what in the heck does a PTA do? i have a kindergartner, and went to my first PTA meeting last week. i came away feeling frustrated, confused, and raring to make some changes!

i've begun researching online, to understand the PTA's role. i want to be an educated and informed parent of a public school student, as well as support the teachers and other students.

i will elaborate in a comment or additional post later this evening (need to go pick up my daughter soon.) essentially, i found the PTA board to be rude and condescending. they have terrible turnout (only me, my mother, and two other parents attended, and they said this is normal). i expected at least 15 parents from student population of 500+.

according to last year's data:

• the school is 1/3rd hispanic/latino

• 50% of the student body come from non-english speaking families (mostly spanish, ukranian and amharic)

• 77% of the students participate in the reduced/free lunch program

they offered no info about organization, by-laws, goals, success measures, etc. they make no effort to reach out to these ESL families. they have a PTA membership fee that is arguably expensive for most families ($24/parent). they have fundraising events wherein the students that have parents that can contribute the most money are rewarded with exclusive prizes (such as a magic show that costs the school $400).

i have more to add, but really have to go! i thought people might give me info regarding their understanding of a PTA's role? also, has anybody else experienced this kind of marginalization? or, if you have a similar student body, what outreach efforts were successful? how does a PTA's role shift, to accommodate the students and teachers?

i'm sort of lost, and input is much appreciated! i can add more info, answer questions tonight. thank you!

Submitted September 26, 2017 at 03:50PM by cece1978 http://ift.tt/2hxA3GR