Here's sort of a list of what we do:

Community Service:
-Pennies for patients
-Food drive for Salvation Army
-Game/book Drive for local saf house
-Miscellanous as needed (Katrina,etc)

School Projects
-Finance and run the Positive Behavior school Store (they earn coupons, no money)
-Facilitate Class Pictures and pay for
each child to get a picture of their class
-Game Day Refreshments (finance and serve)
-Story Telling Contributions
-Support Running Club (shirts and pizza)
-Week Long Staff Appreciation (serve lunch
and little gifts each day)
-Gifts for Kindergarten Registration
-Finance Authors and assemblies when funds
are available
-facilitate Open House and 2 Book
Fairs
-Facilitate Read Across America Week
-Serve refreshments as needed at school
Functions
-Provide Volunteers as requested for school
activities
-Financially support our PBIS team
celebrations

Family Events-all free to our families!!!
-Scavenger Hunt at Open House
- Fall Festival
-Holiday Gift Shop
-Family Craft Night
-Staff/Parent Volleyball match with Pizza
party afterwards
-Spring Fling Carnival
-Disco Night,Luau Night, and Sockhop Night
-Grandparent Luncheon


This is the majority of our group, we do finance other little projects as they may come along. It truly depends on your group and school how much they can do. We start off really strong, take a "break" in January and February (mainly because of snow) and then step up in March, April and May. June we do NOTHING!!!!

Another important part of any parent group should be marketing, being at district events when they ask, having a info table at all school events (block party, conference nights, etc) speaking at Kindergarten Orinetation. That is a MUST!! Good Luck, start off slow and small....trust me!

WOW Kudos to you and your group. My parents should be thankful. We do about 1/4 of what you do. And our parents they are wore out.

Thanks for the imput.

We have 4 pillars of support
1. Morale and Spirit Enhancement
2. Community Support
3. Physical/Technical Improvements
4. Academic Embellishments

Under #1
Spirit Wear
Spirit Items
Cultural Programs
Free Programs like Craft Nights, Carnivals, Skate Nights, Pool Parties
Variety Show
Dr. Seuss Night
Appreciation Events

Under #2
Crisis Response -tsunami/Katrina/Food Bank Support/Make a Difference (to assist our school's families that need help during the holidays)

Under #3
Quad Improvements/Computer Upgrades/Equipment purchases etc.

Under #4
Thinking and Games Programs
Chess Club
Math 24
Book Club
Author Visits

Those are how we focus in a nutshell. Our pillars support our main goal of creating an community for our children and their families that is caring, educational and fun.

When people ask me if I like being the PTO President (usually with rolling eyes), I smile and say "People help me raise money to do great things for our children. Yeah--it's a pretty neat job".

Good luck and hope this helps. dianna

I'm president of our Home and School Assocation. Our school board is trying to redefine us. I'm having trouble with what a PTO/PTA/H&S organization should be responsible for. I have my thoughts, but would LOVE to hear yours.

The questions are......WHAT DOES YOUR ORGANIZATION DO FOR THE SCHOOL? WHAT ARE YOU RESPONSIBLE FOR? WHAT ACTIVITIES DO YOU SUPPORT?

Thank you...