Manpower matters a lot. There are a lot of grants available through National PTA, for instance, but to be eligible you have to have at least a certain number of volunteers to run the sponsored event/program. If parents aren't willing to help, it's a lot of missed opportunities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to a Title I south Arlington elementary school. My theory was that, given the limited time my husband and I had to volunteer, we'd rather spend it doing things other than fundraising. We donated $500 a year to the PTA and spent our time doing actual activities (chaperoning field trips, working the book fair, doing set-up or clean-up for school events) that they needed help for instead of lots of time on fundraisers that are time-intensive relative to what they raise. We also responded whenever possible to teacher requests for art or science materials, sent in coats and clothes to the school social worker to distribute, donated extra school supplies, etc.

Related question. I read posts about how NA schools have enrichment and clubs and after school activities, whereas SA elementaries generally have social assistance programs and test prep, and pretty much nothing else. Is that actually true or just an exaggeration? Are those enrichment activities paid for and organized by the PTA/parents or is it based on how individual school decide to spend an allotment from the district?

That depends on the school. Your wealthier SA schools have more enrichment opportunities. Your mid-range SA schools have fewer enrichment opportunities and probably more non-enrichment efforts. Your least affluent SA schools or highest FRM school or two seem to have even less.

But, as the general comments in the overall thread indicate, it really isn't just a matter of having comparable budgets. It's also a matter of the PTAs determining what their schools are most in need of, as well has having the manpower to implement each initiative, and a matter of knowing what to do with the available funds. My impression is that a lot of people at our least-affluent PTA schools are clueless as to what other PTAs do with $100K, or even $60K. Honestly, some of the things that have been done with that money should never have been done. PTAs should not be funding staff or purchasing equipment that APS should provide.

As an individual, my recommendation would be to absolutely make a financial donation; but also get involved with the PTA and find out what that particular school's needs are. Until PTAs come around to the idea of partnerships, fundraising together and providing opportunities for each other's schools and not just their own; until poorer PTAs can think beyond basic needs and get a better idea of what others are able to provide for their students, the disparities will remain stark.

Perhaps the school could use someone going out into the community to non-APS families, organizations, and businesses and raising money AND raising volunteers to staff events.

One thing you can look to do is either serve as the fundraising chair or community service chairs on the pta. Even if parents can’t give much, you can try to arrange partnerships to supplement and bridge the gap. You can apply for grant money, etc.
So much of the external enrichment at a school is done either through parents funding it themselves as in the case of afterschool enrichment, or parents running it themselves. Lots of parents work full time and still find time to donate time. I work two jobs and have four kids as a single mom and I still volunteer regularly at the school as a room mother and have helped with organizing several school events. It’s about making that stuff a priority. While I understand the angst that people of more means find it easier to donate time and energy, you can’t use that as an excuse to disconnect from the community.

Was it Hoffman Boston or Drew that had the partnership?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who works for a performing arts non profit that has an office in the Randolph zone. Her company did programming in every elementary school in APS for years, with the exception of Randolph. The former principal just wouldn’t hear of it, even though it was a free program. Some of the south Arlington schools were and are operating at a level of dysfunction that wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere in the county. Having almost no PTA presence is problematic in many ways.

I wonder if that was the same principal who nixed a lucrative partnership with a north Arlington PTA.

No it wasn’t.

Anonymous wrote:I have a friend who works for a performing arts non profit that has an office in the Randolph zone. Her company did programming in every elementary school in APS for years, with the exception of Randolph. The former principal just wouldn’t hear of it, even though it was a free program. Some of the south Arlington schools were and are operating at a level of dysfunction that wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere in the county. Having almost no PTA presence is problematic in many ways.

I wonder if that was the same principal who nixed a lucrative partnership with a north Arlington PTA.

I have a friend who works for a performing arts non profit that has an office in the Randolph zone. Her company did programming in every elementary school in APS for years, with the exception of Randolph. The former principal just wouldn’t hear of it, even though it was a free program. Some of the south Arlington schools were and are operating at a level of dysfunction that wouldn’t be tolerated elsewhere in the county. Having almost no PTA presence is problematic in many ways.

Anonymous wrote:From what I've heard from my friends who lived in S. Arlington was that there is only so much that the PTA can do when many of the parents just aren't involved with their child's education. I do think the reasons are legit, but it would be much better if you volunteered your time vs. giving $.

+1. A few months ago during a different PTA discussion, I read a year's worth of meeting minutes from a SA PTA (I'm not going to say which one, that's not the point), and one thing that was striking was how often I'd see a call for volunteers for a particular event or program, and the next month would see an update that it was being run by the same PTA officer would ran 17 other programs as well. There's only so much one person can do, so I imagine a lot of those programs weren't getting nearly the time and attention they could have used to really develop well. NA PTAs bring in a lot of money, but they're also able to do a lot with that money because they use volunteer power to stretch it further. $500 to create an in-class art enrichment program is pointless if you can't get a couple of volunteers per grade level to go into classrooms for an hour once a month to show kids some pictures of paintings by Van Gogh or Warhol and then let them create their own piece of art in the same style.

