We are P-2, about 260 students. Our PTO has 4 parent officers and 1 teacher representative. I asked this particular teacher to be the representative. We have 13 teachers and 9 of them were at our first meeting and 10 (plus some aides) at our first PTO event -- a Family Reading Night.
Our PTO does not have an official section of the by-laws that mentions a teacher liason. However, since pTo is for teachers too, our principal has always recruited at least 2 teachers/aides for each membership meeting we have. He rotates a schedule. For example, at one meeting a 1st grade teacher and the art teacher may be present. At the next meeting it may be a 3rd grade teacher and the speech therapist. This has worked great for us as we get a well-rounded idea of what the staff questions or ideas may be that we can work on or help with!
"Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it" - Ferris Bueller
In our elementary PTO, we had the same situation as hanrae. Very beneficial. The principal would recruit the two reps each year, usually one from the lower grades; one from the higher. We found their input invaluable. Some years the reps were more active than others. Things always went smoother when we had an involved Teacher Liasion.
We are a K-4th grade school & we have 2 teacher representatives. There is one for K-1 & one for 2-4. In our PTO Bylaws Teacher Representative was listed as one of the officer position. We are a new school & K-1 will be in one wing & 2-4 is in another, so having 2 seemed like the best way to keep the teachers informed & involved. The principal was the one who suggested 2 representatives-he had teacher representatives at his other school & felt it was benefical to all involved. The principal & the teacher representatives have been very involved in helping get things started & met with us over the summer a few times to get things ready for the school year.
We didn't have a Teacher Liason as such, but if the teachers wanted to ask PTA for something generally 1 of the same 2 teachers would show up at our meetings.
Last year there was a total shake up of our PTA board and some teachers stepped forward and said they'd like to join, so now we have 3 parents and 3 teachers on our board. It has its good points and its bad points, but we are much more connected to the teachers and what they want/feel than we ever were.
