Jennie--
We are just starting out, but our group is currently devoting ourselves to building a new playground at our school. It is worth every penny to join NPN as far as materials/information you'll need to get started; do some surfing on this site.
You might also want to consider becoming PTA--definitely check out the articles and postings on the PTO/PTA board. PTA may not be for everyone, but neither is PTO, inform yourself before you make any decisions.
Jennie
We are attempting to revive a dead pto. The one thing I would stress is that everyone on the team and especially those who are going to be taking temporary or permanent leadership roles must take very seriously Robert's Rules of order. If your first officers do not believe in the need for rules, things get sticky. I have an edition that has a guide by Rachel Vixman fairly easy to read. Still not sure how all motions go but it goes step by step into how an organization is formed. Sounds like you are doing great so far.
Also if you type in pto bylaws, you not only find lots of bylaws but sometimes you will find different forms they use or fundraising ideas or even budgets you can look at. I've even looked at minutes when the bylaws weren't specific as how they handled finance votings for my research.
We are also in the process of starting a PTO in our small school. I found many copies of by-laws by going to individual school's web sites. If the by-laws are not actually posted on the site, there is usually a contact name and e-mail address and you can make contact directly. Also, throughly review this web site. There are many different and helpful ideas.
Begin by listing all the things you want your PTO to accomplish, activities that the PTO will be responsible for doing. Make up a mission statement. You will see this in every set of by-laws you read. Components of the mission statement usually include: improving communication between faculty and families, enriching the students' education by sponsoring "extras", fostering a sense of "community" among the families. In addition, by-laws will explicitly state that the PTO will not interfere with the principal's administrative duties.
We live in a very small community and our school has just changed to a 4 day school week. Several parents are wanting to start a PTO to help with the transition. There has not been a PTO or PTA here before. We are looking for any good advice on how to start one:
1. How to we present it to the public?
2. By-laws?
3. Election of officers?
These are a few of our questions. If anyone has any helpful information, it would be greatly appreciated
