My PTA has been mostly a hot mess and has changed leadership a lot so I haven't really felt to motivated to participate. Maybe this year I will try and get more involved since there's a new president who isn't a wine mom

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We were sent information about PTA and I am curious if most families join their PTAs. There was a thread recently about how ineffective the PTAs are and I have no way of accessing whether ours is great or not. The events listed were 90% virtual, as expected. We are a COSA family and DH thought it would be a great way to connect with other families. I am just dubious if we would be able to do that due to covid.

PTA is a great way to get to know other families, to support the school, and to become more engaged. I've only had good PTA experiences and think it's a great way to get involved especially if you are new to the school. At our school, it's only $10 to join so definitely not cost prohibitive


I have seen some schools planning in person/outdoor activities this year and some planning virtual.

Also important to remember that PTA is more than just activities and fundraising - it's also advocacy too. At our school the PTA advocated when there was an issue with compacted math a few years ago and also to get funding from the board of education for renovations and repairs at the school.

I am not sure what the big deal is. Our PTA was also cheap. It was like $40 and you could donate more if you wanted. I paid every year and never went to a single meeting.

Our school has a dismal sign up rate - only 76 memberships out of over 600 kids in the elementary school. It’s a good example of how wealthier schools have an edge over less affluent ones; PTAs can make big differences for student, parent, and teacher experiences. When you have a virtually non existent PTA, it’s much more difficult. We have a yearly budget of ~$5,000 inclusive of fundraisers. Even schools with similar demographics / SES profiles in our area have budgets of upward of $20,000 because more families are involved.

As a parent who is a member and who values an active PTA it’s sometimes frustrating that there are so many parents who are “free riders” at our school. The cost of membership is $15 so not super expensive.

Anonymous wrote:We were sent information about PTA and I am curious if most families join their PTAs. There was a thread recently about how ineffective the PTAs are and I have no way of accessing whether ours is great or not. The events listed were 90% virtual, as expected. We are a COSA family and DH thought it would be a great way to connect with other families. I am just dubious if we would be able to do that due to covid.

PTA is a great way to get to know other families, to support the school, and to become more engaged. I've only had good PTA experiences and think it's a great way to get involved especially if you are new to the school. At our school, it's only $10 to join so definitely not cost prohibitive


I have seen some schools planning in person/outdoor activities this year and some planning virtual.

Also important to remember that PTA is more than just activities and fundraising - it's also advocacy too. At our school the PTA advocated when there was an issue with compacted math a few years ago and also to get funding from the board of education for renovations and repairs at the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can also donate to the library or the field trip fund or the book fair if you would rather not give to the PA for whatever reason.

+1

Just donate directly to the cause and be involved. You don't need to join PTA. I was a PTA board member for 2 years and I don't think you need to join PTA to be involved.

Also during covid, I am not sure how much PTA activities will be.

After being on the board and seeing how they wasted money and very little went to the school, this is what I do. I will buy things directly for the school, teachers or donate to a field trip, etc.

Serious question: If you were on the board, didn't you have more power to prevent waste?

I ask because I'm coming from a very active, wealthy PTSA at Cabin John that paid for a ton of stuff, to a lower income high school (we moved) where PTSA purchases for the school REALLY matter. Unlike at Cabin John, where it was nice, but not necessary. Pooling money through a PTSA mechanism is more efficient for funding things than individual parents donating when they feel like it. So an effective PTSA is in everyone's best interests. But it's disheartening to hear they waste money.

I very much tried to. I worked really hard to cut out the waste and get resource for free elsewhere but sadly the other board members worked against me at every chance. We didn't even need parent donations as I got so many donations but they felt it wasn't appropriate to get community donations. I think necessary is subjective. We were a very low budget PTA so every dollar mattered. The one problem is it takes time to do many things and our board wanted the easiest way to do things to make them look good vs. putting the time into it. They also heavily discouraged parents from volunteering when they'd reach out to volunteer despite saying they wanted input and volunteers. I regularly voted no to things that weren't appropriate and it caused a lot of conflict. I wanted to raise money to do bigger projects so we'd have things other schools had. I wanted to get donations for some of those things too because we couldn't easily raise the money other PTA's could. They are in it for their interests and the complements to themselves on social media were entertaining given how little they actually did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most families do not join pta
.not even one. In fact the statement most parents do not join the pta is more accurate

Yes
It is meant for bored housewives, the ones who need to be involved and love to gossip. Their hierarchy games are ridiculous

This is absolutely not true at our school. Every board member on our PTA has a full-time (and some very high stress) job. Every time we have approached SAH parents to run for board positions, they are too busy and have said no.

