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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=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,[b] 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. [/b]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.[/quote]

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. [/quote]

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.[/quote]

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.  [/quote]

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, [i]if they were interested[/i], implement these programs as well without having to spend their own money on start-up expenses. Let them, [i]if they are interested[/i], 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.[/quote]

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