PTOs, PTAs helping families, keeping kids healthy: Our Week in Review

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e's a look at some of the work PTOs and PTAs have done this week on behalf of families, kids, and schools:

• The PTO at the South Park School in Rapid City, South Dakota, held a carnival recently to raise funds for its pack and food program. Even though the school had rainy weather, it still managed to raise over $1,000. The pack and food program is for families who do not necessarily have enough food for the weekends. Children get food-filled backpacks to take home with them.


• Walking programs increasingly popular: Parent volunteers at the Ridgecrest Elementary School in Largo, Fla., coined the name Walk A Way Train for a parent volunteer program to help students walk safely to and from school each day. Parents walk with the students and report the program not only addresses the safety issue but also helps students interact in more positive way with peers as they make their way to and from school.


• Turning bad news into something good: Several Atlanta-area parent groups  reported they were reviewing their financial procedures after a news story broke that a local parent was accused of stealing PTA funds. In reaction, a parent from a neighboring group said they are making sure to have “two sets of eyes’’ on fundraiser money before it goes to the bank.  Periodic reviews of financial procedures are always a good idea and our story on financial controls offers five great tips to help that process.


• Would this work at your school? The PTA at the Euclid School in Hasbrouck Heights, N.J., decided to try something new and create a school cookbook.  The PTA formed a cookbook committee that solicited recipes from parents, students, and teachers. They received 150 recipes and put it together in a book they named: Alphabet Soup: Our Euclid School Family of Recipes. The group is selling the cookbook for $10