At my daughter's preschool, the parent group does the orders. At one of the elementary schools I have a kid in, the teachers do the orders. At the other, they say the teachers do it, but they have a parent volunteer who really does it (one in each class).

The teachers are probably thrilled that you have parents taking care of those orders! So, I guess I would say why NOT have the PTO do it? If the teachers are happy, and you have the volunteers to handle the ordering process, and it's all working, I don't see a good reason to change.

If it works for your PTO, why not continue to spearhead the Scholastic book orders? Every school community, of which the PTO is a part, has its own unique culture and character. If this is an avenue that has been a successful joint venture for parents and staff, that's great! It sounds like this parent wants to be involved so maybe the challenge is to find the right niche for that person and put all that energy to work in a positive motion. Hopefully once the new parent becomes more comfortable with the ins and outs of this school and gets to know the PTO and its good intentions, the attitude will begin to dissipate. Good for you! I think our teachers would LOVE it if we would take over the book orders.

Here's our situation and maybe your feedback will help me deal with this new issue. We're a small, international school in Venezuela that is seven years old. Several years ago, one of the staff started the ordering process from Scholastic for our students, but this staff member was totally disorganized and it turned into a big mess. Three years ago, a parent/teacher took over the ordering and put in a lot of time organizing it. This is where I started...I helped this teacher with the ordering and distributing. From there I became the one in charge of Scholastic. We only have 150+ students so this is not that big of a job...we order about three times a year. I now have a new parent who is questioning the PTO's role in this. First of all, she wants a different book provider who sells books higher than TAB (8th grade level). No problem, give me ideas! Then she proclaims (I know, I'm being defensive!)that at ALL the international schools she's been in the teachers have done all the work for book orders and WHY is our PTO doing the work?

So, having said all that, do YOUR PTO's do book orders or do your teachers?

Thank you for your input and guidance in this one.