I have been interested in the recent push by parent groups to disassociate themselves from the national PTA by forming Parent Teacher Organizations.
Being raised in Utah, I knew only of the PTA. The PTA was always esteemed highly as an organization that worked hard for better school experiences for all children. When I moved to Florida with my young family, I heard people talking about the PTO and found that it was the same as a PTA but didn't pay dues to the national organization for lobbying. Several years later, I was elected president of the PTO at my children's school. In our first board meeting, I announced that I would like to investigate the possibility of becoming a PTA.
Board members respected my wishes and supported me, albeit a bit hesitantly. I viewed myself as someone bringing them all out of the dark ages into becoming members of a national organization for parents.
After calling the national PTA and reading literature on its objectives and procedures, I was a bit surprised. I found the PTA was on the opposite side of the fence on many of the issues I cared about.
I gave the literature to my board members, and they nodded their heads as if they already knew what I'd found.
I wondered how many of my fellow Utah residents had researched the organization to which they belonged. Perhaps if we had, our numbers would look more like that of our school district in Florida, where every school but one in the entire district had a PTO, not a PTA.
Elaine Salisbury
Riverton