In beginning a PTA, you can first go to the PTA website, www.pta.org
and find the state office for your location. There you can get the phone #'s some are 800 and give them a call. They will put you in touch with your council or region directors and they will come out and help get you started. I don't know about other states, but we have sample bylaws, (I have them on disc as a Council Pres) and you can simply fill in the blanks and tweak it as needed.
It's fairly simple for your area people because it won't be the first time they do this. They will also likely have a leadership training, happening soon that you and other interested parties can attend to give you additional guidance.
Good luck to you!
My school is currently a PTO,I am not sure how long it has been this.At the end of the school year,I was elected as Tres. All the new members are just that, new. We have been doing this for a few weeks now with no idea of what all to do. In the time my oldest child was at the school (6 years) I do not recall anything going out about the PTA dues or anything. It is my understanding that the PTA was stopped because of lack of dues, or not getting the dues sent in on time, I am not sure which. The past president did everything on her own, not wanting (I guess) help from anybody else, though there was a Tres. and it was extremely hard to get ahold of her, I believe her children had gone on to another school. There were bills paid late because the tres. could not reach her for a signature on checks. I guess she has had personel problems or something that made her decide to stop altogether. I would like to know if anybody knows how I can find out if the tax things have been done correctly and if the PTA membership was ended. I had no idea this was going to have so many extremely detailed things to know about and I want to make sure everything is done correctly. I like to have everything all organized and done just right but I don't know if tha twas done in the past and I am having a hard time stepping into something that Idon't even know where to begin to find out what was done before, nobody really seems to know. Our principa lis involved, but this is his second year at this school and I don't think he had a lot to do with it last year.
We are currently in the process of forming a PTO at a school that is almost done (K-5). Half of the kids from our current school will be attending the new school.
My best advice is to start talking to other parents and to teachers and get a core group. Then start setting up informational meetings, getting people interested in the new PTO/PTA. Then start working on by-laws and deciding upon the first several months of events so you can start planning.
Having the principal on board is a great start. What we've found is that new parents are suddenly showing an interest in helping with the new school.
For startup funds, our current PTC sent a letter out to other groups asking them to donate to us. Great idea, but you need to follow up with personal contact...maybe ask to attend a board meeting. I actually got $400 (total) from 3 school parent groups by calling friends who's children attended the other schools.
Is this private or public? Two years ago we went through this with our public school - drawing kids from 4 existing public elementaries due to overcrowding. I think the situation is very different in the two different scenarios. Please feel free to email me if I can be of help - I don't want to fill this space with information that won't end up being useful to you or others.
Our school went through a split with the PTA about five years ago.
I think the first thing is to form committees:
Bylaws would be a good place to start.
Also you need to get your Financials in order and I would not know where to begin but I know someone out there does.
You will need your Executive Comittee in place and organize Fundraisers to get you started. There is some much to think about and it has been a long time for us. Hopefully this helps and I'm sure someone out there may have a punch list.
Good Luck
Hello, Our school is not even built yet, but we areforming a transitional school in the interim. I would like to be involved in organizing a PTO/PTA, but have no idea where to begin. The first thing necessary is to organize the parents. I have some help with this with the principal, but would appreciate any pointers from others that have been in my shoes.
