Question: Access to Office Area and Where Teachers Congregate

Curious what access other Presidents have to the school office area (copier, cutting boards, etc.). Do you ask for permission to come in everytime or should you be given authority because of your position? There is an expectation of privacy and respect for discussions between teachers and administration that may be overhead by the President. Should the President be prohibited from these areas? Because a President is a volunteer (but also a parent to a child there), should they be treated as a intruder?

Asked by Anonymous

Answers:

Advice from PTO Today

Rose H writes:
You raise some great points here. What we've found is this often demands on the personality of the school (each one is unique!) in general and the principal in particular. The principal tends to set the tone in the front office, and really contributes greatly to the overall tone of the school. One suggestion: Talk to the principal and ask how he or she wants to handle this. Take the principal's lead.

Also, thinking that this might be a great question to put on Facebook or the Message Boards to see if we can get responses from other parents.

Thanks for bringing up an interesting topic!

Here are a couple of great articles on working with the principal.

Make the Principal Your Partner

Principal Q&A: Advice for PTOs

Good luck!

Community Advice

gjcoram writes:
Personality of the school & principal -- and the layout of the office. Our office has a public area, where the copier and mail slots are, as well as the visitor sign-in, so we don't need to ask permission to enter.

Community Advice

jenshen2 writes:
Hi, I am the PTO president of my son's school. The school has been very accommodating to us. We have full access to the workrooms and the copiers. I have not had any conflict over the use of school resources. Hope this helps.