From what I've heard from my friends who lived in S. Arlington was that there is only so much that the PTA can do when many of the parents just aren't involved with their child's education. I do think the reasons are legit, but it would be much better if you volunteered your time vs. giving $.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NP here. OP - I completely get where you are coming from. The challenge is that there is a relatively small percentage of families at most SA schools that can make a $500+ gift as opposed to an extremely high percentage at NA schools. Unless multiple families are able and willing to make 4-5 figure gifts the gap just can't be closed. For example, I know of one NA elementary school that raises nearly $100k just on its silent auction. Our SA MS entire PTA budget for this year is $25k by comparison. I'm not saying don't donate or get involved - we still do - but the overall capacity for giving (and, with respect to auctions, donating/soliciting high-value items) just isn't possible compared to NA.

It won't close the gap with the NA PTAs, but that doesn't mean it's pointless.

I don't assume can close the gap, but maybe we can do more. I know I can do more to support our neighborhood school.

Anonymous wrote:NP here. OP - I completely get where you are coming from. The challenge is that there is a relatively small percentage of families at most SA schools that can make a $500+ gift as opposed to an extremely high percentage at NA schools. Unless multiple families are able and willing to make 4-5 figure gifts the gap just can't be closed. For example, I know of one NA elementary school that raises nearly $100k just on its silent auction. Our SA MS entire PTA budget for this year is $25k by comparison. I'm not saying don't donate or get involved - we still do - but the overall capacity for giving (and, with respect to auctions, donating/soliciting high-value items) just isn't possible compared to NA.

It won't close the gap with the NA PTAs, but that doesn't mean it's pointless.

NP here. OP - I completely get where you are coming from. The challenge is that there is a relatively small percentage of families at most SA schools that can make a $500+ gift as opposed to an extremely high percentage at NA schools. Unless multiple families are able and willing to make 4-5 figure gifts the gap just can't be closed. For example, I know of one NA elementary school that raises nearly $100k just on its silent auction. Our SA MS entire PTA budget for this year is $25k by comparison. I'm not saying don't donate or get involved - we still do - but the overall capacity for giving (and, with respect to auctions, donating/soliciting high-value items) just isn't possible compared to NA.

The PTA could almost certainly use whatever check you're willing to write, but I'm sure they'd also love your help if you could volunteer some hours as well. If you're willing to give time, you might consider talking to your PTA leadership about where they could best use your help, or at least to get their insight about ideas of your own. For instance, coordinating a for-pay enrichment program probably isn't going to be very helpful if families in your school can't afford the $150-250 per quarter that North Arlington families often pay for enrichment. But if you'd really like to have after-school enrichment available for your child, talk to your PTA about the feasibility of creating some kind of all-volunteer program, where parents with a particular skill or interest in art or board games or lego challenges can volunteer to run something. Something like that would present certain logistical issues (e.g., without an outside organization taking responsibility for supervision, providing liability insurance, etc., you'd probably need to have a teacher or other staff member supervising the activities, and the school won't necessarily be able to provide that), and the current PTA leadership is probably in the best position to help you figure out what can and cannot be done.

In short, talk to your PTA. Use the people with experience doing these things to help you figure out how to best utilize your time and talents to help your school.

I know some of the South schools hold silent auctions.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids went to a Title I south Arlington elementary school. My theory was that, given the limited time my husband and I had to volunteer, we'd rather spend it doing things other than fundraising. We donated $500 a year to the PTA and spent our time doing actual activities (chaperoning field trips, working the book fair, doing set-up or clean-up for school events) that they needed help for instead of lots of time on fundraisers that are time-intensive relative to what they raise. We also responded whenever possible to teacher requests for art or science materials, sent in coats and clothes to the school social worker to distribute, donated extra school supplies, etc.

Related question. I read posts about how NA schools have enrichment and clubs and after school activities, whereas SA elementaries generally have social assistance programs and test prep, and pretty much nothing else. Is that actually true or just an exaggeration? Are those enrichment activities paid for and organized by the PTA/parents or is it based on how individual school decide to spend an allotment from the district?

The north Arlington elementary schools that I am familiar with offer enrichment classes that are sourced by enrichment coordinator volunteers, but the parents of kids taking the classes pay for them. The vendors offering the classes are independent of the schools. Volunteers oversee some things like chess and journalism clubs. In middle school there is some of this as well, but kids are also encouraged to come up with their own clubs and find a teacher who will agree to chaperone after school.

Thanks. Can you say more about enrichment coordinator volunteers? Who they are, what they do?

To follow on - is there a backlash if UMC parents pay for these extras that other kids there can't? Is there a backlash if some kids just get test prep and others are getting other enrichment?

Do any schools use sponsorship to bring programs to students?

At my kids’ school parents are encouraged to request help with payment if they can’t afford an offering, and PTA funds can pay for part or all of the cost.