Thank you again, and yes I will certainly keep you all up to date. And yes I guess that we have choosen to lean towards a PTO, so we'll see how it goes. And please keep me posted on anything that you guys think that we should know. Keep up the good work.
And Cameron, whatever you call your group that's out there to help kids, please share what works for your group with us and let us know if you have any questions we might be able to help with!
Sounds good. Actually your decision is PTO. In this discussion, PTO stands for all the independent parent groups out their. Whether it's PCC or PTC or HSA or PTO or a name like Parent Network -- that's basically PTO.
Well the meeting went well. We have all decided to not go with either PTO or PTA and that we are going to stay a (what we like to call) Parent Network. We're going to see what happens in the up and coming years, as to just which one would best fit us as a group. So thanks again for everyones help and input.
Cameron
Vantage Point Charter School
In recent posts the "math" side of this PTO v PTA question has started to assume that all groups get insured and that -- therefore -- insurance costs have to be factored into your decision.
While we strongly recommend insurance, there are groups that are covered by district policies (check with your district and get it in writing!) and there are other groups that don't get insured. In both of those case, the "math" wouldn't/shouldn't include insurance costs and the PTO "math" advantage grows even stronger.
Goes back to the same conclusion -- figure out what your group is looking for and needs, do the math, and decide which is the best fit for you.
Tim
(Note to Michelle B -- I'll grant you that I'm not 100% certain that you will absolutely have a hard time if you choose to leave PTA, but I'll also tell you that in more than 1000 emails and calls from different groups contemplating that switch, every single one has mentioned ugliness or difficulty. That kind of trend can't be simply because I'm "PTO." I agree that I'm likely to hear more of the negatives than most, but 1000 for 1000? That's just too much not to be a serious trend.)
