Dear Folks,
Just a quick note to let you know how much I appriciate your wisdom and insights. We have taken the bull by the horns and formed committies without any teachers or the principal, however we have included grandparents, "oldtimers," and retired teachers that are still living in the village. Our P.T.O. meeting was held with a good attendance and we are making a "Memory Book" with or without teacher support. The funniest thing we have dicovered is that our principal is very supportive, just not the outspoken enthusiast we expected. As long as we will move in a way that benefits the children, he is with us. As far as a fundraiser, we will be doing our school mascot on tee shirts and since we dont need a lot of money, a few "Burger King Nights" should suffice. We have also been working hard to recognize publicly all the teachers who really do care and let the apathetic remain the outsiders, instead of the other way around...
Well, I did want to keep this short, so let me close this with a word to anyone that might face this: Keep the children's education and protection as the main focus. They really have no voice. Don't give up, even if you sometimes give in. Pray for all our children, please.
Thanks, again, for working through this with me.
D. Peffer

Dear Folks,
Just a quick note to let you know how much I appriciate your wisdom and insights. We have taken the bull by the horns and formed committies without any teachers or the principal, however we have included grandparents, "oldtimers," and retired teachers that are still living in the village. Our P.T.O. meeting was held with a good attendance and we are making a "Memory Book" with or without teacher support. The funniest thing we have dicovered is that our principal is very supportive, just not the outspoken enthusiast we expected. As long as we will move in a way that benefits the children, he is with us. As far as a fundraiser, we will be doing our school mascot on tee shirts and since we dont need a lot of money, a few "Burger King Nights" should suffice. We have also been working hard to recognize publicly all the teachers who really do care and let the apathetic remain the outsiders, instead of the other way around...
Well, I did want to keep this short, so let me close this with a word to anyone that might face this: Keep the children's education and protection as the main focus. They really have no voice. Don't give up, even if you sometimes give in. Pray for all our children, please.
Thanks, again, for working through this with me.
D. Peffer

<BLOCKQUOTE>quote:</font><HR>As this is the last year our little school will be open, we are faced with an apathy and a laziness from our teachers and our principal. The principal will not allow us any fundraisers and our first P.T.O. meeting has been posponed until he decides. <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

Where will the students be next year? Are they all being reassigned to the same school? And if so, what kind of an organization do they have there?

I see two fronts you can attack on, and really they are the same thing. It appears to me that the principal believes any effort on your part would be wasted.

First, coordinate efforts with the PTO of the new school now. Do as many things together as you can, so that next year you will be old friends instead of strangers. Let their nominating committee know you would be interested in serving next year, and perhaps discreetly check to see what by-law changes might be necessary. (For example, requirements for officers might be amended to give you credit for service to your current school).

Perhaps you can run the same fundraiser in conjunction with them. Let's say their budget allocates 80% for student programs, and 20% for building gifts and such. Just reach an agreement that 80% of the profit you generate will go to your school for student programs. They can keep the other 20% for those building improvement projects that you will start benefiting from next year.

Second, even if you don't fundraise with the other school, you can get them to support your right to fundraise. Just remind them that whatever funds you have left at the end of the year will be their funds next year.

Should you try to spend every cent? Of course you should! Do things like buy every student a t-shirt commemorating the school. Just don't get ridiculous -- an all school ice-cream party is a good idea, but doing so weekly would be too much.

This really can be a win-win-win situation. Your students win because you can raise money to do things for them. Your parents win because you can get involved with the new school. Their school wins because you come in already part of the team, perhaps bringing money with you.


[This message has been edited by KC Swan (edited 10-23-2001).]

You need to check your by-laws to see exactly how much control your principal has over your PTO group. Our PTO group is actually sanctioned from the school, which means, that although we welcome our principal's ideas and suggestions, the ultimate decisions are actually up to a vote of the members, and not permission from the principal. The United States Constitution gives you the right to assemble; your principal can't forbid that. Although he may not allow you to hold your meeting on school grounds, he cannot legally stop you from having a meeting, unless it says otherwise in your by-laws. Check it out. I hope it works out well for you. We had similar problems with our former principal, but thank God we have a new one this year who is so much better. I wish you the best!

UGH!!!! We are going through the same type of problems!!! our school isn't closing. But we were a brand new PTO last year in an established school. We worked hard, we have gifted our teachers well etc,, We had a meeting early in the year that our vice principal graced with her appearance for a few minutes, then we had another 2 weeks ago that our principal came in and asked for this and that (meaning $$$$) we told him some of our ideas to help our school grow as an inviting community and bring people together. he left the meeting saying I like to let things sink in, I will email you if I have questions, GREAT!! have I had any emails? NO but he has expressed loudly now that he is vetoing many of our ideas that we thought were GREAT! We keep hearing "but you can't ask the PARENTS" umm my thought is this, WHO ARE THE PARENTS?? I AM A PARENT!!! We don't feel we are over doing things. We want to make a cookbook and charge a nominal fee for it (we need to cover the cost basicly) We are now being told that "they" don't want it meaning the administration but what about the families? We wanted to sell light sticks at a safety night we are/were planning we were told it wasn't a good idea!! WHY?? I would buy one for each of my 4 kids, at 75 cents a piece you betcha! to keep my kids SAFE! umm the theme of the night! DUH! (sorry slipped out) we are trying to give back to the school with our 1 fundraiser we had last year planning these events, but we can't give everything so we need to at least cover the cost. (we are a school of 900+ children) I see now that others are dealing with opiosition why, when we are working so hard to do things for the school. Our prinicpal was quoted last night saying "if you PTOers feel the need to do things WE don't want, we will get rid of you" hmm ok, so I am thinking,, fine, were gone! I mean how dare he!!! any thoughts?? (by the way, we are a year round track school, meaning kids are comming and going every 3 weeks and we worked hard to fit everyone in) please please give me any thoughts,, I am guessing he can't "get rid of us" but who wants to work your tail off for an administration that doesn't apprciate you?
thanks in advance for any imput!! Mesch

I feel very bad for you and your situation. I believe you most certainly have the right to continue functioning and having a fundraiser. Things can be bought to benefit the children THIS year. I don't know how your PTO works, but we fund things like halloween/valentine's day parties and the like throughout the year. If this is the case with your school, you need the money from somewhere. It is very unfortunate for your PTO that the principal isn't involved, but what's worse is that it sounds like it is the children who are suffering. As far as a PTO without T, that is also certainly possible. We very seldom ever have teachers at our meetings. We have an excellent staff, but the extent of their involvement is working an hour or two at the carnival or cleaning tables at our winter social. We are pretty much a PO. I hope things look up for you and the children at your school.