I can recall when I was in elementary school we had a PTO but there was also another group called the mother's club. The mother's club was an organization for the room mothers. It gave the room mothers someone to report too.

Hi Pam, I have liked the idea of having two groups, namely a PTA and a PTO, for some time now. There are many, on both sides that don't think it's a good idea but I think the concerns lie in the egos rather than the detractions.
Kma is one example of having both. Her PTA wasn't "allowed" to do certain things that she and other parents wanted to accomplish, however, having the support of your principal is KEY! I know of several schools across the country that are doing this very thing and if egos can be put aside, it is working. The groups have different focuses. For example, their existing PTO wants to focus on fundraising and providing items that the school is lacking, the PTA is focusing on advocacy to get the BOE etc to provide these items and/or parental involvement. PTOs can and do focus on parental involvement but when they can't or won't, then the other picks up where they leave off. PTAs can and do fundraise for needed items but when they won't another group can supplement that need. It's an example of two different focuses and the reasons for having two can vary. Another key is that the two groups communicate. Each sharing their goals and not trying to compete. You still have to 'work together' to some extent so you're not playing the 'we are better than you are' game but it can work but it's still a novel idea. Most times, it is a gradual process of accepting each other.

Hi, OK the reason we feel we have no other choice is that at our last meeting we discussed bylaws... the outcome of this meeting is the current board got their terms upped to 2 years! We thought we could wait out their year and jump in and try to shake things up. But now that they're in there for the next two years, we don't want to waste the little time we have left at this school doing things their way.
We actually have a president that does not want to do a membership drive this fall! She wants to raise dues, stop non-paid members from contributing to conversations and won't put space on the agenda for new ideas. We're very disappointed and we think it's time for a change. We want to see our school families involved. And I read somewhere that the NCLB law will require proven parental involvement.
I just wanted to see if any other schools out there have accomplished this without the one of the groups having a temper tantrum....

I'm in a situation similar to yours, but mine involves the PTA. I actually did form a splinter group to initially raise money for a playground. Now that we're doing things "our way" and not the PTA's, we're enjoying our freedom.

My first suggestion is for you and others to get on the board and shake things up a bit. If our school had a PTO we'd have performed a coup d'état in heartbeat! We considered that, but in our case we have PTA issues that prevent us from doing all we'd like to do at our school--namely fundraising and how we spend the monies. (MichelleB has explained to me that the national PTA has suggested their "rules" as guidelines, but our regional and state chapters are adamant about how things are done, and we're just not willing to fight).

It seems to me you don't actually want two separate PTOs (that is two separate bylaws etcetera) but rather a more well defined unit. How hard a time will the board give you if you and others were to head up commitees to tackle these problems? Not just saying, "these are issues we need to address," but actually coming to them with it all laid out? Do you think you could just insist on getting your way? Have you spoken to your principal about this? Would they support you? This would carry a lot of weight in getting things changed. Just remember that doing the things you'd like to do means you still need funding, and this may put you in direct competition with the original PTO.

Not to say that our PTO isn't involved but we have a school volunteer coordinator that is separate from the PTO. This sometimes makes it harder for the PTO to come up with needed volunteers but, if done right, this could be very successful at getting the parents that want to help hooked up with the staff that could use them.

Here's a question...
Our current PTO leadership is not interested in parental involvement or recruiting new members. Many of us are sick of this and have left the PTO. Now we are wondering.. we know it is legal to have more than one parent group at the school, so we are thinking of starting a group whose sole purpose is parent involvment with the kiddos. Has anyone else run into this at their school? Having a PTO for mainly fundraising and a separate group for involvment? Just throwing this out there.... Any resposnes would be great!
Just to let you know... we have worked very hard at expressing our opinions to the board about our concerns, but they want to run it their way -this is why we're at the end of our ropes..