Yes! Thank you Mykidsmom! That is exactly how my co and I feel. We just wanted to to reach out and ask others just incase our gut reactions were a litle rusty. Thank you once again, you have been very helpful [img]smile.gif[/img]
Our Principal would find a place to keep those funds as not to have it confused with the PTO funds. The school should already have a account set up for this type of funds. I'm sorry, I just see your Principal useing your group as a piggy bank. I hope I'm wrong and don't want to cause any ill feelings but if the school is sendig their employees to a training course why is the PTO holding the money? :confused:
Thank you both for your helpful responses. [img]smile.gif[/img] Our principal has presented another idea. She would like to have a fundraiser specifically for Professional Development. It would fall under our budget, as she doesn't have a place to keep that much money. She would then select the offerings and which teachers attend or benefit directly to ensure equity among all, as well as to be certain the selections fit in with our school needs. I guess we would then vote on the requests. In essence, she is asking for a line item/restricted fund specifically for teacher enrichment. This would be an addition to our budget which already provides a very generous Teacher/Principal Request budget item. Do you have any thoughts on this one?
I wouldn't fund that. Yes, PTO is to enrich. But training cost should be district or school funded not PTO. I don't think it falls under that categoy. Stick to your decision I wouldn't fund that. Just think what parents would say. Why should PTO funds be given.
I'm not confortable with theh fact your group is being 'pressured' into giving money first of all, second our school holds fundraisers to aide with such expenses, not that every school should but rarely is the PTO asked to foot such bills.
This is a good time to stress it's not MY decision to approve such expenitures, it's the MEMBERSHIP that votes on any amount of this size. It's not (nor should it ever be veiwed) the Presidents fault that the membership decides what they decide! Right now I am waiting for a call from our kitchen manager because the membership wants an itemized bill of a recent lunch the school catered for us (we served lunch to the staff during conferences). Many are upset because we were simply handed a bill for $90 (we were told they could do it for $50) PLUS $50 labor! We served baked potatoes with a small assortment of extras, anyway I had asked for an iemized bill and still waiting for that! So....my point, the membership is more upset the kitchen staff didn't keep their end and yes, I'm being sent into battle (if you will) but they just want to know how it can be $90 to feed 50 people baked potatoes!
Our principal as informally asked us to consider partially funding 5 teacher professional development days in addition to the 3 our district offers. Our by laws state that our mission is to enrich and enhance our students school experience, but not pay for core curriculum materials or bldg. maintenance. Her arguement is that by providing additional prof. dev. opportunities for teachers, we are unquanitifiably enriching student experience. She also informed us this is a common practice among PTO's. The by laws are a bit subjective. Our interpretation is that our efforts should affect the students directly and provide for things they wouldn't otherwise have. Teachers are required, by law (in our state of MA) to maintain their certificates by earning a given number of p.d.p.'s. Our initial reaction is that funding should come from the teachers themselves, the district, or site based funds. We could really use some feed back. Thank you. :confused:
