You could have been a fly on the wall of our last PTO meeting. It was the first one of the year and I began the meeting exactly the same way. I first read verbatim our mission statement from our by-laws. I then read the problem-solving policy from our Student-Teacher handbook which is generally...if you have a problem with a teacher, go to the teacher, with an administrator go to them, etc... AND the reason is this. The PTO, at least how our organization is designed, is for the sole purpose of enhancing our children's education. It is not a mediation board nor is it a sounding board for complaints. This has been allowed in the past and all it does is to cause problems, hurt feelings and cause division in the school. We found that several of these complaints were based on rumors or personality conflicts and nothing was ever solved. There are proper channels to go through when real problems are in the school and this is the best way for them to get resolved. Our school board does a survey and a gap analysis on a yearly basis that addresses problems and concerns within our school community and then proceeds to remedy these. But our overall PTO policy is to direct any parents with a problem directly to the person who can fix it...a teacher, administrator or school board member. We let them do their jobs while we do ours.
Our PTO president recently published and distributed a very nice "PTO Welcome" letter, at the start of our school year, to all parents. Within this letter the "primary function" of our PTO was stated. Unfortunately, the stated "primary function" was completely, 180 degrees opposite of our PTO "Mission Statement".
Our "Mission Statement" is a standard one which incorporates the same generally agreed upon concepts shared at this web site. Namely, the children's welfare, improve their education, and supporting the children and each other through communication and problem solving. Bottom line parental involvement.
I had a discussion with several other PTO members over this discrepency. To my dismay there was 100% agreement with the president. They agreed that the only "primary function" was to enhance the children's educational "experience"
(whatever that means). This is accomplished by fundraising to have events like"Ice Cream Socials" and "Daddy/Daughter dances".
The bottom line? If you have a problem with the principal go to the principal with it. Problem with the administation? Tell them about it. We, the PTO, do not want to hear your problems and issues. If you have a neat little fun event for the kids we'll listen otherwise we want get our door prize within 45 minutes so we can go home to watch "Survivor" on TV.
If we didn't have the rewards then maybe the only ones to come would be the ones that are really willing to have serious discussions about serious issues.
