C.Brooks,
Thanks for replying. One of our points has been that the children are going to be angry and resentful and therefore perform poorly on test days. We do 3 parties a year; Halloween, Christmas and Valentines. These parties are only 45 minutes on a Friday afternoon. The last week of school we spend one day on Supergames. This is the highlight of the school year for most of the kids. One of our principals said that she's doesn't plan to cancel things like Supergames and field trips because they're scheduled after testing time so it doesn't make a difference (we like her).
I'll have to say, as much stress as this has caused us, it's a pivital time for our organization. We suddenly have parents who care about something. Parents actually went to a school board meeting. The teachers are coming to us with ideas and suggestions and the administration finally sees us as more than the party moms.

Those poor kids, all work and no play? If I was a student there I would probably be very resentful.

Our PTO prides itself on our monthly (almost) PTO Days which we schedule around events such as parties, field trips etc. Class parties are usually in the last hour of class time. Every Friday our principal has "Success Celebration" the last 45 minutes of the day. (We are a small school) At this time children are rewarded for academics as well as attendance.

If your board tries to tell you these things interfere with the children's test grade, they are grasping at straws. Our elementary school has had good enough test scores to be in rewards for the last four or five years. Our school report card is excellent, I believe if we took the fun stuff away from them they would have nothing to look forward to and no motivation to try.

I am the VP of our PTO. Our phones have been ringing constantly since the principal of one of our schools decided to cancel Valentines Day Parties. Are the parties truly that big of a deal? Maybe not but, the reasons are what concern us. Because our state test scores are VERY low, some administators have chosen to also cancel all field trips, the 6th grade spring dance and end of the year activities. As parents, we all feel that our students are being punished for what we see as an administration problem. As officers we spoke at a school board meeting and adressed these issues as well as our districts need for direction, consistency and standards. The board said we would have their response within 10 days. Their response was sent to all the staff but we have yet to receive it and it's been 11 days. We have seen the response because teachers have shown it to us. The response talks in circles and was obviously written by our superintendant although it is signed as being from him and the board president.
We asked ourselves what we should do next. Teachers have not been involved in our PTO in the past. After talking to a few of them that we know personally, we deciced to invite the teachers (only the teachers) to a meeting at a local restraunt. Our hope is that this will give them the opportunity to give us valuable input without the threat of administrators or the fear of being cornered by parents.
I am completely open to comments or suggestions regarding our situation. :confused: