s just part of the work.

Overall, the teaching profession in affluent areas like MoCo is a mess. The expectations of teachers are unreasonable, but OTOH, teachers are paid well for their 10 month contracts and many still demonstrate completely unprofessional behavior, e.g., excessive social media posting about how they’re not “cheap childcare,” etc The professionals I know don’t act like that.

So many teachers have a social media problem, but not any professionals you know.

I love the data-driven approach you take you highly educated Fed, you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought MCPS already had controls on fundraising for teachers, at least stronger than DC where some schools funds teacher aides thru the PTA?

A teacher is here telling you that is not the case. Listen to them. Believe them.

The teachers have to provide a write up/justification. They cannot receive $250 for nothing. We use mini-grants. But not everyone gets them. These PTAs/schools are in violation of the MCCPTA/Free State Cash Encounters rules. It's not MCPS that regulates.

[Anonymous]

My kids went to a high FARMS, low parental engagement, low PTA participation school. I was very involved in the PTA and felt bad that the parents were not involved in our school. I disagree about enforced equity among PTAs. This is not a solution. I would not mind however, if the wealthier PTAs sponsored a cultural activity or two for poor schools or helped with some of the basic compliance of these poor school PTAs.

NO. There should not be enforced equity among PTAs. The PTAs are a direct result of parental involvement. If PTA is not active, it is on parents. Even a $5 donation from all parents at any school can result in a wonderfully effective PTA that can sponsor a ton of activities. The problem is not just lack of parental involvement, but rather that interested parents at poor schools don't know how to get good programming at their school.

In the end, parents at poor schools do not care for PTA activities. They want cultural activities for their students - International night, science fair, talent show, various performances for music/dance/crafts/culture/food from outside performers, outside performers who can teach them about wildlife, story telling, folk tales, folk dance etc, a few out of school or in school field trips, nice selection and programs for literacy at the media center, activities in the school and a well stocked classroom, gym, and play yard. Throw in some easy teacher appreciation events and parents are happy. However, for most of the parents, they do not understand how to make these things happen if the PTA is not active. Also, being an office bearer of the PTA is confusing for most. You end up working for the PTA instead of getting programming for the school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still find it crazy that teachers don’t consider personal gifts from students/parents to be an ethical violation.

I'll trade it for overtime pay that other public servants get.

We work way more than 40 hrs a week, folks...

Fed here. I also work more than 40 hours a week, especially during our busy season. We do not get overtime or comp time. Our management would tell us we should get the work done within our 40 hours and not to work late. You have to have overtime approved ahead of time.

I'm sure your pay scale is much higher than MCPS.

NP, also a Fed, the GS pay scale is generally commensurate with education and experience. Most teachers aren’t paid the same as a GS-13, but most teachers don’t have PhDs or masters degrees in hard sciences plus 15+ years of experience. But, no, we don’t get overtime or comp time, even when we travel to academic conferences on weekends, are expected to work roughly 8am - 8pm while there, etc. It’s just part of the work.

Overall, the teaching profession in affluent areas like MoCo is a mess. The expectations of teachers are unreasonable, but OTOH, teachers are paid well for their 10 month contracts and many still demonstrate completely unprofessional behavior, e.g., excessive social media posting about how they’re not “cheap childcare,” etc The professionals I know don’t act like that.

So many teachers have a social media problem, but not any professionals you know.

I love the data-driven approach you take you highly educated Fed, you.

Ad hominem attacks don’t make your case, PP. The bottom line is that anyone who claims to be a professional undermines that argument when they demonstrate profoundly unprofessional behavior related to their job. That doesn’t require a federally-funded study; it’s common sense.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I still find it crazy that teachers don’t consider personal gifts from students/parents to be an ethical violation.

I'll trade it for overtime pay that other public servants get.

We work way more than 40 hrs a week, folks...

Fed here. I also work more than 40 hours a week, especially during our busy season. We do not get overtime or comp time. Our management would tell us we should get the work done within our 40 hours and not to work late. You have to have overtime approved ahead of time.

I'm sure your pay scale is much higher than MCPS.

