we're pre-k to 8th with 450 kids. Most of our involvement comes from the younger grades, but we do pretty good.

Our school handled 650 students and it went well. However, they were K-5. Concern I would have is making sure that all events are well staffed and funded. If you have totally separate events since the ages of the students vary so much, then it should be easy to separate the elementary from the other grades.

Splitting the PTO in two could be a solution or separating them into two on paper only could be the solution. One Executive Board, but two sets of Chairpersons. Your books would be separated so fundraising and income for elementary stays there and Middle/HS keeps their own as well. it would be similar to how a major corporation does it when they have smaller companies or products. To protect themselves, they separate it. You may wish to speak to an accountant on what would be best and then bring it to your PTO meeting and decide. Presenting all the facts for parents to have solid information rather than speculation is best.

I'd probably throw my vote at one PTO with VPs and committee chairs assigned to focus on the needs of the individual grade/age levels. I'd also encourage you to have Teacher Reps for each segment.

My opinion on this is from a parent's perspective. In a small town, there are probably many families who have children in several different grades. They might find it easier to donate to one group, help fundraise for one group and, if necessary, pay membership fees for just one group. Then, too, information via fliers and newsletters are all coming from the same source with little to no concern about overlapping or conflicting information.

I noticed your comment about not having enough willing candidates for the one PTO you have now. What do you suppose the reason is? Could it be that folks are concerned that it's too much to manage and are worried about the size of the school they'd be working in? Dividing into three manageable PTOs may solve that problem. However, if it's just that your community lacks available and willing candidates for even one PTO, I can't imagine finding even more parents to cover two to three times the number of candidates would be any easier.

My last team was in a k-8 school. There were definitely independent needs for the k-4 and 5-8 grade levels. We tried to manage that my having Teacher Reps and Room Coordinator Chairmen to represent the separate grades.

I agree with LUVMYKIDS. I think you should have two PTO groups, one for elementary and one for middle/high school. I think doing it that way makes more sense.

I'm sure there are other schools that do this. I would be more concerned with the number of students you are trying to serve than with the different grade levels, but I would think from the standpoint of trying to coordinate events that would appeal to everyone, it would be difficult to have one group handle all those grade levels without some very strong committees established to provide services for the various levels. I could see dividing into two groups: elementary and middle/high school. You would then establish committees to work on the events and programs for each of those groups with one central executive board that leads the whole school's parent group.

Our school goes from PreK all the way up to grade 12. Previously the high school was at a separate location but our schools were all moved to one campus last year. Does anyone have experience with a PTO that includes parents from PreK all the way to grade 12? There is some debate over whether there should be two separate PTO's that share a certain number of meetings and events each year, or whether one Board President, VP, etc. can lead the entire school. I am curious as to whether other schools have dealt with this. The elementary has about 450 students, middle school about 150 and the high school has 250. Also no one has stepped up for any of the offices for next year and current officers have term limits.