Pta

Like the others said, it depends on the school. I have been involved for years, both as a SAHM and now as a working mom.

If you are concerned about the stereotypes (and they do exist), try working on a secondary level: help out with smaller projects and decide if you want to stay and commit more time.

For example, I handle the Box Tops and volunteer at bookfairs. This way, I can work, but still show my kids that I am involved in their school. I'm lucky- we have a fabulous PTO, not too many bad apples in this bunch!

Give it a try and let us know how it goes. Good luck!

I have always been involved in our parent groups (called the PAC in our schools) and am an officer in our middle school PAC. It has always been a great experience for me. I met my daycare provider, who I've now been friends with for 8 years, at a meeting when our kids were in Kindergarten. When my oldest was in 3rd grade, a bunch of us who regularly went to meetings ended up forming a working mother networking group (totally outside of school) and we've been getting together monthly for 5 years. So the social aspects have been great for me - as a FT working mom, these meetings and the activities that the group does are the best way for me to be involved with school and meet other parents, and it's nice to have interaction with the office staff, principal and administration.

As far as the PAC itself goes, the ones I have participated in have been invaluable to the school community. Each PAC raises and spends $20-$30K per year and that money goes directly back into the schools. It's gratifying for me to see the immediate results of our work - teachers can buy things to supplement the curriculum in their classroom, we pay for enrichment programs, we renovated the school library, and this summer we painted the lobby and offices. We've bought playground equipment, audio equipment, sent a whole class to watch two classmates participate in Special Olympics, sponsor teacher appreciation events, defray the costs of field trips and run book fairs that supply hundreds of dollars in donated books to the library. And then there are special events that bring the community together - movie nights, family fun days, game nights, dances, etc.

As you can see, I can't say enough about parent involvement. The schools in my town are great because parents care and invest their time and money into supporting the teachers and staff and making the schools places where the students love to learn and the teachers love to work. Give it a chance - some can be cliquey, but if enough "normal" parents join, you can overcome the cliquishness and really get a lot out of your involvement.

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I was always involved in the PTA's at each of the schools our daughter attended. I was a PTA President at 2 of the schools I was also an Executive Board Member for our city wide PTA.

Yes, there is a small fee, plus we added a fee to cover the cost of the paper we would be using to send out the newsletters.. (this was before most people used email).

At the elementary level our PTA had the reputation of being cliquish, but I realized it was just that some of those parents had been at the school for so long and knew so many other parents and all of the staff and teachers that had been there a long time also.. They had 3 to 4 children, so they had been there for up to 12 years together.. !!!!
Can you imagine?

Anyway there area always some people any where with insecurities and can come off as being standoffish, but work with them on a project and they open up..

Begin by volunteering on things that sound interesting or things you have skills at. Then you can watch and see what else looks like you want to put your effort into.

Middle school is where most parents disappear. Their excuse is that their "children do not want them to be there.". I used to tell them to tell their kids, "do not worry, I am not there to see you, I am there to help the school." Of course the middle schools are where you are really needed.. they never have enough volunteers.

Once you get to High School, these are your last 4 years with your children living at home. They are getting ready to decide on College and there is again a lot of things the schools need help with. Also the "Class" your child will graduate with, begins raising money for their Senior year activities, because usually schools do not really provide any money for the Prom, Graduation Night events. etc..

I now have a huge group of Parents that we met through the PTA that we are very close to. Some are my best friends, many were also the teachers and all of the Principals..

I am a PTA president at my daughter's school. I think a lot of people think that joining automatically means you must be there all of the time. It really doesn't. Joining only means that you have a vote on any decisions made by the PTA. Now if you become a part of the "Executive Board", things are a little different. It is definitely more political than I imagined back before I got into it, but it is worth the time and effort. Most PTA's really have the students best interest at heart. I'm not going to say that there aren't mom who try to one up each other, because there are. But if you make it very clear that your child's success is your number one priority, they will know that you are not going to participate in the foolishness. It is also a great way to get to know the teachers and staff at the school.

Honestly, it depends on the group of moms you have, some are stepford and some are not - I say sign up try it out and if it's not for you then resign.

