I would see if you can work at it together this year. But for next year maybe get together before the end of the school year or right before school and plan your ideas together so that you don't run into this next year.

We have something similar having a coordinating council the school district has 4 schools but we all have to submit our calendars in for the next calendar by the end of June. Then we have no overlaps with any of the schools for any functions or fundraiers it works really well.

Thank you all for your help. The book sale they did made them a good amount of money. We had always planned on having the student body help with the carnival, but it is going to be our main income source. I love the candy gram ideas and the student council was going to do this but the districts nutrition policy does not allow them to. Our board is still reconsidering doing a carnival, just not as elaborate. I will definitely take the suggestion of having a meeting with the sc advisor to discuss next years plans.

Our school is trying a PTO/student council team effort this year. For our carnival the PTO will be doing the usual food and games, but the student council will be running an auction. These two events used to occur separately, but the SC asked if we could do it together this year. You try it-if it works, great, if not you move on.

It'll take awhile to work out a system since you're all so brand new. At my last school, everything had to be run through the principal so he could warn us ahead of time of any overlaps.

I used to have a boy scout leader who was on the PTO board. For the whole first half of the school year she would steal every idea I presented by saying, "Oh, I've planned for the boy scouts to do that already...." It took me awhile but I finally figured out she was lying. Finally I just said, "Why don't you tell me what you have planned for your scouts for the year and we'll just work around them." She had nothing.

Ohio gives great advice to work on the Carnival together. I think it's important for the kids to have successes with their Student Council and the PTO can help them do that. I also agree with her to have wide open communication with their staff advisor. It's OK to say, "The PTO is doing such and such." If she takes it back to her kids and tells them they get to do it then maybe gently remind her that the PTO is already doing it. After a few times of having to back pedal with her kids, she'll stop doing it. You do have to be a team and work around each other but she also needs to learn to stand on her own two feet come up with things that don't conflict with your group.

Maybe one solution for the carnival idea is you pair up with the student council....plan the carnival together, PTo handle certain elements--like maybe food--you keep all food profit and let student council handle games and they keep game profits. Or PTO hold the carnival and let student council members work the booths and you give student council a % of the earnings for their help. MAybe a meeting with the Student council advisor, PTO and principal will help work things out. One idea is at our middle school the paper type selling fundraisers really don't go over well but sales like valentines suckers sold for $.50 a piece and delivered to the students on valentines or candy canes for $.25 each and delivered at Christmas times make a killing at our middle school. I know my daughter bought something like $20 worth of candy canes to be delivered to her friends. Student council does this sale at our school--the kids run the sale booths at lunch time and the students use left over lunch quarters to buy.

Wish I could help on this one but we too are having the same situation--There was not a student council at the school for a few years--the principal asked the PTO to step in and help--we planned activities last year for this year--06-07 school year starts a teacher volunteers to head up student council and somehow she plans all the same activities as the PTO and goes ahead and tells the student council students--so of course they are all excited and now we can't do them and take them away from the student council students doing them because we would look like the bad guys--so this school year we havenot been very active at the middle school as a PTO....which we have never had a strong parent, teacher or even principal following there either..we decided to kind of hang back and let the student council do their stuff.