We have a few really active PTSAs in some of the high schools here, and it is definately different. I don't want to post too much, especially if you aren't interested in a PTSA instead of a PTSO but I can put you in touch with the queen bee (so to speak) at one of the High school PTAs if you want. You can e-mail me at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
We restarted a pto this last year.
Because there are alot of ill feelings going around here this is how I would approach it differently next time.
1st thing get a copy of Robert's Rules of Order. Most organizations use these as a guide post for their bylaws. Get copies of bylaws as many as 6 or 7 with different emphasis. By that I mean how they handle voting, money and budgets,size of boards, etc. This shows you there are different ways to go.
Call a meeting of all parents that are interested, and get reasons why they are interested.
This group can even come up with a preliminary set of general goals that the organization will stand by. Make sure that everyone knows what the goals of the organization will be. I say this because you do not want to start out with a divided group and animosity to set in.
Are people interested in joining a group that is being formed just to fundraise for the school(say furnishings, material things for the school}
Are they looking to fundraise with funds being spent mainly on the students or to enrich their children's education?{field trips, assemblies ect.}and this may be different for a high school
Or a group to be used as volunteers inside the school?
These different areas can be mixed into one group but your members need to know what your intentions are. Ex. If your group has certain things they want to accomplish year after year say you want to pay for all field trips or certain programs and the principal wants x amount of dollars and fundraisers do not pan out. Where do the organizations priorities lie with PTO programs or giving money to the principal?
After deciding on your intentions,ask for volunteers to become a bylaws committee trying to make sure you have some varied view points on the committee. Aspects of the bylaws can be voted on by the committee members as they discuss it. You can schedule elections before the bylaws are ready
because bylaws are a very time consuming process.
And then the bylaws must be voted on by the orgaization.
Why this lengthy explanation?
Our mistake was the new principal initiated our comeback, but was looking for a group to be more
like a booster club. The officers have followed this but the parents are not favoring and until we got our bylaws committee together the parents were not given any input into the process except for election which they saw as a setup. So there is a lot of ill feelings about how and what money is being spent on.
I hope this helps.
Im the VP of a new PTO. From what I have read the by-laws should be pretty much the same from school to school just depending on how you want to run things. For great bylaws check out www.frontrowht.com/salliecone/ptobylaws.htm
There is no need to re-invent the wheel.
As for voting on the officers, I suggest to have a couple meetings first and see who floats to the top. Its hard to vote for people that you dont know. Starting a PTO is hard work and you need people who are willing to really spend some time on it.
During our first meetings we talked about things that will end up in your by-laws officers/term/committees/mission statement and membership dues. Just to get an idea of where to start with the by-laws so you can start filling in the blanks. As the PTO forms then you can discuss and vote to approve the bylaws.
You should also make sure that you notify all parents that you are organizing a PTO so that they can be involved. Nobody likes to feel left out.
Help! I need to know the very first thing to do to start a PTO at the high school level. It may not be worth it for us to join the network, because we've had such a hard time developing and maintaing a parent organization it would be a waste of money. What we have is a list of parents who said they are interested in participing in a PTSO/PTSA. From there I dont know what to do. I've been researching this website, but I still need a little direction. Does anyone have by-laws for a high school? When do you vote on officers? (I have a parent who already wants to be president). What do we do at our first meeting? Help Please!