NP, also a Fed, the GS pay scale is generally commensurate with education and experience. Most teachers aren’t paid the same as a GS-13, but most teachers don’t have PhDs or masters degrees in hard sciences plus 15+ years of experience. But, no, we don’t get overtime or comp time, even when we travel to academic conferences on weekends, are expected to work roughly 8am - 8pm while there, etc. It’s just part of the work.

Overall, the teaching profession in affluent areas like MoCo is a mess. The expectations of teachers are unreasonable, but OTOH, teachers are paid well for their 10 month contracts and many still demonstrate completely unprofessional behavior, e.g., excessive social media posting about how they’re not “cheap childcare,” etc. The professionals I know don’t act like that.

At our school we have multiple phd teachers and staff.

[Anonymous]

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.

Given how simple you make it, why are you not on the board of your school and doing it? It’s easy to complain, harder to do.

Ours has staff board members. Time for you to step up.

[Anonymous]

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.

I love this approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it’s time to start charging mcps students a token fee at the beginning of the school year like lots of other school districts do?

How about $10-20 per kid collected at the beginning of the year that would go into a pool for classroom teachers for supplies, etc.?

Even a FARMs family should have skin in the game. $10-20 per family won’t break them.

MCPS has plenty of money but choose to spend it otherwise. $10-20 in a FARMS family could break them and mean buying food or not. Do you even get the income level to qualify as FARMS? What you live off in a month may be wha they live off in a year.

[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.

I love this approach.

This idea will not work as if you charge $10-15, most of that money goes to MCCPTA, MDPTA (or Freestate or what ever it is called) and National. There would be nothing left for $200 per teacher. Our school doesn't have $200 and we are lucky we have a few hundred to pay insurance.

[Anonymous]

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.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it’s time to start charging mcps students a token fee at the beginning of the school year like lots of other school districts do?

How about $10-20 per kid collected at the beginning of the year that would go into a pool for classroom teachers for supplies, etc.?

Even a FARMs family should have skin in the game. $10-20 per family won’t break them.

MCPS has plenty of money but choose to spend it otherwise. $10-20 in a FARMS family could break them and mean buying food or not. Do you even get the income level to qualify as FARMS? What you live off in a month may be wha they live off in a year.

I’m actually a poverty lawyer with extensive experience in the field both locally and nationally. I think it’s kind of you to be concerned, but the reality is that the majority of families who qualify for FARMs in MoCo are actually earning money in cash-based industries. In short: they aren’t as low-income as you think because they primarily earn money under the table. That’s why some of these families are equipped to go to Disney or fly home to their country for extended periods of time.

Guess what? Most states with far worse poverty than we have charge fees.

Skin in the game matters.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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.

I love this approach.

This idea will not work as if you charge $10-15, most of that money goes to MCCPTA, MDPTA (or Freestate or what ever it is called) and National. There would be nothing left for $200 per teacher. Our school doesn't have $200 and we are lucky we have a few hundred to pay insurance.

Other states/jurisdictions actually charge fees that supplement the school budget, not the pta.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe it’s time to start charging mcps students a token fee at the beginning of the school year like lots of other school districts do?

How about $10-20 per kid collected at the beginning of the year that would go into a pool for classroom teachers for supplies, etc.?

Even a FARMs family should have skin in the game. $10-20 per family won’t break them.

MCPS has plenty of money but choose to spend it otherwise. $10-20 in a FARMS family could break them and mean buying food or not. Do you even get the income level to qualify as FARMS? What you live off in a month may be wha they live off in a year.

I’m actually a poverty lawyer with extensive experience in the field both locally and nationally. I think it’s kind of you to be concerned, but the reality is that the majority of families who qualify for FARMs in MoCo are actually earning money in cash-based industries. In short: they aren’t as low-income as you think because they primarily earn money under the table. That’s why some of these families are equipped to go to Disney or fly home to their country for extended periods of time.

Guess what? Most states with far worse poverty than we have charge fees.

Skin in the game matters.

Some are some aren’t. You clearly only see a select portion of people. And, this is a mccpta issue not mcps.