I wanted to point out that your PTO could very easily set up a website separate to the school district in order to control your content, brand and updates. Our PTO pays a little over $125/year for a Yahoo website. Yahoo has a very easy tool that allows you to select a website design, add text, photos, links, etc. You don't even have to know HTML or other web language. Other pluses:

• web forms where you can collect parent sign-ups or contact information
• surveys of those on your list
• add paypal Donate now button
• email addresses connect to the site - for instance we can create an email address like This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Our school web page now has a link to our site and they don't have to worry about our updates.

I think if you make an appointment to meet with your Superintendent and have all your information together and present it in a manner that your wish is to "support your school the best way you can" and show by giving examples how these new rules are making it almost impossible to be effective - he/she will be receptive. And if other school PTOs do not want to go with you - it's even more important for them to attend even if they don't speak.
I have found parents to be really intimidated to go to their principals, or district personal, etc to discuss concerns. School personnel work extremely hard to do the right things, and often times are so busy doing so many things they don't realize when certain policies have a negative effect on their schools. And if more parents went to them to discuss things (which means not going in angry & confrontational) parents always leave feeling better and realizing school personnel are much more approachable then they realized. So regardless of the outcome....I feel very confident you'll leave feeling much better about this issue. Good luck....I know you'll do a great job....and I've found that by doing things like this....I've actually been contacted by the district to serve on various committees, etc in the future that they consider you as a good parent resource to approach.

Thank you for your great advice.

I am having a very hard time grasping the rationale behind theDistrict's edict. This is a great school District and we have beenblessed with professionals / forward thinkers.....? It really pains meto think that the District views us as contentious because I havenothing but respect for them as does the community.

Yes, I see now that developing "a case for the PTO" is needed. I'mhoping the sister school PTO's will work with us for a greater cause. I have a feeling some of them are a a bit intimidated by theSuperintendent and I can't say I don't feel the same. But I really dothink it's just a communication breakdown and if both sides could cometo the table with their defenses down then maybe just maybe......

I do have a question though... is a school District allowed to mandatethis type of action? Yes, it's their site but it's a joint cause so Idon't understand why the problem... Does a school District have aright to in essence take over control of the PTO by forcing them tocommunicate via their weekly newsletter, creating a PTO template thatthe PTO's will be required to use, etc... So here is an honestconcern; if the PTO's only alternative is to create their own domainname that doesn't necessarily mean that the District has to redirectparents to that site....right? What if they decide that in order tohold events at the schools we will have to pay rent or somethingsimilar? Someone mentioned that concern to me today and I was shockedthat this has escalated to this level.

Going to the Board is not something I think any of the PTO's want to doand it hasn't been discussed. I can't imagine having to go down thatroute ....as reasonable adults, professionals, parents with a commoncause I can't grasp why we can't sit down and work it out. I keepthinking I'm a PTO rookie and that I just don't know the ins and outsbut I don't think I should have to learn "ins and outs" and politicsfor a common cause and one as important as our children.

Sylvia

Wow, you do have a problem.
I liked what Lori said....it could really be effective if all the school parent groups got together and came up with some information and presented it to your School District's Superintendent. Being very nice and informative and not confrontational you can basically go through what you do for the school each year and the amount of monies and volunteers you generate. Put this in writing and give to him. If you have each school's monies and estimated volunteer hours totaled for the entire district that could be a very powerful presentation. I'd even throw in research about how students are more successful in school when their parents are involved and less stress for the teachers and better moral.

This next suggestion may not be very nice and I'd ONLY DO THIS if your district superintendent didn't offer any help. Most school districts hold monthly "Board of Education" meetings that in most cases the board members are "elected" to the school district's board of education. These board of education meetings are required to be posed publically. The school district superintendent technically works for them. These meetings usually are open to the public and should your parent groups combined efforts with the superintendent not get you any help, you could go to a "Board of Education" meeting and present your same information. The board of education meetings are very formal and follow strict "Roberts Rules of Order" so you may have to call and request a time to address the board. I suggest this as only a last resort as you don't want to make the Superintendent look bad and usually the local newspapers are there as most board of education meetings are reported in the paper.. That's why I think if you get no luck w/ the superintendent you may be successful there as it's more publicized. It would be even more important should you have to resort to this meeting to be professional, informational and non confrontational. If you all show up in force that's another indirect show of your commitment. I would use the angle (which is true)....of asking them to help you help your schools. How could anyone say no to that?
One last idea that may or may not help you too is we use the sign outside and in front of the school as needed. Our school allows using it as needed since there are some parents that just don't use the internet here. I hope some of this helps, good luck!

Thank you for taking the time to give me some feedback. Time is such a commodity when you have children!

I just finished typing a whole reply and when I hit the button to submit it I was given a "invalid code" and it wiped out my whole thing...... poking myself in the eye with a dull pencil....

Ok, so these are the facts (as I know them :])

1) Last year the District made a decision to "go green" and as a result PTO's were no longer allowed to send any PTO information, event, volunteer....basically nothing was allowed to be sent home to the parents. We were even forced to scramble at the last second because we were not able to send home the next year school supply order forms home like in the past. Mind you that the order forms were not printed by us but by the school supply company! It actually worked out because we were able to negotiate for a larger discount since the supply company didn't have the color print costs x 7 schools! Thank goodness that the school supply company we used (SchoolKidz/Staples) and our representative and her manager responded to our situation by helping us make a quick Order Form that the parents could download off of the PTO site! Of course, actually getting the Order Form up on the PTO site is a different story altogether! SK even put together a customized web page for all of the school's where the parent's could visit to see color pics of backpacks, etc.

Anyway..... so we can't send anything home. Absolutely forbidden. We cannot collect the data ourselves similar to what PTO Today's PTO MKanager or Newsletter software package does. We cannot contact parent's because they may have opted out of the "sharing info and pics" option at the beginning of the school year. As a result of that "opt out" the parent's info doesn't go into the district wide phone directory as well as yearbooks, etc..... (I think a lot of parent's just don't understand what they are opting out of or maybe it should be two different items...) We cannot use any emails collected for various activities (that parent's gave to us voluntarily!) to send out info, volunteer opportunities, etc... So how are we supposed to raise money for the school if the only way we can communicate is via a website where we are only given access to update during a school day and the weekly e-newsletter that the District sends out to the families that wanted a weekly or monthly update? It's like running up a mountain with your hands tied! Please understand that the PTO's are not intentionally being contentious but how are we supposed to raise money to support the school without critical communication avenues or tools?

If the PTO sends out something advertising an event is the District liable for content?

I'm rambling....

Sylvia

We had a similar problem and escalated it to the school committe after getting no response from school administrators & the webmaster. We would submit updates about school events and fundraisers and events and they never got posted -- affected our number, income and over all morale!... So by elevating it to the school committee we were able to get a website updating system in place. In the meetings we emphasized that with budget cuts affecting the school in so many ways, including funding, the pto is playing a crucial role in fundraising and keeping the community together!!

So it was a process but it was worth it in the end. Stand your ground and don't let them marginalize your efforts!!

Lori