From what I can tell this person is still in the 6-month phase of a newcomer that I see (and even experience myself) almost every time someone moves. It's the adjustment period where everythings compared to where you lived before...and unfortunately the new place usually comes out on the short end of the stick. BUT I also see so much potential in this parent and just know that she'll be a great asset to our group in time. She's now off the books and onto something else.

As for Scholastic, the teachers and admin are perfectly fine with the PTO handling it. First of all, our classes are small so the freebies they would get on their own are limited. Next, we have to add shipping onto our orders as we receive free shipping within the US and then have to pay for the remainder of the way. We also have to deal with customs. It's easier for one person to do this who knows what they are doing. The biggest thing for our PTO is that with all the points we accumulate we are able to purchase "free" books in bulk for our book fairs. Anyway, we survived this skirmish and onto other... :cool:

Our teachers do this. They get free stuff for their room and such by sending in orders, but some teachers don't mess with it. Why is it a big deal if your PTO does handle it? Does this person think that the classrooms are suffering because of it? I say "If it ain't broke, don't fix it". Curious to know what the teachers think. You are probably taking a big load off of them so they can concentrate more on educating the children. Judging from your other post it sounds like you have a very together group and are doing a great job.

You'll laugh, but that's pretty much what I did after worrying this whole situation in my head. I asked several other parents how it was handled at their schools and then brought that and what I gathered here and presented it in a well-worded email (BCC to the principal). I explained how I networked with PTO officers from all over the world (okay, I think I'm the only one from outside the US so just a little lie) and that I discovered that everyone did it differently. The bottom line is that as long as there's a volunteer willing to do it and it gets done, don't rock the boat! Thanks for all of your input. :cool:

From what I've seen, there's very little that is "always" done a certain way in all schools. In some schools the PTO handles student pictures and yearbooks. In others, that's the school's job. Same thing for bookfairs and book orders. At my school, the teachers handle it. At my friends, the PTA does it.

If this system is working for you, why change it? If it were me, I'd tell the questioning parent that 1) that is the way that it is handled at your school - to everyone's satisfaction, and 2) just out of curiousity, you consulted an international group of recognized parent group experts (ahem - that would be us) and we agreed!

Good luck!

I am President of our PTO. I am a volunteer. I am a parent. I am a friend. I do the book orders for a teacher that both of my children had (no longer as of this year). I can say she and I have such a great relationship, both as parent/teacher, and as freinds away from school that she trusts me doing the book orders. I think it's great when you have someone else do the book orders for the teacher. Sometimes the order may be small, but just today I entered an order for $179.55 just for one class of 16 kids. They do take a little bit of time to get together, but as long as you keep proof of waht was ordered by who, and a copy of the invoice and what have you, everything should be fine. Parents are there to help the teachers and even a few minutes out of instruction to do these book orders can be a big help. Sometimes teachers will also give you free things as a Thank You that they get from all their bonus points! It's all part of being a volunteer / PTO person! Enjoy those book orderings!

In our school the teachers "typically" place their own orders. Maybe two of the teachers have a parent tabulate the orders and mail them. I see nothing wrong with the PTO helping, we want to free up teachers time so that they can teach, not get bogged down with book orders and such.