Some parents of Mueller Park Junior High students want to get rid of their local PTA - and they will vote Tuesday night on whether to do just that.The Mueller Park parents say the state and national PTA organizations are too concerned with other issues that don't directly affect them. They want all of their money to go to local activities. Seventy-five cents of dues go to the state organization, with $1 going to the national organization.
The parents also say the national PTA is too liberal, espousing views that don't correspond with the conservative Mueller Park community. What's more, many of the issues on which the national PTA lobbies Congress have only the barest connection to children and education.
"The money is not the issue," said Jolene Jones, a nine-year member of the PTA and legislative vice president of the Mueller Park PTA. "It is the economy. We want to make decisions as parents at a site-based level. . . . I feel it (PTA) has become more of a political entity than anything."
Many local PTA officials, including President Maria Sanchez, support the dissolution effort.
The issue has put the Mueller Park community in an uproar - again. Just a few months ago the school went through a bruising fight in deciding whether to impose school uniforms at Mueller Park. (They were voted down March 8).
"If I thought uniforms were hot - whew!" Jones said. She was also involved in the uniforms push.
In order to abolish the local PTA, two-thirds of Mueller Park PTA members present at tonight's meeting must vote to get out. Because, by state bylaw, 10 members constitute a quorum, the chapter could be eliminated by as few as seven "no" votes.
But state PTA President Linda Parkinson says she's not too worried about it. If the local PTA is eliminated, people interested in forming another one could do so immediately.
"We could have another one there tomorrow," she said.
Parkinson said a lot of disinformation has floated around during the debate, panicking people with things that aren't true. She said the national and state organizations do a lot of good for people at the local level through resources such as leadership training, conferences and materials.
She also said the PTA is concerned with helping all children.
"Why do you want to break away from an organization that does all these things for children?" she said. "They're not seeing the greater vision of all of us working together for children."
Another issue the parents are concerned about is top-heavy bureaucracy controlling local activities. They also don't like the fact that the Davis School District is closely allied with the PTA. The Davis Board of Education, for instance, voted last week that PTA dues could be collected with the payment of other school fees.
"(The PTA) has been going on so long that people are afraid to buck the system," Jones said. "What it has turned into more is a parent union. . . . You get the feeling you can't breathe without the PTA telling you what to do."
Nonsense, Parkinson said. The only thing the state and national levels control on the local level is budgeting to maintain nonprofit status.
There are more than 600 local PTA units in Utah's 733 schools. Lack of leadership or membership are the usual reasons for a particular school not having one, Parkinson said.