The parents of Rosa Lee Carter Elementary School have spoken. During the first informational meeting for parents, held at Legacy Elementary School, parents voted to form a Parent Teacher Organization to help organize events and raise money for the new school.
An overwhelming number of the parents voted to start a PTO, which is an independent organization, over a PTA, which would be part of the national Parent Teacher Association. Most of the students attending Rosa Lee Carter Elementary School this fall will come from Legacy, where parents are already part of a PTO.
"They know how a PTO works," Dorie Hammond, Legacy's PTO president, said.
BOTH HAMMOND AND Pinebrook Elementary School's PTA president Sally Fuller were on hand at the Tuesday, March 6, meeting to explain the differences between a PTA and a PTO to parents.
"It really is a personal choice," Hammond said.
In an independent PTO, Hammond said, parents will spend more money upfront to get the organization up and running, but once it is established, parents will not be required to pay the monthly dues required by a PTA.
"The first two years can be rough because we are not under the umbrella of the national unit," Hammond said, "but there is a guide of what to do from start to finish."
Parents at the meeting were relieved to hear that several members of Legacy's PTO board would be transferring with their children to Rosa Lee Carter and would be familiar with how to start the organization.
"You can write your own bylaws and they can be very unique and detailed for what the school wants," Hammond said. "You do need to run the bylaws by a lawyer though."
FULLER SAID THAT the parents at the new Arcola Elementary School chose to go with a PTA because they were familiar with it from Pinebrook. One of the advantages of a PTA, she said, was that there is "always someone to ask."
"There is a hierarchy of the PTA," she said. "Each local PTA is part of the state and national PTA."
The national PTA lobbies at the federal level for education and the state PTA lobbies at the state level, Fuller said.
"You can know what the state PTA is making decisions about," she said. "Then you can take votes and send your results down to the state office to be counted in their vote."
The choice to have a PTO at Rosa Lee Carter is not permanent. At any time parents can vote to dissolve the PTO and switch to a PTA format.
IN ADDITION to voting on the school's new parent organization, parents had the first opportunity at an open forum with Rosa Lee Carter's principal, Michele Freeman.
Freeman told parents about the philosophy she hoped to build the new school around, courage, perseverance and excellence.
"I hope all of our students have those characteristics when they leave here," she said. "Think about the endless possibilities they can accomplish in their future. They could do anything."
Freeman also said she will need help getting Rosa Lee Carter ready for the first day of school, including everything from setting up classrooms to putting books on the shelves of the library.
"With your help and your partnering we should be able to make Rosa Lee Carter a first-class institution," she said.