I agree with JHB on the whole. 100% concerning the school being your partner! But just as parents come and go, unfortunately so do administrators, and opinions as well can change down the line. Being VERY well defined on roles, getting all assurances in writing, and being on the lookout for any potential loopholes is a must. I'd be more concerned if the money was a personal loan from the president rather than money that the school fronted to form a PTO. Like I said, where we live in Jersey it's all politics, so down the road you'd want to be careful if you'd were "beholden" to not only a superior, but a superior that lent you money to boot. Also, as was pointed out to our group by our superintendent, our being autonomous was better for us in that it released us from constraints that the state imposes on the public school systems in this area when it comes to things like fundraising.Though it sounds trite, honest communication is key.
I guess I have have the opposite view. The school has to be a partner in the success of any such organization created. Parents will come and go over time, so it's in the best interest of the school to see that a strong, well-structured organization is developed.
As a parent, I would expect the group to set good guidelines as to the roles and responsibilities and how decisions will be made. As long as that is well-defined up front, I don't see any problem with the school providing these services or paying setup costs.
Our group is new to this situation too. While costly, we decided to fund it ourselves. Our public school currently has a PTA, and we saw all the strings attached there. We felt that going through "the school" would ultimately put us in compromising situations down the road. What we did has been generally frowned upon, but the reasoning seems to be that hands can't be unclapped, so.... I should think that giving the president receipts and paying her back would alleviate any problems down the road. Good Luck! [img]smile.gif[/img]
We are trying to set up a Virtual PTO type association at our Virtual (on line) School. We cover 7 difrent states at this time and the School is schedualed to open in a few more states next yr.
Here is our situation right now. I have contacted the President of the School and she offered to provide legal assistance in setting up our by laws and basicly covering the costs for setting up the Association. The Persident has personaly been involved in setting up many outer non profit orginizations in the past.
These offers have given me a big sigh of relief to begin with but I am wondering what others out side of the situation may think. Would accepting this help posible put our group at a disadvantage in the future in your opinion? We love our school and feel that it is the best way to educate our children but as part of our "mission statement" so to speak is to take our members (actualy all parents in the program) concerns and problems to the School administration to try to help the parents.
Our school Administration is full of great people but I am afraid that if in the future our association and the School end up on opsite sides of a subject that them paying to set us up and providing all this help will come back to haunt us.
