I have a small private school in my area that has approximately 200 students and about 100 members. They benefit dues wise especially because they are so small.
Your state PTA office seems to have everything together up there, including having many of the forms for download online and according to their site, they have a local person like myself that will assist you in starting.
Their procedures, including how to contact someone locally, is here and appears to contain most of the steps needed. (actually, after looking, we should have this on our site too but don't. Have to bring that up during the state meeting...)
I am in Oregon. Thanks for the help. I have about 5 parents I targeted as being very active who have expressed definite interest in being part of this. I am trying to get a head start by getting organization documents and other things together so we can appear organized when we approach the school.
FYI This school is a very small nonprofit, but with the parents are very attentive and want more involvement. The teachers and staff want this to, however I think the Board is very distance from both the staff and teachers and I want the first impressions of this newly formed group to stick in the mind of the Board as being very professional and very together.
You are definitely at the right place to find help. You can find a ton of useful information on starting a PTO by reviewing past posts on the forum. I would also recommend taking a look at our National PTO Network (NPN)
Click here to view NPN info
. NPN members receive a number of great products and services. As a new PTO, you would benefit tremendously from the start-up expert guide which provides answers to many of the exact questions you asked in your post.
Good luck and feel free to call us if you have any questions!
hi michellem and welcome to the message boards. Depending on where you are there are plenty of options. The subject of your topic included the possibility of a PTA? If you are interested in going that route, you can contact your state PTA office and ask for someone to help you set it up. Our state has bylaws templates that you can insert your school name into and can guide you through and even provide additional ready made organizational documents.
I'm a council Pres in my area and I am doing this with another school right now. We are in the process of getting a meeting together and they have a whopping 4 members so far! We're hoping to get more members at a meeting and to get prospective board members in place.
I give them the templates that I have in order to get them started and hopefully to a place where they won't need me as often. Many states even have this information online for example CT www.ctpta.org/membership/organize_a_pta.htm
They too would also be familiar with specific state laws that may not be nationwide and up to date on new state laws governing PTAs/
What state are you in?
[ 12-01-2004, 01:34 PM: Message edited by: Michelle B ]
Our school has very little parental involvement. So a group of parents have decided to form a Parents Teachers organization and are looking for any information, by-laws, constitution, organizing documents, anything that could help us.
