What’s in a name?

Everyone has an opinion about the PTA – some favorable and some not so much. I got involved in the PTA last year as a way to help my daughter have a more positive experience at Mason. I didn’t know what the organization was all about; only that it served the needs of the students at Mason. I learned that our PTA was a national organization that was an advocate for our children.  I also learned that locally, the PTA provided resources for our parents and teachers to enhance the well being of our children. As we approach the mid-year mark of the school year, I think of all that we have accomplished as a PTA to help support our students. Then I pause and think what if? What if we had more parents involved in the activities at school.

My next question would be why more people don’t get involved to help out at school.  Some of the reasons I have heard are: involvement in the PTA takes too much time; I don’t feel joining will make a difference since the same people are always running the show; the PTA is too political and nothing changes; I had a bad experience when I used to be involved with the PTA; it is a huge organization and my efforts won’t be acknowledged or even matter.

I believe we can overcome most of these objections through the donation of the time you have. Give what you can of your time whether it is 2 hours a year, 2 hours a month or 2 hours a week. Imagine what a difference we could make if every one of our 500 families donated just a couple of hours a month. We could complete projects to make our school more attractive and help connect the school with the students. We could reach out to the community with fundraisers to help finance the technology and other non-budgeted curriculum needs of our children to make school more fun and to encourage learning. After all, isn’t there more to school than reading and math? In short, a bit of donated time by a large number of our families would have a huge positive impact.

But I feel that some people are still hung up on the name. Well…if it helps, why don’t we change the name? We could call ourselves the Organization of Adults who want to Help at Mason or OAHM. We could meet regularly and plan events to augment the curriculum and fund programs that are not in the school budget with the goal of helping our children become well-rounded citizens. 

On the other hand, there is an organization already in place that provides the resources and ideas to help us deliver a quality program to our students. I think you get the point. The PTA provides a framework and it is up to the parents, teachers and other concerned adults at Mason to use the tools the best way they feel appropriate.

To me the name of our organization doesn’t matter as much as the results we can achieve if we all work together.  All parents have the same goal. They want their children to become successful. To make this happen, ask your teacher about ways to help or make sure to read this and future editions of this newsletter for upcoming events to improve our school. Or better yet, volunteer some of your time to be on the PTA Board for the 2008-2009 school year. The only requirements to serve are that you are passionate and committed to helping students at Mason. We will be having Board elections in March and we need volunteers. If we do not have volunteers to help guide the PTA organization, I am concerned that our children will miss out on the extra things that schools were meant to provide. Our students need our help and together we can make a difference.

David Keely
PTA President, Dad of a 2nd grader
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it