I think it's very important to join the PTA in your school. It's a good way to get to know other parents (good and bad) and to learn more about the school. It also gives you a chance to voice your opinions.

After joining, you can make the decission as to how active you want to be and what activities you want to participate in. In many cases, you'll find that the PTA members can be very overbearing, but most of the time they mean well.

I'm going to put my vote in now, that at our nice rural school we have a great PTA. I attended the meetings, A) because i don't get out much and it was a nice excuse to leave kiddos at home with dad once a month and B) because then i got a sneak peek into what the kids were doing for the month ahead, i got dates for the fun fair inadvance, i knew what they were doing for pep assemblies, I knew what supplies the art teacher needed for a special project. That sort of nosey stuff.

I chose not to be terribly involved in running to every event or taking time off during the day, to monitor a table at lunch to sell tickets for a fundraiser or what ever, but now that i've seen a little bit,I feel like maybe this year i might volunteer to do one thing that really fits me.

I know any group of women can get catty and clickey but I haven't experienced that overly much at my school.. If anything i feel if more people volunteered the core group that did everything would actually be happy to share.
hth

just wanted to add that i'm pretty sure to "join" the PTA it is a once a year due of $3 (maybe per child)??? At least in our area, It looked like there were tons of people paying but i never saw those faces at the actual meetings, but they had a good number of volunteers for different activities.

It REALLY depends on the PTA. We were military growing up, so my mum went through about 15 PTAs, and NONE were "like the others". She says about half of them were great, one third eeeeeeevil, and one third so-so.

My son was only in awayschool 1 year, and they were the eeeeeeevil kind, although not as bad as a couple my mum was a part of, they we unabidingly terrible. To the point that the teachers were having to waste their time doing things like transcribing notes of "secret" meetings to email out to the other parent against the shrill screams of those 'invited' to the secret meeting, and having to say things like "NO. That is ILLEGAL. You CANNOT x, y, z." Our PTA was a festering snake pit of shrewish harpies. But the next elementary school over (my mum's in that one, and I went with her a few time) was FABU.

Depends....
Here you must belong to participate in ANYTHING at the school. So lots of moms "join" & pay the dues, but it's always the same PITA group running the show. I pick and choose what I'd like to help out with and skirt the drama as much as possible.

I join each year becuase part of the fees are used for different things for the school. It may be stuff for the library, gym, playground, etc. that's not in the school budget. So I don't mind it. But I don't get into all the meetings and on the board. I just don't have time for all that. But for the most part I think it's an ok organization.

My PTA experience at two different schools has been positive. They both really depended on the PTA to relay information at the meetings, help with numerous projects all during the year, fund raise, etc. A strong PTA is often an indicator of a good school, because it means parents are involved. Both PTAs I've been a part of had also had tons of dads there too -it's not all moms. I highly recommend it as a way to keep yourself plugged into the school and a great way to help out!

We pay our dues and let the ladies handle the rest! No meetings...some fundraisers...but I volunteer as a coach and Girl Scout leader. My time is spent elsewhere but they do get my dues...gladly pay them that to not be involved in meetings.

One of our schools had a PSO, not a PTA...no dues, all money goes to the school and events. It seems cliquish, but I loved all of those ladies big time. I was sad to leave when we got picked for the lottery K-8 last week. They were all very involved, caring, funny women who just honestly really wanted to make the school a better place, and yes end up doing most things themselves because other people are too intimidated or who knows what to get involved. I was the school events photographer and was gearing up to be a co-VP of volunteers, getting people to sign up for committees and events.

Our new school has what they call the MIT (Madrona Integrated Team), which is like the PSO in that there's no dues, and all money goes to the school again. It too seems like the same kind of environment, just people who really care and are involved! Now I will be the primary grade rep, sort of a liaison between the teacher/parents/MIT, reporting back to each on what the other is doing/planning.

I say read the jobs that are available and see if there's something that really works with your personality and interests. It is a great way to meet people at the school and be closely involved with the teachers and staff as well, to really know what goes on at your kids' school! My grandma was always involved in my school and it is a great memory having her always around like that. Plus she really knew all the teachers, staff, parents, and my friends.