Many of us say no as we've been treated poorly by the board members and have given up trying. I have the time and willingness to volunteer and volunteer with other organizations but after my last PTA experience never again.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most families do not join pta
.not even one. In fact the statement most parents do not join the pta is more accurate

Yes
It is meant for bored housewives, the ones who need to be involved and love to gossip. Their hierarchy games are ridiculous

The majority of parents in our PTA work, so good try. They are super lazy in everything they do, will not let others help (and when you do they are super critical) and the PTA is the laughing stock of the school. The current board is useless and doesn't listen. Its filled with the president's friends who will yes them rather than question things and do what's best for the school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most families do not join pta
.not even one. In fact the statement most parents do not join the pta is more accurate

Yes
It is meant for bored housewives, the ones who need to be involved and love to gossip. Their hierarchy games are ridiculous

This is really a sad reply. It is true that stay-at-home parents are more likely to get involved for the sole reason that they have time to do so, but I really appreciate their involvement and what they do for our school and kids. So many events need volunteers, planning, money to be executed, and these events would not happen without our PTA. All we do is contribute money at the beginning of the year and we are not required to do anything else. A few volunteers and PTA carry all the events and make things happen. Why would you not appreciate that???

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most families do not join pta
.not even one. In fact the statement most parents do not join the pta is more accurate

Yes
It is meant for bored housewives, the ones who need to be involved and love to gossip. Their hierarchy games are ridiculous

This is absolutely not true at our school. Every board member on our PTA has a full-time (and some very high stress) job. Every time we have approached SAH parents to run for board positions, they are too busy and have said no.

PP here--and our most involved parents with kids at more than one school are also equally involved with their other kids' schools too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Most families do not join pta
.not even one. In fact the statement most parents do not join the pta is more accurate

Yes
It is meant for bored housewives, the ones who need to be involved and love to gossip. Their hierarchy games are ridiculous

This is absolutely not true at our school. Every board member on our PTA has a full-time (and some very high stress) job. Every time we have approached SAH parents to run for board positions, they are too busy and have said no.

Anonymous wrote:Most families do not join pta
.not even one. In fact the statement most parents do not join the pta is more accurate

Yes
It is meant for bored housewives, the ones who need to be involved and love to gossip. Their hierarchy games are ridiculous

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can also donate to the library or the field trip fund or the book fair if you would rather not give to the PA for whatever reason.

+1

Just donate directly to the cause and be involved. You don't need to join PTA. I was a PTA board member for 2 years and I don't think you need to join PTA to be involved.

Also during covid, I am not sure how much PTA activities will be.

After being on the board and seeing how they wasted money and very little went to the school, this is what I do. I will buy things directly for the school, teachers or donate to a field trip, etc.

Serious question: If you were on the board, didn't you have more power to prevent waste?

I ask because I'm coming from a very active, wealthy PTSA at Cabin John that paid for a ton of stuff, to a lower income high school (we moved) where PTSA purchases for the school REALLY matter. Unlike at Cabin John, where it was nice, but not necessary. Pooling money through a PTSA mechanism is more efficient for funding things than individual parents donating when they feel like it. So an effective PTSA is in everyone's best interests. But it's disheartening to hear they waste money.

The way it works is simple majority will vote and you abstain or vote no if you disagree. But you will be surprised how lame and pushy some of these folks are. After a year, you realize that its an utter waste of your time

Or it means that you and others need new board members. Perhaps even a change in bylaws so people can only be on the board for certain amount of time. Active parentsl involvement (ie doing the work) is the key factor that makes PTA work for all. Budget is second.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can also donate to the library or the field trip fund or the book fair if you would rather not give to the PA for whatever reason.

+1

Just donate directly to the cause and be involved. You don't need to join PTA. I was a PTA board member for 2 years and I don't think you need to join PTA to be involved.

Also during covid, I am not sure how much PTA activities will be.

After being on the board and seeing how they wasted money and very little went to the school, this is what I do. I will buy things directly for the school, teachers or donate to a field trip, etc.

Serious question: If you were on the board, didn't you have more power to prevent waste?

I ask because I'm coming from a very active, wealthy PTSA at Cabin John that paid for a ton of stuff, to a lower income high school (we moved) where PTSA purchases for the school REALLY matter. Unlike at Cabin John, where it was nice, but not necessary. Pooling money through a PTSA mechanism is more efficient for funding things than individual parents donating when they feel like it. So an effective PTSA is in everyone's best interests. But it's disheartening to hear they waste money.

The way it works is simple majority will vote and you abstain or vote no if you disagree. But you will be surprised how lame and pushy some of these folks are. After a year, you realize that its an utter waste of your time

I join because it invests $$$ in my Title I school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You can also donate to the library or the field trip fund or the book fair if you would rather not give to the PA for whatever reason.

+1

Just donate directly to the cause and be involved. You don't need to join PTA. I was a PTA board member for 2 years and I don't think you need to join PTA to be involved.

Also during covid, I am not sure how much PTA activities will be.

After being on the board and seeing how they wasted money and very little went to the school, this is what I do. I will buy things directly for the school, teachers or donate to a field trip, etc.

Serious question: If you were on the board, didn't you have more power to prevent waste?

I ask because I'm coming from a very active, wealthy PTSA at Cabin John that paid for a ton of stuff, to a lower income high school (we moved) where PTSA purchases for the school REALLY matter. Unlike at Cabin John, where it was nice, but not necessary. Pooling money through a PTSA mechanism is more efficient for funding things than individual parents donating when they feel like it. So an effective PTSA is in everyone's best interests. But it's disheartening to hear they waste money.